A Collaborative Form of new Diplomacy

(Week 2) Blog Response: Option 3 – Extra Credit  

Now in its 9th year, the U.S. State Department has recently announced the two winning websites for its "2012 Doors to Diplomacy Award", which was co-sponsored with Global SchoolNet, a non-profit, Internet-based education program (RTTNews).  The joint academically based e-project, inspires middle school and high school students around the world, to construct websites that can teach citizens world-wide about the importance of international affairs and diplomacy (Global SchoolNet).  This year, the contest participants, ranged from ages 11-18, were grouped into 225 teams, and came from 38 countries.  The two winning websites were: "Water, the New Petrol", was built by a group students from CEP Santa Rosa Brothers Marist School in Sullana, Peru, and "The Haiti Ocean Project", was built by a group of students from Rivera Beach Maritime Academy in Riviera Beach, Florida (RTTNews).

This collaborative award project by the U.S. State Department and Global SchoolNet is a continual form of Public Diplomacy (PD) engagement, directed toward domestic and foreign youth populations.  The Doors to Diplomacy initiative, utilizes the 3rd layer of PD (Arsenault and Cowan 2008) via collaboration projects.  These collaborative projects create a basis of understanding on both present and future concerns that should be addressed, and receive more awareness.

In responding to the transnational concerns of the global youth populations, the U.S. through its State Department Bureaus (i.e. Bureaus of Public Affairs and Educational and Cultural Affairs) is building a bridge of connectivity with local communities abroad, through its partnership with Global SchoolNet.  Supporting continued collaboration, the e-projects provide an open and transparent window for encouraging thoughts and ideas, by mobilizing students globally to express their own shared interests, and values.  A congruous, and positive approach to new diplomacy, e-learning creates an open-source environment in engaging the next generation of future world leaders.  

Works cited:

Amelia Arsenault & Geoffrey Cowan (2008), “Moving from Monologue to Dialogue to Collaboration: The Three Layers of Public Diplomacy” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 616: 10-30.

Water, The New Petrol,' 'The Haiti Ocean Project' Win Doors to Diplomacy Award. RTTNews. (2012, May 22). Retrieved from http://bit.ly/KdjDxD.

Doors to Diplomacy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://bit.ly/JV1h6q.