Models of Unity

Armenian Church, Tbilisi, Georgia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2009

I came across the work of Onnik Krikorian awhile back. He is an Armenia-based British journalist who has done some inspiring work on coexistence in the South Caucusus. He is especially interested in how social media tools (like Facebook) can be used to bridge divides in this region, especially between Azeri’s and Armenians. Krikorian is optimistic, but the debate still rages on whether these tools create understanding or more polarization. As an article last year from The Economist points out, people tend to stay with their own identity groups across the Internet.  I’ve done a fair bit of research myself on this topic. My conclusion is that there is a lot more bonding among like-minded groups happening online vs. bridging across divides. Needless to say, I am hoping for more innovations on the  latter!