Just put them all together!

Konsti-Laakso speaks about the importance of providing an access point and joint location for safety authorities to conglomerate with residents to bring awareness to concerning activity and potential problems (2017). This article was particularly interesting to me as it was not only a space for interaction between residents and the authorities, it highlighted how the private sector was often consulted to participate as a liaison between government and the citizens (Kontsti - Laakso, 2017). Private citizens, government, and companies all in one space is not an unknown phenomenon, even if in this case it was focused on the ability for safety and crime alleviation. The three together often end up in a whirlwind of chaos as every individual fights for what they believe in. This makes me think of a phenomenal work of art, a historic piece of audible and visible poetry, the feature film, Angry Birds.

Regardless of the irreflective and, quite frankly, inappropriate low rating of The Angry Birds Movie, the movie is a phenomenon wherein government, individual, and private sector all came together. In a small glimpse of the movie, the main character, Red, serves as the private citizen expressing his discontent with Leornard, the antagonist, and the government for their lack of regulation as it relates to Leornard and the pig brigade. Through incredible wit, the movie portrays web-adjacent humor highlighting this discontent and blindness towards the citizen as there are more benefits gained from the private sector. This ensures chaos, and ultimately, the private sector’s betrayal led to the citizens being right the whole time. While this is a microcosm of society, and often the entity that is “right” is changing, the chaos existent within the movie between all of these entities are clear within the real life example presented within the article. 

What are the ramifications of embracing such a space for public and private collaboration? Should government officials and safety authorities rely heavier on these spaces? How could systems like this, like local Facebook safety groups, improve?  

Reference 

Konsti-Laakso, S. (2017). Stolen snow shovels and good ideas: The search for and generation of local knowledge in the social media community. Government Information Quarterly, 34(1), 134-139.