Fwd: "Peacekeeping and technology" book launch in Ottawa.

[Tracey P. Lauriault]

Peace keeping and social media!  Is there an app for that...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Steven Staples <[hidden email]>
Date: Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 5:16 PM
Subject: "Peacekeeping and technology" book launch in Ottawa.
To: [hidden email]

Hi - I wanted to share this with you. Walter Dorn will be launching his new book in Ottawa on Saturday afternoon, September 24, at 1 p.m. at the Ottawa Public Library (Metcalfe St. and Albert St.). You might be interested in reading this article about his book on OttawaCitizen.com.

- Steve

 

In the Congo in 2008 more than 150 villagers were killed by rebels, while only a mile away 100 UN peacekeepers without any intelligence capability struggled to make sense of what was going on.

 

The tragedy was partly the result of an outmoded UN approach to new technology. UN commanders in the field are left with little option other than to tell villagers "to bang their pots and pans together if they are being attacked," while new technologies exist to make peacekeeping smarter, safer, and more effective.

 

Walter Dorn, the author of Keeping Watch: Monitoring, Technology and Innovation in UN Peace Operations, has studied peacekeeping and the United Nations for over a quarter century. He believes that the low-tech or no-tech attitude has endangered the lives of the peacekeepers and the civilians that the UN forces are mandated to protect.

 

"For instance, the crowd-sourcing technology behind Twitter and Facebook can be of immense help in peacekeeping,” says Dorn. "Peacekeeping is no longer simply about the blue berets sitting between two sides, but rather a much more complex, multidimensional challenge that involves the United Nations in policing, peace enforcement, intelligence-gathering and nation-building, for which new technology is essential."

 

Read more from London’s The Independent

 

 

Keeping Watch: Monitoring, Technology and Innovation in UN Peace Operations by A. Walter Dorn

 

PUBLICATION DATA

PUBLISHER: United Nations University Press 2011
ISBN-10: 92-808-1198-3

ISBN-13: 978-92-808-1198-8

LANGUAGE: English

PAGES: 273

PRICE: US$24.00 (Paperback)

 

 

Order your copy or learn more at http://www.keepingwatch.net

 

 

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