July 26, 2007

A close-up from Jamaica

Posted by Larisa Mann at 3:07PM

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I'm clinging to the edge of the digital divide in Kingston, Jamaica this summer. The office I'm in today is air-conditioned and wi-fi'd enough to suit anyone (although the connection slows + stops fairly regularly). But step outside and go a few blocks and it's a different story. And if you go down to South Camp Adult Correctional Center or Tower Street General Penitentiary or Fort Augusta A. C. C. it's as far different as can be.

The project that took me here is the Rehabilitation Through Music program in the Students Expressing Truth Foundation (SET Foundation). Working with the Department of Correctional Services, the SET Foundation is a Jamaican nonprofit that provides and coordinates external support for a prison-inmate group called Students Expressing Truth. In three prisons in Kingston, SET has built computer labs, organized trainings for inmates and staff in typing, desktop publishing, music production, audio engineering, recording, and video editing. Especially impressive is that the entire SET executive board is inmates, and the members are inmates and some staff. All the trainings are given to the SET executive board (and anyone interested) first, and then they train the members. SET organizes events for inmates such as quiz competitions (which are entirely researched and organized by inmates, down to them making buzzers from scratch) and spelling bees. Most recently, with some funding from UNESCO and more support from the SET Foundation, SET built SET FM a radio station that broadcasts 4 hours of inmate-produced radio to the prison community.

Since I was sent down by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, I've been thinking about the relationship between the work that's happening here in these prisons and the concept of "Internet and Society." Although we are still working on an internet connection for the inmates, it hasn't come yet. But what would the presence of internet mean here? How is it making its presence known in places where the digital divide is so pronounced? My guess is that by itself, new technology doesn't automatically change people's relationships or self-image. But here both of these things are changing, and technology is being demanded as part of it (by the inmates). That's the cool thing -- the technology is in use, every day, and the effects are impressive for individuals at least: One young guy joined SET four years ago and was barely literate, and yesterday I watched a music video he composed, sang, played, shot and edited (with titles too). This guy has been transformed, and so has his relationship to technology. Watching the radio team at Tower Street has been amazing as well, they are a team of people, really identifying with the project and the radio station, and they are impressively dedicated and focused.

This has been successful because the technology didn't come in a vacuum. Dropping 15 computers into a prison would mean very little to most people there except the few who already have some skills. Even if they were allowed access to them.

What's happening here is an amazing example of the reality of countries without infrastructure, and places where power inequalities are stark (although it's equally true, if less obvious, back home as well): society is more powerful than technology. All of this has to be dealt with before one can have a concept of "internet and society." It's how you get there.

What I see that makes this work is an intertwined network of relationships. The most obvious is a strong commitment from the people involved in SET, particularly the executive board (again, all inmates). But it also needs a supportive connection to the outside, since it's easy to despair or lose faith in prison, and certainly enough projects have come and gone by the wayside over the years. The outside connection (the SET Foundation and its director Kevin Wallen) needs to be one that demonstrates its commitment to the inmates as well, especially a commitment to their rebuilding a sense of self-sufficiency. SET Foundation has never simply brought in an expert to do something, but always focuses on providing inmates with skills, and getting inmates to share the skills they have, doing everything from the ground up. Technology comes at least third, after these things, because in order to be meaningful it has to be useful -- and not just useful in the short term but also part of a larger project. Although inmates have a lot of time on their hands, they may not play around with technology because they get so many indications their time is not their own: lockdowns, guards sending them this day and that, dependent for one's freedom of movement and information on whoever is in charge that day. A project with some kind of future (within or outside the prison) is really important. But I can see it happening here, and it's pretty exciting.