Only hackers can judge hackers

And only a hacker can know a hackers' worth. We might not know it but looking back at the history of the early internet we actually inherited a valuable change in attitude from the early geeks and the dynamic they established in their usenet newsgroups!

A long time before the graphical browsers came along they needed a way to freely share knowledge. They did so by sending emails to all members of a group, which was a great way to get feedback and join efforts. Together they developed a creative and collaborative practice, in their area of technological interest. This method of peer-to-peer knowledge exchange, production and distribution is today being applied in all sorts of areas, online and in the real world.

The attitude we inherited is that we as 'consumers' or 'users' now turn to our peers or people in the same boat as us, for advice on what to do and where to go. You shop for a camera, you check reviews by other people who have bought it before. You have a software problem, you search for other users who have had the same issues – and hopefully solved them. Experts don't always get it right, nor do they always agree with each other. This kind of gives everybody the right to chip in and the internet makes this possible. Twenty people sharing their subjective and contradictive views on a certain issue can now have the information edge over an expert. People are increasingly making informed decisions based on the experiences of their peers rather than simply being told what to do.

Often it's easier to accept support, advice and real life examples from somebody who has gone through the same experience themselves. I’m not saying you can replace experts, but in many cases they can be complemented.

Earlier this month we launched freeasabird.org.uk, a peer-support network for women coming out of the Criminal Justice System. Like most peer-to-peer projects, the community has shaped the network, and takes the lead in producing the content and managing the site. The focus of freeasabird is on sharing real life examples of how women ex-offenders have got back on their feet, whether it’s sorting out housing, getting new qualifications or finding a job. People coming for advice or help can choose to take on board the opinions of others or not. Of course not everybody will have had the same experience, but users will share enough to be able to learn from each other. And we hope they will be inspired and motivated by other people’s’ stories to move their lives forward. As a model, peer-projects have gone a long way and have an even longer way to go. Technologies come and go, companies and software applications come and go, but the principal of peer-to-peer exchange as a tool to empower communities is clearly here to stay.

Caspar Below, Freeasabird Project Manager, Media For Development

IJP's income is used to develop various MFD projects, including Freeasabird.


Watch this space to hear about how we continue to explore this model of mutual aid to build communities that can help themselves. Visit freeasabird for advice, stories and films for and by women offenders. Books: Cyberchiefs, Autonomy and Authority in Online Tribes. Mathieu O’Neill.

Bridging the development gap

Almost exactly seven years ago - just before Christmas 2002 - I was sitting in a classroom at Wandsworth Prison discussing a new project idea with a small group of prisoners. We were thinking about setting up a radio station inside the prison, complete with a learning facility, with the idea that radio might be an excellent hook for encouraging prisoners to get involved in education for the first time. Setting up a new project takes time, patience and money and we suspected that anything inside a prison would draw heavily on all of these. Sure enough, it was eighteen months later when Radio Wanno was opened by Cherie Booth as a unique new learning and broadcast facility at Wandsworth Prison - and by then we had all come up against the numerous challenges of working inside a prison.the idea being discussed casually over a coffee and the project launch?

What the development of Radio Wanno also demonstrated to us was one of the biggest challenges that any entrepreneurial organisation coming up with bright new ideas has to contend with: who wants to pay for that crucial period of time between - which in the case of Radio Wanno was eighteen months. It's an especially big question for us at Media for Development (MFD), where we're in the business of coming up with fresh ideas of how different media can be used to change people's lives, for the better. And so that's where IJP comes in: our idea was to establish an income-generating arm of MFD that would help cover our project development costs. This bridge between a great idea and it's realisation, means projects can be developed and get off the ground. It's only three years since the launch of IJP and already Naomi and her dynamic team are supporting us in that objective, as well as having their own clearly defined vision of making great films which help other organisations achieve their social objectives.

Things have moved on in a big way at MFD since the launch of Radio Wanno - we've now worked in over 30 prisons around England and next year we'll start new media-based initiatives in other parts of the criminal justice system both here and in the UK, as well as internationally. So if you're reading this as someone who's commissioned a film from IJP or you've been on one of the IJP production teams, thanks for the contribution!

James Greenshields, CEO, Media for Development

To see other projects for which IJP has funded the development, visit the IJP website

Radio Wanno has won 3 Koestler Awards for production, with 79% of it's students going on to achieve NCFE accreditation. "Radio Wanno has educated me in computer and studio skills, it's given me confidence to speak in front of others, but most importantly it has given me a way out of crime' - NCFE graduate