Global | June 30, 2010 by Susannah Vila Posted in Global, Three Questions

Expanding the Pie: Three Questions for Nicholas Kristof

In Nicholas Kristof's New York Times column, he often covers human rights abuses in Africa and Asia. It's not easy to maintain an audience's interest in such difficult topics as human trafficking and forced prostitution, much less to encourage people take action.

So how does Kristof keep his audience engaged and growing? What advice does he have for activists looking to increase the amount of people in the world who care about their cause? And as more people employ digital activism, will it lose its edge? 

We chat with the columnist for this inaugural edition of our "Three Questions" series.

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August 31, 2010 by Brannon Cullum Posted in Censorship, China

State Run Search Engines—Should We Be Worried?

The governments of China, Iran, Russia, and Turkey have announced plans to develop and run national search engines. Is this a move to further control the information seen and read by citizens or an attempt to make searching easier? Will national search engines leave those already using circumvention tactics unscathed while harming those netizens without the skills or time to circumvent filters? And should we be more worried about the driving force of this trend—the increasing politicization of technology companies like Google—than the trend itself?  

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Global | August 15, 2010 by Esra'a al Shafei Posted in Networked Activism

Is Digital Activism Ruined?

An essay published last week at The Guardian argued that digital activism has devolved into nothing more than "clicktivism," or a lesser breed of activism that's overly focused on marketing strategy. In response, AYM delegate Esra'a al Shafei posted her thoughts and advice for would-be digital activists:

I have mixed feelings about the term “clicktivism.” My concern is that every digital campaign will be slapped with that label by default and therefore quickly ignored or dismissed as ineffective. On the other hand, I see where the term is inspired from.

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Indian Kashmir | August 06, 2010 by Brannon Cullum Posted in Human Rights, Protests, Social Media

Protests in Indian Kashmir: How Violent Will It Get?

Bans on social media and texting, police intimidation, and curfews have become a normal way of life for Kashmiris speaking and acting out in protest of India’s hard-handed rule of the region. With more action by the Indian government to block tools for communication and to quash efforts by citizens to mobilize, how will Kashmiris move forward?

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August 05, 2010 by Brannon Cullum Posted in Regular Features, How To

How to: Access Blocked Information

Repressive regimes around the world are growing all the more savvy about censoring, monitoring, and filtering what citizens can see and do on the web. For example, Facebook is banned in Pakistan,YouTube in Turkey, and Flickr in Iran. On the OpenNet Initiative's Social Media Filtering Map, you can see all the different countries around the world where sites like these are blocked. The organization Reporters Without Borders publishes an annual "Internet Enemies" list of the worst violators of freedom of expression. Its latest list has 12 countries, including Saudi Arabia, China, Burma, Egypt, and Iran. 

Fortunately, there are a number of digital tools out there that can help you circumvent a government block and gain access to websites, chat rooms, and newsgroups that are banned. We've tried to write best practices guides (we call them how tos!) for as many of these tools as we can spot. Check them out and let us know what you think in the comments section! 

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Egypt | August 02, 2010 by Susannah Vila Posted in Human Rights, Protests

Keeping an Eye on Police Brutality in Egypt

At the beginning of this summer, a 28-year-old Egyptian was dragged out of an internet café and beaten to death. The young man, named Khaled Said, was apparently targeted because he intended to post a video that showed police officers dividing the spoils of a drug bust. 

Over the past couple of months Egyptians have reacted in a few different ways. They've held protests called "silent stands," which involve coming together in long chains to, well, stand silently, often while reading the Qur’an or Bible. These are an effort to get around the Emergency Law that bans assemblies of five people or more. They've participated in a Facebook group that's grown to nearly 300,000 members and launched a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #KhaledSaid.

We've put together a page dedicated to the events surrounding Said's death, the trial of the police offers involved, and police brutality in Egypt more generally. Check it out here. Don't forget to add links, thoughts, and information in the comments section—we will update it continually.

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Global | July 30, 2010 by Susannah Vila Posted in Collaboration, Human Rights, Mapping Information, Ushahidi, Networked Activism

Tackling Human Trafficking

Ushahidi (click here to find out what that is) has proven itself an effective platform for mapping events in crisis situations. But is it the right tool for mapping resources over an extended period of time?

Aashika Damodar, who was looking to track global resources for documenting and preventing trafficking: the movement of people against their will for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor, wanted to find out. 

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