[p2p-research] Fwd: The Drum Beat - 515 - Internet Human Rights Activism

Sat Oct 24 07:46:32 CEST 2009

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: The Drum Beat <drumbeat at comminit.com>
Date: Sat, Oct 24, 2009 at 4:44 AM
Subject: The Drum Beat - 515 - Internet Human Rights Activism
To: michelsub2004 at gmail.com

The Drum Beat - Issue 515 - Internet Human Rights Activism
October 26 2009

===

This issue includes:

* ACTIVISM EXAMPLES
* HAVE YOUR SAY: Newspapers and democracy.
* Advocates: PROTECTING, SHARING, DEBATING
* Please tell us your CI STORIES!
* HOW TO'S of internet advocacy and campaigning.

===

>From The Communication Initiative Network - where communication and media
are central to social and economic development.

Subscribe to The Drum Beat: http://www.comminit.com/en/user/register
Access this issue online at http://www.comminit.com/en/drum_beat_515.html

Drum Beat Subscribers: 44,673
CI Portal User Sessions, past 12 months: 3,030,625

===

This issue of The Drum Beat offers a selection of resources and initiatives
available on The CI website focused on digital strategies and tools for
human rights advocates. It includes projects using the internet for
rights-based activism - communication, advocacy, and organising. It also
lists a few tools and guides that website developers offer to human rights
activists who hope to put digital resources to work for their campaigning.
Further, it offers information sources on computer-based protections for
human rights activist identities, web-based information, and digital
sharing.

Please send additional project, evaluation, strategic thinking, and
materials information on communication for development at any time. Contact
Deborah Heimann at dheimann at comminit.com

===

INTERNET ACTIVISM: IN ACTION

1.      Inzwa! - Zimbabwe
Launched in July 2009 by the Kubatana Trust of Zimbabwe, Inzwa! is a weekly
audio magazine that disseminates human rights information and news in audio
format via mobile phones. The initiative uses Freedom Fone technology, which
is interactive and allows users to both access and contribute information.
Freedom Fone is a free open source software tool that can be used to build
and update a dial-up information service in any language. It is designed to
help organisations set up their own dial-up information services by removing
barriers of cost, skill, and operation.
Contact: admin at kubatana.net
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/301341/307

2.      Amazon Conservation Team Project with Surui Indians and Google Earth
- Brazil
Members of the remote Surui tribe in an indigenous village about 1,600 miles
northwest of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are working with United States
(US)-based Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) and Google Earth to help protect
their 600,000-acre reserve from illegal miners and loggers. The initiative,
begun in 2007, reports that tribe members hope to raise global awareness
about the destruction of the Amazon's rainforest while allowing them to
monitor the activities of those infringing upon their land rights. ACT
provided the tribe with laptop computers with an internet connection, video
cameras, global positioning system (GPS) devices, satellite maps, and other
high-tech gadgets. With this knowledge and these tools, Surui tribespeople
are telling stories about their culture, history, and traditions through
Google Earth.
Contact: info at amazonteam.org
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/278458/307

3.      The Potential for Migrant Workers' Social Networking in the Persian
Gulf
by Dana Alikhani
According to this 2009 online article, "[t]he plight of migrant workers in
the Persian Gulf region has been an issue of widespread concern for several
years." The author describes migrant conditions and proposes a new social
network initiative to help migrant workers "to interact with their existing
connections, strengthening their weak ties with other workers, as well as
other interest groups such as NGOs [non-governmental organisations] or
activists". The article also proposes to make rights information available
in audiovisual format, for situations where literacy poses a challenge.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/300318/307

4.      Write Your Rights - Africa
Write Your Rights is a community empowerment campaign that invites the
public to participate in the 'open-source' drafting of an international
public health document, the Patients Charter of the Tuberculosis (TB)
Community. The project organisers hope the campaign will be an open and
participatory consultation process combining face-to-face meetings with use
of online resources to publish, edit, and promote both the process and the
substance of the document. The website invites input on the organisation of
the tour, "The Rights & Responsibilities Workshop Roadshow 2009", as well as
on the document.
Contact: voices at plhivcharter.org
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/130190/307

5.      Migrant Workers Internet Radio - Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines,
Thailand, Middle East
Working in Hong Kong since 1984, the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants
(APMM) is a church-based regional migrant centre working for the promotion
and protection of the rights and well-being of migrants in the Asia Pacific
and Middle East regions. The APMM carried out a 12-month project to address
the limited accessibility and lack of capacity of migrant workers in
disseminating information. APMM trained a group of 20 migrant workers (most
of them women) in radio production and broadcasting techniques. These
workers then went on to produce and broadcast programmes in several local
languages - Thai, Bahasa, and Tagalog - and learned how to upload
re-recorded broadcasts onto the APMM website, thus reaching more migrants.
Contact: apmm at hknet.com
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/301521/307

