DigiActive.org

Opportunities: Mozilla Service Week ‘09 (Sept 14-21)

We encourage all our readers (and members) to take advantage of the opportunity provided by Mozilla Service Week and its partners from September 14th to September 21st. Non profit organizations, activists and causes can seek tech help from thousands of volunteers who have already pledged more than 9000 hours providing assistance in web design, social media outreach, tech training, etc..

The project website details some ways you can provide and seek help:

During the week of September 14-21, you can make a serious difference in your local community. Here are just a few ideas of ways you can help:

• Teach senior citizens how to use the Web.
• Show a non-profit how to use social networking to grow its base of supporters.
• Help install a wireless network at a school.
• Create Web how-to materials for a library’s computer cluster.
• Refurbish hardware for a local computer center.
• Update a non-profit organization’s website.
• Teach the values of the open Web to other public benefit organizations.

Opportunities for Activists

Searching through #MozService09 opportunities on the Idealist website for “Activism” related projects already turns up about 30 interesting projects internationally including:

1. Graphic Designer
   Wetlands Activism Collective
   New York, New York  United States
   Last updated on: July 24, 2009
   Description: Wetlands Activism Collective seeks a graphic design student, professional, or other graphic skilled individual to design websites, publications, banners, presentations and educational displays. Helpful Skills: * Proficiency in graphic design for w…

1. Human Rights department
   ThirdWay Human Rights & Development NGO
   Amersfoort, Netherlands  Virtual
   Last updated on: September 3, 2009
   Description: One of ThirdWay’s primary goals in the future is to develop a Human Rights Education Centre in Anyako, Ghana. The center will be a beacon of activism and progress for the community. It will primarily focus on providing Human Rights classes that emphasize ..

Follow the Discussion on Twitter:

You can follow the discussion about the service week on twitter by following the #MozService09 hashtag.

The project is also hosting a Twitter chat on Monday, September 14, at 9am Pacific ( 5pm London time, 9:30pm in India) and will last for 1.5 hours.

DigiActive’s Participation:

Members of the (already all-volunteer) DigiActive team who think this is a brilliant idea have pledged to provide 100 hours of help to any organization or activist cause seeking assistance with their online strategies and digital activism tactics through the Service Week.

We also receive daily requests from activist campaigns working on human rights issues asking for technology and strategy assistance and we will encourage them to post their requests & find volunteers through #mozservice09.

R@D: Mobile Phones as a Tool for Civil Resistance – Case Studies from Serbia and Belarus

The purpose of Research@DigiActive (R@D) is to produce applied, thought-provoking, actionable research at the cutting edge of Digital Activism. It seeks to highlight and disseminate studies in the new academic field of digital activism by publishing short papers by promising scholars. To submit a paper or get more information, please contact our Director of Applied Research, Patrick Meier, at Patrick AT Digiactive.org.

Title: Mobile Phones as a Tool for Civil Resistance – Case Studies from Serbia and Belarus

Author: Fabien Miard

Abstract: The recent so-called “Twitter Revolutions” in Moldova and Iran have created a renewed interest in the role of new communication technologies in civil resistance and social protest activities. It is a new example in a growing list of events where such technologies played an important role in facilitating protests. Twitter and other microblogging platforms represent a new phenomenon because they easily work across different types of communication technologies such as instant messaging, blogging, and text messaging. This convergence also draws attention to the wide-spread use of mobile phones in civil resistance, a factor often overlooked by Internet enthusiasts. This R@D product summarizes some key insights from interviews with civil activists in both Serbia and Belarus that were part of a master thesis project on mobile phone usage in protest movements, and it links them to insights gained from the recent “Twitter Revolutions”. Although the cases of Serbia and Belarus might initially seem similar because of their geographic proximity, struggles with dictatorial leaders, and historical Communist dominance, mobile phone use by activists in these countries is markedly different. Mobile phones were a critical tactical tool in bringing down Milosevic in 2000. However, only 8 years later, mobiles are less useful to anti-Lukashenka Belarusian activists in the present day because of the state’s increasingly effective surveillance of mobile communication.

Read the publication…

Tactic: Homelessness highlighted in video

Description: The current economic downturn continues to take its toll in both industrialized and developing countries. According to a report from UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing Miloon Kothari, nearly one billion people around the world lack adequate housing, and approximately 100 million people have no housing of any kind. Recently, there have been efforts to spotlight the plight of society’s most vulnerable members.

Digital Tools Being Used: Video, Blog, Twitter, Text Messaging

What Are They Doing: TakePart.com is a cause-related site designed to help explore today’s pressing issues using video, images and audio, and added actions to make a difference such as signing a petition or educating the community. Their latest video is called Beth’s Story, which looks at homelessness.

