-
Media and Technology in Armenia Media and Technology in Armenia
In 2003, I went to Armenia and started working with youth on “blogging” before the term blogging was actually in the lexicon. Back then, access to computers was hard to come by and the internet was crawling along. I was working with a documentary film company, Bars Media, and found that young people were not involved in the political life of the country. Along with some local friends and Dutch friends, we founded Bem, a youth action center focused on teaching art and technology for civic engagement. Since then, the country has gone through many changes. Read more…
-
Streaming the World Cup in a Thai Refugee Camp Streaming the World Cup in a Thai Refugee Camp
From late April through the end of July, I was working and living in Western Thailand. This work enabled me to visit Mae La refugee camp quite often, during which I was able to take advantage of the time to pay several visits to the Leadership and Management Training Center (LMTC), a school inside Mae La. I went to follow up on Mark and Emily’s visit to LMTC last year when they led the students in a Project Einstein photo training. Read more…
-
DdTv Ep 13 - Life After the Earthquake: The Situation for Haitian Women DdTv Ep 13 - Life After the Earthquake: The Situation for Haitian Women
On this episode of DdTv Emily Jacobi and Abby Goldberg travel to Port-Au-Prince, where they are invited to meet with organizations working on creating a mechanism to streamline methods of protection, documentation and service provisions for women around gender-based violence. While there, Emily and Abby meet with local women leaders and conduct a photography training to help empower women to raise awareness of this violence by documenting their lives and struggle. This episode gives an inside look at this photography-training with these amazing women. Read more…
-
Direct Diplomacy with Haiti Direct Diplomacy with Haiti
This past Wednesday, Digital Democracy attempted an experiment in direct diplomacy. We brought together 75 people at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) for “In their own hands: Live video exchange with Haitian women 6 months after the earthquake.” We were joined at ITP via skype by my project partner, DigiDem Co-Director, Emily Jacobi, our translator (and project partner from the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), Blaine Bookey, and our three guests of honor, Malya, Eramithe and Dulud from KOFAVIV, one of the leading grassroots women’s organizations working to address violence against women in Haiti. They were speaking with us from the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) offices, the human rights law organization that serves as a gathering place for poor and marginalized groups who the BAI represents, many of whom are women’s networks and coalitions fighting for their rights and protection. At the event, DigiDem also premiered its newest episode of DDTV, which highlighted the trip that Emily and I took to Haiti, during which time we met with Haitian women leaders and conducted photography trainings to empower women to raise awareness by documenting their lives and struggle. The episode is now online for viewing. Read more…
-
Filming Worldwide for Life in a Day Filming Worldwide for Life in a Day
If you filmed all around the world on the same day, what would it look like? Read more…
-
Iraq Tech Training Iraq Tech Training
“Saddam tried to use the indictment of Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky scandal to show how shameful and perverse the United States is. The message that Iraqis heard was that in America, no one is above the law. Not even the President.” ~Anes (trainee) Read more…
-
Join us Wednesday - Livestream with Haitian Women Join us Wednesday - Livestream with Haitian Women
I’m in Port-au-Prince, Haiti for the next week to follow-up on the great trip Abby Goldberg and I took this spring. I began my trip distributing cameras for the Life In A Day project - the first user-generated feature film. I’ve also been distributing photos from our workshop in April and I ferried some films from NY for the awesome folks at FilmAid to show in the camps. Read more…
-
Welcoming Our Summer Interns to the Dd Team Welcoming Our Summer Interns to the Dd Team
This summer we’ve had two new faces around the office and we couldn’t be more pleased. Arielle & Ellen have been helping with communications and our Haiti work, and as the city - and our schedule - has continued to heat up, it’s been a huge help to have them around the office. We’ve also been in touch with last summer’s interns, Shane Levy and Huge Ma, both of whom are continuing to do great work. Shane graduated this spring from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Urban Studies and Communications and Rhetoric. Partly inspired by his work at our office, he’s looking for a job in the public sector. Huge, a senior at University of Pennsylvania, is interning in India with Video Volunteers. Read more…
-
Peace Mapping team arrives in Kenya Peace Mapping team arrives in Kenya
It’s been a thrilling two weeks for our Peace Mapping Kenya team. On Sunday, the three team members arrived in Nairobi to launch the program, called Sisi ni Amani which means “We are Peace” in Kiswahili. Prior to their departure, Project Director Rachel Brown and Project Manager Cody Valdes spent several days with us in our New York office as we did final preparations and coordination for the initial launch of their project in Kenya this month. Combining innovative new techniques with mapping tools and peace-building workshops, the project seeks to amplify the efforts of peace actors within Kenya and connect previously disconnected groups. Read more…
-
Testifying to NYC Council Tech Committee on Open Data Testifying to NYC Council Tech Committee on Open Data
Liz Hodes represented Digital Democracy today while testifying to the New York City Council Technology Committee on Open Data. Read more…