Title: Digital technology driving global social change (infographic)
Source: TechJournal South
Date (published): 13/12/2011
Date (accessed): 14/12/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML with infographic)
Abstract:
"Global events in 2011 demonstrated the impact that technology plays in driving social change movements. A new Walden University survey of 11 countries shows that most adults in countries around the world (89%, on average) agree that technology can turn a cause into a movement faster than anything else can. These views were particularly prevalent in Spain (93%), Canada(91%), Brazil (91%), Great Britain (91%) and China (91%).

The Social Change Impact Report: Global Survey was commissioned by Walden University and conducted online by Harris Interactive in September 2011. A continuation from the American survey released in the fall, the Global Survey includes the perspectives of more than 12,000 adults in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Japan, Mexico, Spainand the United States and describes their perceptions on the importance of social change, the top issues in their country and the future of social change.

According to the global survey, in many countries, men are more likely than women to use mobile devices to text messages related to a positive social change issue, specifically in Mexico (23% vs. 16% of women), the United States (7% vs. 4%), France(7% vs. 1%), Japan (5% vs. 2%) and Germany (4% vs. 1%).

Young adults globally leverage social networking
The survey also reveals that when it comes to positive social change, young adults across the globe are leveraging social networking to get involved; an average of 29% of young adults[1] have used social networking sites in the past six months to engage in social change.

“Social technology has opened the door to global change, making information pass from person to person, regardless of location, at lightning speed. It’s never been easier to connect with others and take action.

.Individuals now have remarkable power,” said Andy Smith, author of The Dragonfly Effect. “But it’s those who harness digital technology and social media for pro-social ends who will create the greatest positive social change in the future.”

Additionally, social networking is more common than using blogs or texting to engage in social change among young adults in nearly all of the countries. Of the young adults who have used social networking in the past six months to engage in social change, the highest reported use is in Mexico (40%), India (39%) and Great Britain (37%). In China (50%) and Japan (12%), blogging is the top digital way of engaging in social change among young adults. Texting to engage in social change is particularly common in India (38% of 18–25-year-olds)…"

Title: Palawan tribes go cyber to keep out nickel miner
Author: Melody Kemp
Source: Asia Times Online
Date (published): 09/12/2011
Date (accessed): 14/12/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"PALAWAN - When big global mining companies set their sights on the Philippine island of Palawan, one of the world's remaining ecological hotspots and home to many traditional tribes, little did they suspect their China-backed, billion-dollar extraction plans would be met by social media-fueled resistance.

Indigenous people in Palawan have organized globally to raise awareness about their plight and to save their ancestral lands from planned large-scale mining. One activist group, the Ancestral Land and Domain Watch (ALDAW), has made use of social media tools like Facebook and Twitter to transform what was originally a local movement into a vibrant global environmental campaign.
…
Other technological tools have been used to challenge MacroAsia's claims to environmental consciousness during its exploration phase. For instance, hi-tech geo-tagging has appeared to show that mining area claims have pushed deep into ancestral domain lands and legally protected eco-zones.

Maps of the intrusions have been loaded onto a Facebook page and linked to Google maps alongside an online petition calling for a halt to mining activities in the area."

Title: Kenyans use social media to mobilize support for drought victims
Author: Kingsley Ighobor
Source: Bulawayo24
Date (published): 13/11/2011
Date (accessed): 14/11/2011
Type of information:
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"...In July, as thousands of starving people walked across the border from Somalia into the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya, there were also thousands of Kenyans dying of drought in that region, as well as in Turkana, Pokot and Baringo. Ms. Gichuru and other journalists covered that reality. "I went to the camp and saw children just screaming. It was deafening. Some had just died. Some were about to die, and I saw parents standing helplessly, just preparing to dig another infant grave," she told Africa Renewal.

The interventions of Ms. Gichuru and others have been acclaimed for both the sheer effort — more than $67 million donated so far by ordinary Kenyans and some companies — and the tools with which the mobilization has been carried out: Facebook, Twitter, mobile phones, television, radio and newspapers.

