I am feeling a little guilty today since I have had a day or two to reflect on a teaching experience regarding the use of blogs to communicate back from non-US countries. My presentation to a room full of leaders included a considerable amount of discussion about security. We talked about the risks of exposing personal identities and schedules as that relates to leaving an empty house. We talked about young people who might share too much information on addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, etc. All in all, our focus was on protecting the blogger, the US citizen reporting back from another country.
Sitting in the room with us was a well respected couple who have been serving in a ministry capacity for several years. Nearing the end of our discussion, the husband politely raised his hand and asked, "What about the security of the people in the other country?" Thinking that he had not absorbed the ongoing discussion, I rattled off a litany of things that bloggers should not do as a matter of practice.
As it turns out, I missed the point of his question. Here are a few thoughts:
We are still writing the book on how blogs can be an effective communication tool for volunteers to report home from foreign countries. Beyond the technology, beyond the delivery systems, and regardless of the content, there are real people on both sides of the communication.
My confidence is a bit shaken at the moment. I felt that I knew from a brief personal experience, how this should work. It is back to the drawing board to bring cultural sensitivity to the surface of training... and that includes a good dose of sensitivity for myself as well.
If you have any thoughts on cultural appropriateness of blogging text, images, and video, I would love to hear from you. If you know of specific cultural taboos from other nations that need to be included, please speak up!