Informatization

This study sounds ever more important in the current political, social and religious dilemma that the country is experiencing and has been going through for the last few years. The situation seems to have escalated within the last few months and no sooner than we think that there can be nothing worse, something else comes out of the blue.

Any news that I read about Maldives over the Internet, may it be local websites, local online newspapers or official or personal blogs, there emerges one common theme, a theme of despair, lack of trust in the whole social structure. This raises the question of how well-informed or ill-informed Maldivians are.

Have Maldivians been too passive in their world-outlook. Have Maldivians been taught to be passive. Does it have reflections on the current information culture in the Maldives. Can a solution to the dilemmas be sought by equipping the public with information literacy?

On another line of thinking, I can’t help but believe that Maldives is going through similar changes to any other country. Informatization, which is referred to as the process by which information technologies transform social relations which minimises the cultural and economic barriers, with its advantages also brings with it vulnerabilities. The situation looks severe in Maldives in contrast to other countries due to the narrow economic base, the geographic dispersion of the islands, geographic isolation from other countries, and the historically close-knit island communities. People have been exposed to opposing views quite swiftly through the emergence of the web which has been made accessible to the wider public only in the past few years. This coupled with the lack of the necessary education to deal effectively with opposing views; people succumb to it or find themselves in flux with the situation.

Yet again, I see the solution for the existing predicament in enhancing the existing information culture. When or how or by whom, are all questions that need to be tackled.