Online or Offline, Trust Still Matters

The following is cross-posted from the British Council Voices blog. On November 9, the Open Technology Initiative and the British Council will co-host the event "Trust 2.0: Building Trust Through Technology" at the New America Foundation as part of the Washington, DC, festival Digital Capital Week.

We are all familiar with how trust works in the physical realm. We put our money in institutions we trust, like a credit union. We trust that the bus driver will drive safely. We trust a friend to return something we loan them.

But we don’t yet have an ingrained understanding of how trust translates online. The proliferation of modern communications technology–from the Internet to the multiple platforms built upon it, like social media and email–has happened so quickly that discussion about the “online realm” often considers it a fundamentally separate space with different rules than the “real world.” In 2011, that’s a misguided approach,–not to mention costly, due to opportunities lost and exposure to threats. We sometimes find ourselves lulled into a sense of protection by the “expert systems” that build and maintain today’s giant networks. If Facebook is worth over $50 billion, then surely they must know what they are doing! But Facebook, simply by virtue of being enormously popular, is an enticing target for people you don’t want looking at your data.

Online technologies, from basic chat rooms to social media platforms to money exchange systems, are relatively new tools, but they must play by the same rules of trust we already understand. We talk about “social” media for a reason: These platforms are a way to leverage technology in trust-based relationships we already experience offline.

Online or offline, mutual trust requires mutual understanding, and online tools can help build understanding among people who might not normally meet offline. Those who find it difficult to relate their issues to their immediate social sphere often find support and a better sense of community online, like cancer support groups. Online communities, from interest-based meet-ups to dating sites, form the point of first contact for many relationships. A web-famous example of this dynamic drives The Guild, a video series about a group of people whose relationships through online multiplayer gaming transform when some of the players meet each other in real life. They already know things about each other even though they had never met –it’s the modern equivalent of pen pals finally chatting in person.

When we understand the power of technology as a tool for activating our social ties, both the technology itself and the process of organizing it as infrastructure can transform communities. Although technology and cultural relations may not seem related at first glance, the Open Technology Initiative (OTI) and the British Council share common goals. We both want to create opportunities for the communities we work with, to ensure the easy flow of information across diverse audiences, and to help previously unheard voices transform conversations–something facilitated by modern communications tools.

That could happen through the work the Open Technology Initiative undertakes–helping to organize community wireless networks, promoting digital justice and broadband access–or projects produced by the British Council–like bringing theater from the Gulf to a global audience. OTI works with communities to build technology on existing social ties so that technology enhances, not replaces, the way communities interact with each other and with the world. Building a community-controlled communications infrastructure is an opportunity to strengthen community ties and germinate a richer cultural experience. Similarly, the British Council works to build relationships across communities and diverse cultures. Trust between people and the tools of communications can help us all capitalize on new opportunities by defining the new communications paradigm one community at a time.