Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Mead. Margaret Mead spoken such simple words with such profound impact, and just recently, to an audience at George Mason University, Micheal Wesch made those same words come alive.
Category: Blog
I just got back from the International Conference on Crisis Mapping (ICCM 2010) held at Tufts and Harvard Universities. The conference brought together key members of the NGO community, United Nations Agencies, private sector players like Google and Microsoft, and academics from various institutions. A number of TechChange friends were also in attendance: USIP, FrontlineSMS: Medic, Development Seed, Ushahidi, ICT4Peace Foundation, and UN Global Pulse. Also met some new friends including the folks at Digital Democracy, the Konpa Group and more.
The core project of the San Francisco based non-profit Censorship Research Center (CRC) — Haystack: Good Luck Finding That Needle — has recently been under much uncensored scrutiny.
In 2009, CRC — run by Austin Heap (Executive Director) and Daniel Colascione — created the flagship proxy software that allowed Iranians to get online in a post-election climate of censored Internet. In its initial days, Heap and Haystack got much praise — and rightfully so — as it was created with positive intentions to help voiceless Iranians find their voices online. The role social media played during the election aftermath — which saw the much disputed victory of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over Green opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi — shaped the online Green Movement. Digital cameras and smartphones soared high in the air, capturing everything from protester chants to the tragic death of Neda Agha Soltan, and it was all uploaded to the Internet for the world to see.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia was established in 2005 as part of the country’s transition of bloody civil war into an emerging democracy. Considering the mass destruction of basic services and infrastructure, however, lack of physical access to the capital of Monrovia for many Liberians has posed a serious obstacle to the objective of the Commission. A solution has come from an unlikely source in Atlanta, Georgia, thanks to some creative technological innovations.
For nearly two thousand years, Silk Road land and sea routs — which created an “intercontinental think tank of human ingenuity” in terms of trade and communication — connected the Mediterranean to Persia, Indian to Japan, and many more places within Eurasia. Media technologies, such as the printing press, even found their way across these merchant paths some years ago. Today, now online, “The Silk Road Project takes inspiration from this age-old tradition of cross-cultural exchange.”
We live in the age of data. Open source software, content aggregation software, GPS and mobile technology have changed the way in which we collect, interpret and analyze the magnitude of data.
In a country where the Queen has her own YouTube Channel, you would think Internet is a free and open space for all, but not exactly.
Because Jordanian authorities believe that “browsing the Internet is a waste of work time and a huge drain on public money,” 48 local news websites were recently blocked in all workplaces. Of the news websites blocked, both government endorsed Petra News Agency and Al Rai newspaper were on the list. The blogger behind The Black Iris of Jordan notes that of the 70 million websites explored during working hours, only 13,000 of those are relevant to the employees jobs. In light of these new online restrictions, the government even ordered “Internet café owners to install surveillance cameras.”
Bangladesh. Most people have rarely heard of this tiny country the size of the state of New York nestled in India’s “armpit” and even fewer will be able to tell you its capital. But sooner or later, we are all going to have to start paying attention. This is because Dhaka, the current capital of Bangladesh and formerly one of the most important hotspots of the British empire during the industrial revolution, is the world’s fastest growing megacity. According to an article on Global Post about megacities from September 8, 2010, Dhaka doubled in population between 1990 and 2005, currently boasts 15 million residents and is projected to surpass 20 million people by 2025. As a native of Dhaka city, I was left with a myriad of questions about what all this means not just for Bangladesh but also for the sub-continent and the world.
Look familiar? Another Abu Ghraib photo frenzy? Needless to say, not the first of its kind.
Photos taken by former IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldier Eden Abergil of her 2008 Gaza Strip experiences — paraded in her Facebook photo display titled “The Army.. the most beautiful time of my life 🙂” — has caused online outcry. The photo album, which was once public, has now been personally censored by Abergil and blocked from others to see.
On June 24th, TechChange co-hosted an event with the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) entitled: Can You Help Me Now? Mobile Phones and Peacebuilding in Afghanistan. The event featured panelists who were country experts on Afghanistan, the director for corporate affairs at the Afghan telecommunications company Roshan, policy makers from the U.S. Department of State, Department of Defense and USAID, as well as innovators from the technology for development field. (more…)