Reactions to the various media reports were swift and spontaneous. The Media Owners Association, Safaricom (one of the country's leading mobile phone companies) and the Kenya Red Cross continue to rally donations and other relief materials under the aegis of Kenyans for Kenya, an association officially launched in late July.

"The response by Kenyans was overwhelming and humbling, hitting KSh19 million through M-Pesa [mobile banking] contributions on the second day," reports The Standard, a leading Kenyan newspaper. Ms. Gichuru says that they collected the equivalent of about $10 million within two weeks.
…
How does it work? Safaricom assigned a dedicated account number that people with mobile phones can easily remember (111 111). Subscribers pay into their M-Pesa accounts, much as they do when adding to their phone calling credits. To make a donation they simply enter the amount and send it to the dedicated account number. Both the sender and the recipient promptly get SMS messages confirming the transaction. The ease of transactions has contributed to the project's success.

The credibility of the main implementing partner, the Kenya Red Cross, further encourages people to donate. "Once people knew who was going to spend the money, they felt more comfortable to contribute," says Ms. Gichuru."

Title: How the UN Foundation Plans to Meet Its Goals With the Help of Social Media
Author: Zachary Sniderman
Source: Mashable
Date (published): 16/09/2011
Date (accessed): 18/09/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"The United Nations (UN) and its philanthropic arm, the United Nations Foundation, have been on a headlong sprint to change the world by 2015. That year marks the deadline of the Millennium Development Goals, a set of far reaching and ambitious humanitarian challenges that include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and providing universal primary education.

They are lofty goals for sure, but ones that the two organizations are committed to achieving. One of their secret weapons has been social media and digital tools, from the UN Foundation’s newly launched mobile app to a history of digital communication and online advocacy.

Mashable caught up with Aaron Sherinian, vice president for communications and PR for the UN Foundation, to talk about the future of social good. "

Title: International Bloggers and Internet Control
Authors: Hal Roberts, Ethan Zuckerman, Jillian York, Rob Faris, John Palfrey
Pages: 14 pp.
Source: Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University
Date (published): 18/08/2011
Date (accessed): 14/09/2011
Type of information: research report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"Over the past two years, we have undertaken several studies at the Berkman Center designed to better understand the control of the Internet in less open societies. During the years we’ve been engaged in this research, we have seen many incidents that have highlighted the role of the Internet as a battleground for political control, including partial or total Internet shutdowns in China, Iran, Egypt, Libya, and Syria; many hundreds of documented DDoS, hacking, and other cyber attacks against political sites; continued growth in the number of countries that filter the Internet; and dozens of well documented cases of on- and offline persecution of online dissidents. The energy dedicated to these battles for control of the Internet on both the government and dissident sides indicated, if nothing else, that both sides think that the Internet is a critical space for political action. In this paper, we offer an overview of our research in the context of these changes in the methods used to control online speech, and some thoughts on the challenges to online speech in the immediate future."

See also: the full survey (pdf)
"This document includes the full aggregated results from the survey, except for unstructured text answers, which were removed for privacy reasons."

Title: Online Security in the Middle East and North Africa: A Survey of Perceptions, Knowledge and Practice
Authors: Robert Faris, Hal Roberts, Rebekah Heacock, Ethan Zuckerman, Urs Gasser
Pages: 15 pp.
Source: Berkman Center, Harcard University
Date (published): 01/08/2011
Date (accessed): 09/08/2011
Type of information: report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"Digital communication has become a more perilous activity, particularly for activists, political dissidents, and independent media. The recent surge in digital activism that has helped to shape the Arab spring has been met with stiff resistance by governments in the region intent on reducing the impact of digital organizing and independent media. No longer content with Internet filtering, many governments in the Middle East and around the world are using a variety of technological and offline strategies to go after online media and digital activists.