6.      The Survivor Mural Project - Global
Launched in May 2009 by a survivor of sexual abuse and rape, the Survivor
Mural Project aims to raise global awareness of the prevalence of sexual
assault. The project provides survivors with an opportunity to be heard
through the creation of a mural signifying their experience. An online
gallery, updated weekly, will grow into a travelling patchwork mural that in
2010 will begin exhibiting in physical spaces around the world. The mural
aims to promote awareness of the sheer number of individuals who have
experienced sexual violence first-hand.
Contact: kristy at survivormuralproject.com
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/302011

7.      Centro Civitas - Guatemala
Centro Civitas uses its website as the centre of an alliance of
organisations working with communication media on social and human
rights issues. The alliance, brought together between 2002 and 2008, engages
in media monitoring by analysing publications for transparency, gender bias,
and racism - sharing the results of this monitoring online through reports,
bulletins, and video. It works on quality of reporting on children, builds
capacity of information sources and journalists, provides resources for
journalists in more remote areas (including providing internet access), and
supports communication media through the publication of an online
newsletter.
Contact: civitasguate at gmail.com OR info at centrocivitas.org OR
sala.redaccion at gmail.com
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/293420

8.      Enhancing Participation among Roma - Bulgaria, Czech Republic,
Romania, Spain
The European Roma Information Office (ERIO) is coordinating an initiative to
promote discussion on how to enhance political and civil participation among
Roma communities in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania, and Spain.
Participants hail from Roma rights organisations, trade unions, civil
associations, administration and decision-making bodies, and citizens from
both Roma communities and the majority society. This project draws on the
interaction that both the internet and face-to-face encounters facilitate,
with networking as the core strategy. By communicating with each other, Roma
and Roma rights activists are exchanging knowledge on participation channels
at a local, national, and European Union (EU) level.
Contact: office at erionet.org
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/299724

9.      Human Rights Documentation in Palestine
by Willow Heske and Eliza Bates
According to this April 2009 article, media have played a major role in how
the world views and assesses the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The authors
discuss the role of new media and the challenges Palestinians have faced in
finding ways to supply accurate information about the realities of Israeli
occupation and human rights abuses and in conveying this information to a
global audience. Human rights advocacy organisations working to improve
documentation of the occupation are seeking to use internet video posting.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/298083

===

Please VOTE in our Democracy and Governance Poll!

How central to democracy are newspapers - some of which are being lost to
budget cuts and other changes - as opposed to blogs, YouTube, emails, text
messaging, twittering, and the like?

* Pivotal - informed public debate is impossible without this kind of
quality platform and trained journalistic practice.
* Of some importance - we need both traditional newspapers and new media
voices/venues to sustain conversations conducive to transparency.
* Unimportant - the internet and other technologies have enabled
participation on the part of both citizens and journalists by trade, making
open journalistic debate both possible and popular. This is the essence of
democracy.

VOTE and COMMENT at http://www.comminit.com/en/node/288615/348

~

RESULTS thus far (October 23):

46%: Pivotal - informed public debate is impossible without this kind of
quality platform and trained journalistic practice.

44%: Of some importance - we need both traditional newspapers and new media
voices/venues to sustain conversations conducive to transparency.

10%: Unimportant - the internet and other technologies have enabled
participation on the part of both citizens and journalists by trade, making
open journalistic debate both possible and popular. This is the essence of
democracy.

===

INTERNET ACTIVISM: PROTECTING, SHARING, DEBATING

10.     Digital and Privacy Security for Human Rights Defenders
by Dmitri Vitaliev
According to author Dimitri Vitaliev, aspects of information and
communication technology (ICT) have improved the security of human rights
defenders (HRDs), facilitated communication and information exchange with
partners, and increased effectiveness of their mission; but it has ushered
in previously unknown vulnerabilities. His 2007 manual explains practical
and technical issues of computer use in the context of defending human
rights. Its objective is providing solutions to problems of privacy and
security in a modern digital environment.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/189254/307

11.     Digital Activism Survey Report 2009
by Katharine Brodock, Mary Joyce, and Timo Zaeck
DigiActive is an all-volunteer organisation dedicated to helping grassroots
activists around the world use the internet and mobile phones to increase
their impact. The group conducted a survey in 2009 through an open online
form and then carried out 3 rounds of qualitative and quantitative analysis.
Their aim in gathering this international demographic data was to get a
picture of "digital activists": people who use digital technology as part of
grassroots campaigns for social and political change.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/299734/307

12.     Human Rights Organizations and New Media - Natural Partners?
by Camilla Karlsen
According to this 2009 article, "[n]ew media applications such as cell
phones and the Internet can greatly influence political decisions" when used
to advantage by human rights organisations. Videos and photos, often taken
using cell phones, can add to the data that are sought by organisations
monitoring human rights abuse. The article analyses the challenges and gaps
in engagement through new media. It asks how someone who has become aware of
human rights abuse can then accomplish something through their engagement.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/298076/307

