Black youth encouraged to become creators of content

A caution has come from IT expert Steven Williams and Venezuela’s Charge D’Affaires to Barbados Martha Ortega to young Black Barbadians to become creators of content and not just consumers.

It was against the backdrop that if young Black Barbadians are not creators or owners within the field of information technology, they may just be the ones to be a part of modern day slavery.

Ortega and Williams were a part of a panel discussion at the Speightstown Branch Library for the opening of the first art exhibition of the Speightstown Global Freedom Festival entitled “Programmed“.

“Are we truly free if we keep relying on other platforms and not our own? We run and give all of that content to these foreign platforms that have no interest in monetizing it on our behalf but it is owned by foreign interests.

All we are doing is consuming Tik Tok videos and Facebook and we are not creating that balance. For those who have a story to tell, I am looking for that content and the world is too,” he said.

Williams explained that there are stumbling blocks in the way of people of African descent. He also argued that it is only natural for foreign creators of content to develop software that is representative of their experiences.

“We have to create our own and what happens is that the people in overseas countries get a level of capacity and intellectual property [to support them]. If not we will be held to these systems because you’re either going to take what they give you and hope it isn’t flawed. They are going to create images in their own nature — that is normal. You want these people to do something for us and I don’t get it,” Williams said.

Ortega spoke to digital freedoms while asking about the implications of tech owned by those who are in privileged positions.

“Technology is very important for our lives but to be free we have to know and ask how much we depend on technology. Who is the owner of the information and how can that change our society? The owner of the technology, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram — how can we say that we are living free if we don’t [own the technology],” she argued.

Minister of Labour Colin Jordan said that the panel discussion came about as part of the We Gatherin 2020 celebrations.

He explained that a lecture series was held, entitled From Cuffy to Owen and the basis of that lecture was the continuing struggle of Black people for democracy, for the right to determine their own future and for freedom.

“We have come together with the Center for Hybrid Studies which is really in the vanguard for promoting this festival. We in St Peter are happy to be a part of the process. We believe Speightstown was the place where the struggle for freedom manifested. We believe that we should also be the center for discussion on freedom,” Minister Jordan said.

The artists at the showing, curated by award-winning visual artis Evan McDonald, displayed pieces showing their human engagement with technology and its implications for freedom.

Jaron Griffith, an artist who had his work on display, said that he felt honoured to be a  part of the exhibition as McDonald reached out to him first.

“I’m interested in transhumanism, futuristic settings and they thought my work was pretty interesting and reached out to me so I’m very honoured,” he said.

Content creator Xavier Jhon-Clair, who had NFT art on display complete with QR codes for scanning, said his pieces on Errol Barrow and Bussa, the Lion at Gun Hill  and Sir Grantley were all about breaking away from colonization.

He said his pieces, while very Bajan, tend to be well received on the international market.

“I hope that more Barbadians can become aware of the opportunities that exist with intellectual property and being able to create and have access to that content,” he said. (MR)