We all have values we live by. Sometimes we are aware of them, sometimes we are not. Some are personal, some our communal, and some are part of the broader culture or cultures we live in. A crude way to discover some of them is to look at what we spend our time and money on. This is true for individuals, communities, organisations, and societies. And it may or may not be aligned with what we say we value.

When we interact with other societies with different values to ours it is often very difficult to not try to convert the ‘other’ to our value system. We want to convert, not be converted.

This happens in all of life and especially when we have money to implement projects or promote technology. What is right and wrong can be a challenging conversation to keep open, to be about learning rather than conversion. This has become exponentially more important to figure out in a digital world and yet we often forget to.

If you know of people who are doing this well – learning rather than cultural colonialism – can you tell me about them or connect me to them?

The choice is up to us.

Photo by Franco Antonio Giovanella