13.     AIDSLEX (the AIDS and Law Exchange) - Global
The AIDSLEX initiative consists of an interactive web portal that connects
people from around the world for sharing information, ideas, and expertise
on many legal and human rights issues related to HIV/AIDS. It is designed
for activists, community organisations, researchers, policy makers,
journalists, health workers, and anyone who seeks access to a wide range of
resources about HIV, human rights, and the law. According to organisers,
human rights violations continue to hinder the response to HIV/AIDS.
Contact: info at aidslex.org
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/302313/347

===

CI STORIES
http://www.comminit.com/en/cistories

"I am a subscriber and regular reader of your outstanding site. Drum Beat is
one of my favorite E-magazines. I referred your site to dozens of people.
The news and information sources help me to gather knowledge and it also
stimulates my thinking. I used it to take ideas and link those ideas with
Bangladeshi context and write article/columns for National Bangla
Newspapers.”
See http://www.comminit.com/en/cistories

The above story was received from a CI network member on how they are using
The CI to support and inform their work. If you have experiences or
anecdotes on how we have made a difference to your work, please tell us your
story! Go to http://www.comminit.com/en/node/add/cistories (NOTE: you must
be a registered, logged in user to submit a story)

To read additional CI Stories, go to http://www.comminit.com/en/cistories

===

INTERNET ACTIVISM: TOOLS AND GUIDES

14.     Geo-bombing: YouTube and Google Earth
by Sami Ben Gharbia
Published May 1 2008, "Geo-bombing" describes one of the techniques used in
drawing attention to human rights issues by associating them with specific
locations and providing visual and audio evidence or testimony disseminated
through YouTube. Those videos that are "geotagged" can be watched inside the
applications "Google Earth" and "Google Maps". The process of marking the
location of a video on Google Earth is done while uploading a video onto
YouTube, using the editing function: "Date and map". Once the location has
been recorded and the video uploaded it will appear on Google Earth. Any
geo-tagged YouTube video will show up when the YouTube layer of Google
Earth/Maps is turned on.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/302582/307

15.     Security In-a-Box: Tools and Tactics for Your Digital Security
Security In-a-Box is a collaborative effort of the Tactical Technology
Collective and Front Line. It was created to meet the digital security and
privacy needs of advocates and human rights defenders. The resource includes
a how-to booklet that addresses a number of relevant digital security
issues. It also provides a collection of hands-on guides, each of which
includes a particular freeware or open source software tool, as well as
instructions on how to use that tool to secure a computer, protect
information, or maintain the privacy of internet communication.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/292767/307

16.     Maps for Advocacy
by Sean O'Connor
Recognising the power of maps, the Tactical Technology Collective published
this introduction to geographical mapping techniques in 2008. The purpose of
the guide is to enable advocacy groups to explore how maps can be used
effectively for advocacy. The guide reviews different tools and mapping
techniques, explores certain types of data, considers the ways different
data can be used, offers some diverse case studies to illustrate how maps
have been used for advocacy, and provides a glossary that explains
terminology related to mapping.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/302134/307

17.     Advocacy 2.0 Guide: Tools for Digital Advocacy
This project is intended to offer web-based techniques to digital activists
for their online advocacy campaigning. Global Voices Online seeks to build a
global anti-censorship network of bloggers and online activists dedicated to
protecting freedom of expression and free access to information online.
While the previous guide (Blog for a Cause!) focused on the effective use of
blogs as an advocacy tool, this guide explores creative uses of other web
2.0 applications.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/302206/307

18.     An Introduction to Activism on the Internet
by John Emerson
This online book published in 2005 offers a brief introduction to different
techniques of electronic advocacy using email, the internet, and other "new
media" to bring about social change. It includes an overview and analysis of
campaigning methods. This document was composed for a non-technical audience
employed by non-governmental and intergovernmental organisations working on
civil and political human rights. Each page includes links to examples, a
list of additional resources, and a comments section.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/302201/307

===

This issue of The Drum Beat was written by Julie Levy.

===

The Drum Beat is the email and web network of The Communication Initiative
Partnership - ANDI, BBC World Service Trust, Bernard van Leer Foundation,
Calandria, CFSC Consortium, CIDA, DFID, FAO, Fundación Nuevo Periodismo
Iberoamericano, Ford Foundation, Healthlink Worldwide, Inter-American
Development Bank, International Institute for Communication and Development,
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication
Programs, MISA, PAHO, The Panos Institute, The Rockefeller Foundation,
SAfAIDS, Sesame Workshop, Soul City, Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNICEF, USAID, WHO, W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Chair of the Partners Group: Garth Japhet, Founder, Soul City
garth at heartlines.org.za
Executive Director: Warren Feek wfeek at comminit.com

===

The Editor of The Drum Beat is Kier Olsen DeVries.

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Deborah Heimann dheimann at comminit.com

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