Technology in my Culture

1. Due to the crime rates being so high in Guyana, it is evident that both the government and the residence are both trying to stop it to their best of abilities. The people want to live in a place of peace and feel safe in their own country. Recently, there has been a site/app that allows residence to report crimes that are going around, which spread to the government officials, as well as let the residence know. The site/app is called Guyana Crime Reports. It allows anyone to submit a crime report through a form, an email or a tweet, which makes in quick an easy, as well as they a verified to make sure hey are true or not. The site can be searched by categories of crime, such as, violent, domestic, crime against children, narcotics, corruption, etc. This site is a good source of technology as it acts as a crime fighting tool for the citizens, which helps in the act of making Guyana a safer country.

1.1. This technology has been a useful tool in Guyana as it allows citizens to help keep their own homes safe from the different crimes, for example a report from January 25th reads: Hello there and thanks for making this website possible. I'm writing about this fatal accident between a toyota wagon and a motorcycle on saturday morning. I was at the scene, and i read the report in kaieteur news and the chronicle and thats not the true story. The driver of the car who they have there is not the driver who cause the accident...was a lil boy driving and he was very drunk. I know them boys man, them get a juice place on camp street.They hold the bigger brother but not him was driving...you ain't see there is no scratch on he skin and he was involve in such an accident...You all should hold and question the other one..Justice must be done. If this not done he can cause more problem. Thank you and keep up the good work. (Mckenzie, 2014) From the recent report, it is evident that citizens of Guyana are using this technology to their advantage. They are helping in creating a more safer country where they can be happy to live in, and not have to worry about crimes. “Evidently in offices near Tiananmen Square and in universities there were fax machines. They were used by demonstrators to get the word out to the world. Much more importantly, the world responded, sending faxes by the hundreds, letting the demonstrators know that the whole world was watching” (Houle, 2009). Similar to the Tiananmen Square where they used the fax machine to spread the word, the citizens are using this technology to spread the word of crimes going on, to help make Guyana a safer country.

1.2. The reason as to why I choose this specific example was due to the reason of how dangerous Guyana is. People don’t realize but Guyana is a scary place to live, which is why most people want to leave. Everyday there are stories of crimes going on, and by the time police show up its to late, nothing can be done. Another reason as to why I choose this example is due to the fact that it is working. So far there has been over 460 reports, and that was since 2014, showing that people are actually using this technology to their advantage. Adding on, likewise to the Tiananmen Square situation, because of the fax machine and knowing the whole world was watching, it gave the people hope and strength, which is something the Citizens of Guyana need, when dealing with crimes. “This is what gave the demonstrators strength. This is what emboldened the young man to stand in front of the tanks”(Houle, 2009). When most people in Guyana see a crime, they keep their mouth shut as it is better for them, but being able to create an anonymous repost, helps keep your identity safe all the while, keeping your country safe, which is why I choose this Technology.

1.3. This is relevant and important to me as having family in Guyana who worry about the dangers and crimes, now have a sign hope and feel a little more secure. Knowing that they have technology to help keep the place they life in safe, gives them hope. Before, my family never wanted us to go to Guyana because of how bad it was there. They said that it’s safer if you guys just stay in Canada, but recently, it has not been as bad as is it was four, five years ago. They don’t have to worry of us travelling to Guyana and having the fear of thieves and murderers.

1.4. If this technology was not available to the citizens of Guyana, I believe the situation would have been like before. If people saw a crime, they would o and report it to the police, which would take quite some time alone, not only that but knowing that you were the who reported the crime, could get you in more danger, which is why people refrain from reporting crimes in Guyana. Not only that, but reporting crimes to the police station takes a long time, and by the time the police act on the situation, its far to late. So, if the technology was not available, Guyana would be as bad as it was 5 years ago, if not even worst.

2. I was born in Toronto, Canada, and later moved to Brampton where I grew up. My parents were born in Guyana, and later moved to Canada for a better life. Guyana is known for being one of the most dangerous countries due to its crime rates. It is stated that Guyana’s murder rate is four times that of USA’s robbery rate (OSAC, 2016). Not a place where many people would like to visit or live, reasoning for my parents leaving, but having family living there makes us travel back, but feeling worried. Not only that, but Guyana is lagging behind technology, they are not as technologically advanced as we are here in Canada so it makes it quite difficult for news to travel. Although vey dangerous, Guyana is one of the most beautiful Caribbean country to visit, also having one of the worlds largest waterfall being Kaieteur Falls, it’s a country everyone must visit, as I have enjoyed every time I stayed. But due to the crime rates, it hard for people to really see a need to go to a place where they might get killed or robbed, until recently.

3. All in all, Guyana is a beautiful place, but with the thieves, murders and other crimes going on, Guyana is not a place many want to live and stay. The crime rate has been a main reason as to why my parents left, an why many still want to leave. But with the addition of this new technology called Guyana Crime Reports, it allows citizen of Guyana to have hope and feel more safe than they ever have before. This technology allows Guyanese to make reports when they see a crime, and help solve global crime issues going on. And due to the different ways of reporting a crime, it makes it quick an easy for government officials to act quick and swiftly. It helps in keeping Guyana a safer country, which is something that many Guyanese want, which is why this technology plays a major role, in my culture.

4. For my Creative Element, I have created a Mind Map. Mindmeister is online to help organize your thoughts and ideas in a easy to follow map, hence the name mind map, a helpful online tool. What I created, helps express my ideas in a format that is easy to follow, using the lines and colours to organize my thoughts. I chose this tool, as it was a good way of expressing my idea of technology on my culture through words, but also allowed me to use a creative way to organize them, using the arrow lines, and path lines. This was creative for me, as it was something new I never used, and it allowed me to think of different format to help explain my thoughts. I feel like this is a helpful tool that will be handy in the near future.

5. Refernces: Rainie, L., Smith, A., Schlozman, K. L., Brady, H., & Verba, S. (2012, October 18). Social Media and Political Engagement. Retrieved February 26, 2017, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/10/19/social-media-and-political-engagement/ Tiananmen Square and Technology. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2017, from http://davidhoule.com/evolutionshift-blog/technology/cell-phones/2009/06/03/tiananmen-square-and-technology Citizens Use Technology to Fight Crime in Guyana. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2017, from http://techpresident.com/news/wegov/24707/citizens-use-technology-fight-crime-guyana Guyana 2016 Crime & Safety Report. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2017, from https://www.osac.gov/pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx?cid=19622