In this report we describe the results of a survey of 98 bloggers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) carried out in May 2011 in order to study bloggers’ perceptions of online risk and the actions they take to address digital communications security, including both Internet and cell phone use. The survey was implemented in the wake of the Arab spring and documents a proliferation of online security problems among the respondents. In the survey, we address the respondents’ perceptions of online risk, their knowledge of digital security practices, and their reported online security practices. The survey results indicate that there is much room for improving online security practices, even among this sample of respondents who are likely to have relatively high technical knowledge and experience."
via http://zunia.org/

Title: Haiti One Year On: Technology and the Future of Humanitarian Aid
Author:Mark Leon Goldberg
Source:UN Dispatch
Date (published):12/01/2011
Date (accessed):14/01/2011
Type of information:article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"The disaster response operations of 2010 taught the humanitarian community hard lessons in how to communicate more effectively both with each other and with disaster affected communities. In reports reflecting on the year since the Haiti earthquake, key members of our community (see Internews and the ICT4Peace Foundation) are pointing to the need to adapt practices in the humanitarian response system to new realities, including policies to protect the security of data about vulnerable populations.
Turning these recommendations into implementable practices is going to require input from many stakeholders, including humanitarians from large agencies as well as representatives of the volunteer technical community. The United Nations Foundation & Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership and UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) have partnered with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative to conduct these consultations and propose both a framework developing this long-term dialogue and defining how new tools and practices can be integrated into the realities of the work in the field."

Title: New media helped, but radio delivered for earthquake-struck Haiti
Author: Matthew Lasar
Source:Ars Technica
Publisher:Condé Nast Digital
Date (published):12/01/2011
Date (accessed):14/01/2011
Type of information:article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"When Haiti's devastating earthquake hit last January, the world responded with a wave of humanitarian relief efforts. But unlike previous disasters, they also deployed new communications systems—text messaging, digital crowd sourcing, and social networking, among other platforms.

The Haiti earthquake "marked the beginning of a new culture in disaster relief," notes a report on the phenomenon just released by the Knight Foundation. "Occurring several years into a revolution in communications technology, the event attracted legions of media specialists bearing new digital tools to help."

Yet the electronic medium most successfully deployed was not the newest, but one of the oldest. "Although much of the attention has been paid to new media technologies, radio was the most effective tool for serving the needs of the public," Knight concludes."

Title: No Victim Voiceless: Africa Uses Tech to Shine a Light on Genocide
Author:Curt Hopkins
Source:ReadWriteWeb
Date (published):10/12/2010
Date (accessed):11/12/2010
Type of information:article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
„"Technology is the equalizer," Fareed Zein told Fast Company. Zein has built the Sudan Vote Monitor as a platform people can use to monitor and cover next month's independence vote in that northeastern African country.

To the south and east, another technological experiment has risen, that one to commemorate the fait accompli of the Rwandan genocide. The Genocide Archive of Rwanda, hosted by the Kigali Genocide Memorial, will document the 100 days and 800,000 lives lost in the brutality of 1994.”

Title: 5 ways ICTs can support the MDGs
Author Editor: Linda Raftree
Source: Wait… What? blog
Date (published): 17/09/2010
Date (accessed): 26/09/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"I’ll be speaking on a panel called ICT4D, Innovations and the MDGs next week during UN Week in New York and another on Girls and Mobiles hosted by Mobile Active. So, I’ve been putting together my thoughts around girls, child rights, ICTs and the MDGs. The angle I’m taking is not from the large donor, top down, huge institutional program side, but instead, looking at examples from the work I’ve been closest to over the past few years at the community and district level, mostly focused on child and youth participation in the development process...I’m listing below 5 ways that ICTs can facilitate accountability and transparency, citizen engagement, and public debate, all of which are necessary to bring about development improvements and achieve the MDGs. Obviously these are not the only ways ICTs can support the MDGs, but this post would have been miles long if I’d listed all the initiatives that are out there."