Changing Directions

I've been talking out my topic with a few friends in hope of really getting to know how I can tie in Twitter and the sharing of information, and history (my original idea) to development. It seems as though the more I think about it, the more I could potentially tie it in, but not really directly and I fear that the need to include development into my topic may just lead me to include a paragraph or so and try to loosely tie everything together.

So I talked again about it last night with a friend and went back to my original inspiration, the Iranian Twitter Revolution. We talked about how in its core, this revolution was about giving voice to the oppressed.

Thinking again about development, there is little that Twitter can do in countries of extreme poverty where there exist so many barriers to the use of the technology. Internet is available to most at a small cost at an internet cafe, but the reliability of this service is not always there. And the use of Twitter is spectacular where people have access to it through their phones, so they can Tweet the action as it is happening. This would seem merely impossible in places such as sub-Saharan Africa where an internet connection via cellphone still seems far off the development path. Most people in developed countries still do not have this application on their phones, so it would be remarkable to see such a strive in countries where there are so many other development issues that take precedences.

All in all, I thought that maybe the direction of my paper should thus be on a case study and an analysis of these barriers. Something like looking at the Iranian case and how Twitter was made possible there, then to another case where Twitter was not possible and why. Then look at all of the barriers to this type of technology. Next, I could look at how these barriers could be removed, and if they were, would this be any better? Would the removal of these barriers give social media a bigger role? We assume that it is the barriers to these types of technologies that are preventing its use, but if these barriers were removed, would they be used in such ways as it was in Iran? This would tie to the theme of development in terms of improving information technology as well as analyzing Twitter as 'giving voice to the oppressed'. It would not be an analysis of development in terms of health or education, but rather in terms of political oppression and individual rights.

Thoughts?