Social Ch@nge

Just across the newswires… uber-geeks from Google, Twitter, MeetUp and other high-tech companies have shipped out to Iraq.  No, seriously.

Between April 19-23, a gaggle of executives visited Iraq as part of a U.S. State Department tour.  The department said that “the executives would offer ideas on how new technologies could help foster transparency, strengthen civil society and generally empower people and local groups by providing the tools for network building.”

Now, maybe I’m cynical, but aren’t we waiting for technology to achieve this in many countries?  Such as, perhaps, the U.S.?  And how exactly will technology make Iraqi governance better?

Don’t get me wrong – I think it’s fascinating that Wordpress is visiting a warzone.  And I’m definitely on the optimist side of the line when it comes to rebooting democracy.

But this is a situation where the police are still getting blown up on a daily basis.  The governing parliament is barely functioning.  1% of the Iraqi population has internet access.   So I wonder what Twitter could really bring to the game right now.

What is this, then?  Hi-tech colonialism?  Payback for supporting Obama?  Or – maybe – it’s a bunch of companies genuinely to do some good, against some serious odds.  We shall see…