What preparations should young people make when going to the countryside? The 21st Century Rough Room Inscription (2)

Text/ Chen Chien-tai  Cover image provided by/ Chen Wei-pin

Preface: Sustainable farming villages

Rural villages and the countryside are generally almost synonymous, and only recently has the term "farming village" come into more widespread use. Although no one has given it a clear definition, I rather like the term, because it can also serve as "hometown."

Why must farming villages be sustainable? First, it is an important mode of life for human civilization, a treasure of humanity; second, regardless of how hard humans work to build artificial environments for food production, it remains an indispensable production mechanism for humanity's food supply.

Following the previous piece 21st Century Humble Room Inscription (1) Building a New Farming Village Civilization, which discussed that "building sustainable farming villages" is labor-intensive work and even more knowledge-intensive work, this article offers more concrete reminders and suggestions for young friends planning to enter farming villages on how to make good use of the internet to build a new farming village civilization.

Farming Villages and the Internet

Compared with the past, the most important new element of the new farming village is the spread of information technology (the internet). Thinking about how to use information technology to gather the power of shared commitment and jointly face the turbulent world of the future is an inescapable mission for young people of the internet generation.

Every time I see media reports on the current use of information technology, when they mention the combination of rural villages and the internet, it is always limited to marketing, advertising, online shopping, and group-buying travel. Of course the internet can be used that way, but it can be even more exciting. The use of the internet in sustainable farming villages should move toward "analyzing and recognizing external influences," "forming consensus," and "accumulating knowledge," and it should do so as early as possible.

To use the internet, we must first recognize the basic spirit of the internet. In early 1983, the internet was only for non-commercial activities, but outside pressure grew larger and larger, and the Internet gradually began moving toward commercialization. However, at this time, the internet spirit of "freedom, sharing, participation" had basically already taken solid shape. Whether it was the .com bubble, the portal website wave ... or the rise of Web2.0, if you observe carefully, you will find how tenacious the will of this free spirit on the internet is. The internet is still moving in this direction– open source, free software, open hardware, open identity, opencontents, open data, open government … openmind. "Freedom, sharing, participation" - you can hear this echo lingering through the corridors of internet history, and it will continue to be sung.

If farming villages are to use the internet, they must uphold this basic internet spirit.

Basic Reminders

So how can young people help farming villages use the internet?

First, you need courage to become someone who makes good use of internet tools. As for the many "opportunists" who often like to say "I'm a computer idiot," we should no longer be deceived by them (or by ourselves). google, youtube, flickr, anobii, picasa, facebook, twitter, plurk, Wikipedia, justin, del.icio.us - as people in the information age, we need not fear these things. Use them boldly; you do not need to master them completely, just use what you need. If you do not understand, ask; there are plenty of good teachers online.

Second, please pay attention to internet ethics. Internet ethics exist to protect the internet and its users. Many are unwritten rules, with no very clear boundaries, and some are even gray areas beyond the reach of law. But as long as you remember: respect and do not fear trouble, and you can probably solve most problems. If you are going to write or keep records, you must understand "Creative Commons (CreativeCommons)." Digital cameras are very convenient, but you must pay great attention to the rights and privacy of the "people in the images."

Third, regarding information security, ID numbers, credit card numbers, children's photos, and real names are all taboo. When using the internet or asking netizens to leave information, you should avoid these fields as much as possible, unless you know the website is truly trustworthy. In addition, avoid unnecessary connections, for example: do not link your mobile phone number with your community location, and do not link your travel notes with your child's school.

Participation and Sharing

Young friends who want to enter farming villages must, in a planned way and through the internet, systematically collect information and improve their overall awareness of external influences.

In industry, to develop a new technology or propose a new research direction, people use an analytical method called STEEP (Social, Technology, Economics, Environment, Policy) to understand external influencing factors from the social, technological, economic, environmental, and policy dimensions, in order to confirm that the new technology truly has value and demand, and to develop the most appropriate solutions or innovative practices.

We can imitate this STEEP framework and systematically organize at any time the external influences faced by farming villages, paying attention to oil prices, climate change, food policy, the current state of water resources, and related technological developments. If you do not know how to begin for the moment, under the above STEEP framework, in each field, identify a few keywords, follow twitter microblogs, google reader, and you will soon gain a great deal.

In addition, through the internet, connecting people determined to survive sustainably on the land of Taiwan is also very worthwhile.

You should write a blog, shoot videos, participate in petitions, take part in public online forums and discussion boards, and even more actively write articles and submit letters to highlight the value of farming villages. If possible, you can also use existing platforms to contribute and accumulate knowledge. For example, what you can do is claim and write rural and agriculture-related topics on Wikipedia, or provide Wikinews information, or even write your farm manual or share your planting plan on Wikibooks.

A New-Century Humble Room Inscription

Liu Yuxi of the Tang Dynasty, dissatisfied with the court environment of his time, could hide away in a remote village during his exile, engaging in poetic and literary creation on the one hand, and pursuing a leisurely life to adjust his spirit on the other, building a humble room in Hezhou.

However, in the 21st century today, Christopher Flavin, chairman of the WorldWatchInstitute, says: "It is now almost certain that children born today will face a difficult life caused by a ruthless warming world ... food supplies will decrease ... the coral reefs that nourish fish stocks face collapse, whether you live in the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere, whether you are rich or poor." What he means is: we have nowhere to hide.

Only by recognizing that human society is a "Web of causality forfood," glory, achievement, and effort must ultimately be linked to food. Many of the latest studies and documents point out that properly caring for rural villages and agriculture can not only cool the Earth, but also feed humanity. In the 21st century, we need more young people willing to enter the countryside and build huts, and to compose a new-century humble room inscription.

Further Reading
21st Century Humble Room Inscription (1) Building a New Farming Village Civilization