After telling friends and family that I got an internship with the British Embassy in Manila many asked me about the work that I would be doing over there and to be frank I wasn't able to give them a clear cut answer. The longer I thought about it the more I came to realize that an answer had to be as varied as the work done by diplomatic missions across the globe. Not only did they issue visas and passports and represent their respective governments abroad but additionally they were pretty much engaged (to some more and lesser extent) within their host countries in areas varying from trade to development aid.
Unfortunately I won't be able to gather experiences in all those areas during my limited stay at the British Embassy, however I will have the privilege to work in the Policy, Projects and Communications Section for the next 3 weeks as their new Digital Diplomacy Intern.
Don't worry if you had never heard of the term. To be honest 'Digital Diplomacy' wasn't a term I was familiar with either...but after some digging I was made aware that the term is part of the FCO's (British Foreign & Commonwealth Office) campaign to fully embrace the IT revolution and use the means of the internet to conduct conventional diplomacy. Now, you may question the importance of doing traditional diplomatic work on-line but fact is that the internet represents a valuable tool in conducting effective public diplomacy, that is seeking exposure and engagement with a public audience.
Here's where I come into play. Specifically I will be surfing the internet in my official capacity to do research on blogs, social networking pages, forums, interactive websites, and other avenues, focused on climate change, human rights, democratic process, governance and economic reform. During my 'voyages' I will hopefully be able to pick up certain issues that I will feature in some of my coming posts on this blog.
More on FCO Digital Diplomacy
http://digitaldiplomacy.fco.gov.uk/en/about/digital-diplomacy/
Please feel free to share your views and comment, I would be happy to attend to your issues in some of my later posts.
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