Monday, February 28, 2011

Fresh Faces

Hearing Chris Dufour speak was interesting. Interesting in the sense that it was entertaining and educational at the same time. Compared to John Brown's words of wisdom, Dufour was a fresh-face to public diplomacy.

I like how Dufour acknowledged the discrepancies in the definition of pubic diplomacy, and broke it down into its basic elements, influence and communication. He stresses the fact that our government agencies need to improve their engagement with one another, something Hillary Clinton also emphasizes in the QDDR. He further emphasizes ICT's and social media as tools for change, not change themselves or means to an end. This obviously (and maybe not so obviously for some, ahem, the US) means that culture and values matter. People want to hear what they care about.

Chris Dufour believes that there is a place for 2.0 in modern public diplomacy and I agree. With ICT technology and globalization its silly not to use these tools to their full potential. Dufour's speech left a positive impression, that the potential for positive change is possible, we just have to make it happen.

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