Social Good Summit: Day 2 Recap

Today's sessions were definitely star-studded, with athletes, singers, actors, and other noted personalities gracing the stage.

"The question of all questions: how do you prepare a human being to not use technology for the wrong reasons." Elie Wiesel

In a four-day summit discussing the power of technology and social media, the second day's first session started on a very different note. Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel doesn't seem to take to technology. In fact he stated that he doesn't use the computer. "I come from an old generation. I use the pen," he said. Wiesel's words were a welcome addition to the summit, touching about the potential negatives of technology. "You can use technology against humanity unfortunately," he stated. But he asked young people who use social media or technology to "respect the words. Respect the other."

"We are exporting a negative portrayal of women around the world." Geena Davis

At the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, actress Geena Davis in on a mission to clean up the portrayal of women in media. Davis is concerned that media do not portray women in a variety of occupations and this stereotyped portrayal is being exported around the world. "Eighty percent of the media consumed worldwide is produced in the US," she said. For example, only 17% of crowd scenes are female. Her institute is working with media executives to push for more females onscreen and in more occupations.

"The yellow band democratized philanthropy. It also de-stigmatized the disease that we fight." Doug Ulman, President & CEO of LIVESTRONG

Athlete Lance Armstrong and LIVESTRONG President & CEO Doug Ulman championed the use of messaged rubber wristbands to spread awareness on a particular issue, or in their case cancer. Now, like many other non-profits, the organization is using technology and social media to create awareness. Ulman stressed that the message has to be authentic, regardless of the messaging medium. He also noted a challenge in targeting messages online to specific audiences. Prior to social media, the team would snail mail or phone call potential donors to help with their advocacy and public policy campaigns. Now, "social media allows us to be more effective in the public policy arena for very little cost," Ulman stated.

"If you can't promote education, you can't end poverty. We need to break this cycle." Jeff Sachs, Director of The Earth Institute

The Earth Institute and Ericsson have teamed up to use broadband and mobile technology to improve education around the world through the organization Connect to Learn.  Jeff Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, started the session with an overview of the state of education in the world. There are approximately 100 million primary school aged children not in school around the world. He also noted that the MDG goals were inadequate in not including secondary education as its aim.  Secondary education is imperative to land jobs and move ahead in society. Hans Vestberg, CEO of Ericsson predicted that by 2016, 5 billion people will have mobile broadband capabilities. This can help education. "Teachers get a chance to get access to information to teach children," Vestberg said.

"Malaria is a bigger killer than AIDS and we don't talk about it enough." Derrick Ashong, host of The Stream on Al Jazeera English

In the last panel of the day, actress-singer Mandy Moore and Al Jazeera English host Derrick Ashong wanted to bring greater awareness to malaria.  Speaking on behalf of Nothing but Nets, the duo talked about problems stemming from malaria in Africa. "Every 45 seconds a child dies of malaria," Moore said. "I've had malaria 3 or 4 times," Ashong said. "Malaria medicine is expensive and it is not a guarantee. It's a huge drain on productivity and the economy in Africa."