“Beth’s Story, was created to shine a light on the millions of people living on the street who are often times overlooked, said TakePart.com organizer KC Webster. “She is a composite of their many complicated, often heartbreaking realities and of the issues and challenges lead to homelessness.”

Impact: It is too early to tell the ultimate impact of the campaign, but so far, success has been made. Beth’s Story has also been promoted on TakePart’s blog, Twitter feed, text messaging and YouTube account, each tool has a few hundred followers supporting the cause.

“We are trying to get the word out about Beth’s Story, to get as many eyeballs to recognize the homeless issue as possible (On You Tube it is already 21,555 views strong!) and to realize that even though most of us are only exposed to numbing statistics, each individual number has a story,” Webster said.

Tool: Live Video Stream of Georgian Protests

UPDATE: On April 22nd, protests are scheduled to begin at 3pm local time (GMT +4).

Click the image above to view live footage of the central protest site in Tbilisi.

Background: The screen-shot above shows that all is quiet.  While it is 10pm for me here in the US, it is 6am in Tbilisi, Georgia, which has been rocked by protests since April 9th.  Global press coverage has wained, but the protests continue.  Earlier today, opposition leader Levan Gachechiladze called for a “ghetto of tents” to be raised on Tbilisi’s main street, Rustaveli Avenue.  As you can see from the image of the street above, those tents are really make-shift jail cells (upper left), constructed by protesters who claim that President Mikheil Saakashvili’s government is becoming ever more repressive and authoritarian.  Their ultimate goal is that Saakashvili resign.

The live stream (click HERE to view live footage of the protest area) has been posted online by Maestro, a television station which has previously tussled with the government.  According to a U.S. State Department report, They were denied a license to broadcast political programs in 2007 by the government’s Communication Commission.  After broadcasting the audio of the the shows over images of music videos, the government formally warned the station that they lacked the proper license, then rejected their application.  The license was finally granted after international pressure was placed on Saakashvili’s government.

Applications for Activists:  Although this live stream was set up by a television station, it could also be set up for relatively low cost by using a free platform like UStream or Mogulus and a web cam.  The possibility of live-streaming protests gives new meaning to the old phrase “the whole world is watching.”  With live streaming, activists can create an alternate source of surveillance and, if they are able to collect footage of abuses, hold leaders accountable.

Drawbacks: The limitations of live streaming are both logistical and technical.  It only makes sense to create a live stream of a specific location if you know something will happen there.  In this case, the opposition placed physical props in the location and announced it as the scene of the protests, so they have some control over whether the protests will actually occur there.  On the technical side, streaming video requires high bandwidth.  (Mogulus, for example, recommends 700 Kbps or higher upstream bandwidth for high quality).  So activists with low bandwidth would be advised to capture visual evidence via photos and post them on the free site Flickr or take short video clips with a mobile phone or digital camera and upload them to YouTube or human rights platform The Hub.

Hat-tip: my friend at the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia

Tactic: Moldovans “break tweets” with gov’t protest

Description: If you love Twitter, and use it as one of your main sources of getting breaking news or the latest protest, it might be time for you to bookmark Breaking Tweets on your computer/mobile phone. Created by DePaul University grad student Craig Kanalley, Breaking Tweets is a breaking news service that intergrates Twitter and traditional media outlets on event coverage. According to BeatBlogging, Breaking Tweets editors “write a one or two paragraph explanatory intro about the story, then come the tweeters, who send opinions, analysis and eyewitness media. Editors cull the best and most insightful tweets from the bunch, as well as occasionally interjecting with their own updates.” This tool has also come in handy recently to help digital activists in Moldova.

Digital Tools Being Used: Twitter

What Are They Doing: Nearly 10,000 protesters in the former Soviet state protested its Communisty government Tuesday using the hashtag #pman on Twitter to rally Moldovans as well as allow others around the world to get updates. Breaking Tweets wrote a summary about the protest and posted the most insighful tweets representing the events.

Tactic: Using Twitter to Coordinate Protests in London

Description: Believe it or not, citizen journalism didn’t just start recently with blogs and Facebook. The Independent Media Center (IMC) was established in 1999 to provide grassroots coverage to the Seattle WTO protests. IMC has since become an international “network of collectively run media outlets for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of the truth.” Nowadays, the network is also using new media tools to report the unreported. Today’s Financial Fool’s Day protests in London once again spotlights how IMC still reigns in digital activism.

Later in the evening, there were reports from the police published in the mainstream media that a protester died after collasping; however, Indymedia London said it can not confirm this information. Protesters with any information are asked to contact Indymedia London dispatch and the legal team at Bindmans Solicitors on 02078334433 to clarify the circumstances of this death.

Apply for the International School on Digital Transformation

Description:  The first International School on Digital Transformation will be held in Porto, Portugal the third week of July.   It will be an intensive six-day residential program, conducted in English and bringing together emerging and established scholars and professionals from around the world. During the week-long session, innovators in digital communications will serve as teachers and mentors, presenting their current projects and research and participating in discussions with advanced students and professionals beginning careers in the field. Presenters and students will be regarded as peers during the School.

