May 2013
1 post
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Transparency in Public Works Contracting - A...
In Lima, where I live, the topic of public works (“obras” in Spanish…things like streets, parks, bridges) is extremely politically charged. That’s why this emerging initiative, led by Transparency International Peru, may have legs. We’re working with TI-Peru on their strategy and technology choices around the project - read more.
April 2013
3 posts
Venezuela Inteligente and Elección Ciudadana focus... →
Over at Global Voices, I just posted on two new initiatives in Venezuela that I think are worth following.
1 tag
A New Report on New Technologies Against Petty... →
How are advocacy initiatives in different parts of the world using technology to bring about more transparency and accountability in public service delivery?
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11 New Initiatives Using Technology to Advocate... →
The Transparency International People Engagement Programme recently awarded grants to country chapters with ideas for mobilizing more people in their countries around anti-corruption campaigns. The common thread among these new initiatives was a clear recognition of the potential that web and mobile-based technologies have to engage people. Each project faces a distinct set of challenges.
February 2013
1 post
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January 2013
1 post
How Text Messages Could Change Peace Advocacy →
In this new post up at the engine room we showcase a great new initiative and talk a bit about our process of matching advocates to expertise.
October 2012
2 posts
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How Many Citizens Does it Take To Create a... →
I thought that a project called MorsiMeter which emerged in Egypt this year demonstrated some interesting lessons learned for the use of new media to improve channels of communication between citizens and government, so I interviewed the co-founder about what, exactly, he’s learned.
3 tags
3 Reasons Why Ushahidi Should Not Help Users...
What is the role of technology companies in facilitating social impact? I look a this in in the context of the crowdsourced mapping platform, Ushahidi, here. My hope is that the non profit tech company will stop suggesting to users that maps on their own can affect social change, and start directing users to the strategy support they need in order to use maps as one (of many) tools in advocacy for...
September 2012
1 post
8 tags
New Media and Advocacy Training in Lima, Peru
I’m in Lima, Peru this week to attend and participate in an event on social change and technology. These actually aren’t first impressions so much as links to projects related to citizen participation, government accountability and ICTs in Lima. I wanted to get them down on paper at the beginning of the week, and hopefully by the end I will have learnt a lot more about these...
August 2012
1 post
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Pushing for More Responsive Local Government in... →
I’m excited about what seems to be a growing community citizen engagement and government transparency initiatives in Lima, Peru. A good example is Todos Somos Dateros (We Are All Data Providers). A two year old initiative that I spoke to last week in order to get an update on what’s worked, hasn’t worked and what’s next for them.
June 2012
1 post
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New Media & Advocacy Training in Kazakhstan
I’m just back from a trip to Kazakhstan where I participated in the Tech Forum Central Asia as a technology trainer, and have posted the presentations from the workshops I led. The first, here, is all about turning red dots on a map into actions, and the second, here, went through the building blocks for an effective crowdsourcing initiative (theme of the day: feedback loops ;).
September 2011
2 posts
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Too Many Messages and Only One Facebook Page:...
This post draws from over 30 in-depth, semi structured interviews conducted with coordinators of and participants in the Egyptian revolution between March and August 2011 that I did in collaboration with the engine room. It was originally published on Technosociology.org
By late July, Egyptian protesters in Cairo had been camped out in Tahrir Square for nearly 3 weeks. Though the mood was...
4 tags
Training in Sri Lanka for South Asia's Youngest...
I just got back from doing a new media advocacy week long workshop in Sri Lanka with youth leaders from throughout South Asia. Posted this at The Huffington Post
This summer, frustration towards pervasive corruption in India reached a tipping point when hunger striker Anna Hazare mobilized thousands. While an awakening of the world’s largest pluralistic democracy should perhaps not come as a huge...
July 2011
1 post
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Speaking at the Personal Democracy Forum on...
Here’s a good write-up of my panel at the Personal Democracy Forum this June, written by The Reboot’s Emma Gardner, who was in the audience (thanks for joining Emma, although why anyone went to our panel over Cory Doctorow’s is a mystery ;). She writes:
In a globalized world, technology originally designed to solve a particular problem for a subset of people in the US (say,...
May 2011
1 post
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How To Sustain a Social Movement After Initial...
At Mashable, I just posted some tips for keeping supporters engaged around a campaign or cause, in the context of recent and ongoing pro-democracy campaigns in the Middle East and North Africa. Here’s an excerpt:
Egyptians’ effective use of Facebook has given life to a slew of hopeful pages and groups throughout the region. This makes sense: Facebook, if combined with the right message,...
April 2011
1 post
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Speaking on NPR about Social Movements and...
As someone who looks closely at the role of new technologies in movement building, it’s been interesting, and often disheartening, to see how youth movements that are harnessing technology more than ever also face challenges in reconstituting themselves after initial big successes. The characteristics of a networked social movement are as advantageous for mobilization as they are hurdles for...
March 2011
1 post
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Speaking at South by Southwest on Lessons Learned...
At the South by Southwest conference in Austin, TX last week, I spoke about lessons learned for activists from the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. Here’s an excerpt from my write up of the talk, posted at Movements.org:
SXSW Interactive is over, and I’m happy to report that while the topic of technology’s role in social movements was was a popular one, I never...
