On May 10, the first ever Pangea Day is being organized in communities around the world to screen films made by ordinary people for ordinary people. The event aims to build compassion and tolerance by bridging once formidable human borders through the power of visual media.

There is no doubt that the campaign includes some slick and affective outreach, perhaps a given since talented filmmakers, big thinkers, and even movie stars are at the helm of this ambitious project (Jehane Noujaim, director of the critically acclaimed documentary Control Room donated her TED prize money to this event). The use and deployment of new media is also impressive, as seen in their geo-assisted "meet-up" strategy of both decentralizing and propagating the event to hosted house parties.

Moreover, with the ubiquity and relative affordability of sophisticated electronic devices and internet access in all corners of the globe, this project has a real potential to leapfrog technological limitations that have diminished the effectiveness of such UN/MTV-type campaigns in the past. Here's one of their slick ads:

However, the potential downsides of these technologies, which Pangea Day indirectly promotes as democratization tools, should also be considered. In addition to the mountains of toxic waste produced by the high turnover of consumer electronics (check in with the Basel Action Network), the new networked society that Pangea Day celebrates may have dangerous unintended consequences. The possible rise of an "attention deficit disorder"-like approach to issues that sees a rush of enormous immediate interest but an evaporation of long-term commitment has been raised by some, although also disputed by others. The same is true of the notion of balkanization of the internet community, where group polarization tends to occur in highly politicized and rambunctious web forums and blogs (this would entirely upend the Pangea Day concept). Whether this has an impact on day-to-day behaviour or whether this only further reflects the democratizing potential of the web, has yet to be studied.

Regardless, the fact that Pangea Day sparks these thoughts is a step forward. And hopefully we'll be seeing some challenging works that break new ground rather than rehashing a very hokey and very cloying "We are the World/Live Aid" style event.