The speakerers will include Friends of DigiActive Sunil Abraham of the Centre for Internet and Society,  Stephanie Hankey and Marek Tuszynski (tentative) of Tactical Tech, and Katrin Verclas of MobileActive, in addition to a group of over a dozen international scholars in the field.

Dates:  Sunday, July 19 – Friday, July 24, 2009

Location:  University of Porto, Portugal

Organizer: University of Texas Austin-Portugal Colaboratory, or CoLab

Format: The school is six days long.  There will be a 90-minute session of lecture and discussion in the morning, free time for teachers and students to interact and explore the city in the afternoon, and two more 90-minute lecture and discussion sessions in the evening, followed by a communal meal.

Costs:  Tuition will be between €300 and €400.  Students must also cover the cost of their own travel to Portugal.

Who should apply: Advanced students and recent graduates from around the world with an interest in how digital technologies are changing societies and the world as a whole.

How to apply: Apply here!

Hat tip: Patrick Meier

Tactic: Twestival – Tweet, Meet, Give

Description: On February 12th, over 175 cities will be holding Twestival events as a fundraiser for Charity: Water, a nonprofit organization that works to provide clean and safe drinking water to developing nations. All money raised during the event will be used to drill wells which can cost anywhere from $4,000 – $12,000. Twestivals are a new opportunity for people everywhere to take action at a local level in order to collectively help the global movement.

Digital Tools Being Used: Twitter

How These Tools Are Being Used: Twitter is rapidly gaining popularity and pushing into mainstream media. The idea of doing Twestivals came from a group of people who knew each other through twitter. The event is a combination of a twitter meetup and a fundraiser. This idea can be easily replicated for any organization, grassroots group and/or cause. The internet and social networking sites have made it possible for people to get their cause out to massive amounts of people. This is a great model of activating a large network of people all across the world.

Outcome: The goal of the Twestival is to raise $500,000. Beth Kanter brings up some interesting questions about how the Twestival works and questions if this is a massive opportunity or just a distraction for nonprofit organizations. I guess we’ll see what the outcomes are after the event is over.

Sources: Twestival, Charity: Water, Beth’s Blog, Mashable

Campaign: Digital Tools and the Greek Riots

Digital tools have been used to organize violent protests, but could also be used for peaceful change.

Description: Since an Athenian teenager was accidentally killed by a policeman’s bullet on December 6th, Greece has been gripped by riots. While DigiActive does not condone the violent nature of the actions taken, we do acknowledge the value of discussing the digital activism techniques used, as they may be of value to nonviolent campaigns for change.

Digital Activism Tools: citizen journalism web site (Indymedia Athens: http://athens.indymedia.org), Facebook, SMS

How These Tools Are Being Used: The Athens page of the international citizen journalism site Indymedia.org has been a prime location for mobilizing support for the protests. The site also gives other useful information, such as what a protester should do if they are arrested. In addition to publishing its own information, the site has also re-broadcasts SMS messages, which protesters are using to organize actions such as the occupation of university buildings. By re-broadcasting SMS messages on the internet, they are given a wider audience than simply the social network of the sender and thus larger actions can be organized.

Facebook is also playing a role in the protests. Several groups have been set up for the teenage who was killed, Alexandros Grigoropoulos. Together, they have approximately 187,000 members. The largest group, ALEXANDROS GRIGOROPOULOS (R.I.P.), which boasts 136,500 members, includes messages about upcoming protests as well as remembrances of Alexandros.

Outcome: There have been 176 arrests and $1.3 billion in property damage yet there is little indication that protests have resulted in any positive outcomes addressing protesters’ underlying concerns with poverty, corruption, and a weak education system.

Sources: Reuters Blog, New York Times, and AllVoices.com (photo)

Campaign: Online activists want Indigenous rights protected

Description:Protecting the rights of indigenous people has always been a thorny issue for the international community. Indigenous peoples and their interests are represented in the United Nations primarily through the Expert mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous People. Last year the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a non-binding declaration outlining the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, as well as their rights to identity, culture, language, employment, health, education and other issues. Most countries – 143 of them – voted for the declaration, while 11 nations abstained and 34 nations didn’t vote at all. Four countries – the United States, New Zealand, Canada and Australia – voted against the declaration. Now, online activists are trying to get the leaders of the four industrialized countries to change their votes.

Digital Tools Being Used: Facebook

What Are They Doing: Indigenous rights activists worldwide have form a Facebook group to agitate President-elect Barack Obama to adopt the declaration. Users can also read articles and view images and videos relating to Native issues. Group members are currently under discussions to start a second Facebook group to petition Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.