Innovation Versus Security In Kenya
Kenya is an exciting innovation hub spurring creative projects and pursuing steady progress. How long can this sustain and how will the upcoming elections fare, given the violence of the not-so-distant past? I recently returned from a wonderful trip to Kenya. Aside from seeing old friends, I had the pleasure of meeting with key members … Read more
Senator Gillibrand is a Dangerous Pirate
Stifling the economy, trampling private property and straight thievery are the Senator’s current activities, at least according to the legislation she’s trying to pass. The PROTECT IP legislation being discussed in the Senate that she’s a co-sponsor of in theory seeks to prevent online piracy, but does little to stop intellectual property theft and in … Read more
Learning From Japan’s Disaster
Originally published on Huffington Post During the 2007 Virginia Tech campus shooting, students and witnesses desperately tried to send text messages to 911. Local dispatchers never received them because their systems only take voice calls. As technology rapidly changes, what lessons can be learned from tragic situations like the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan, … Read more
New tactics in Authoritarianism
Dictators are often ruthless, charismatic and extremely intelligent. They also have the resources to Be extremely sophisticated. If not showy. In modern times, it’s hard for dictators to operate in the ways that they used to. Their citizens having mobile phone cameras and an audience of the world, its just not as easy to have … Read more
Digital activism is more than marketing
In Micah White’s recent article about so-called “clicktivism,” he points out that the substance of activism has been replaced by reformist platitudes and marketing. There is a difference, however, between an educational campaign and straight marketing. While many people certainly work on both worlds simultaneously, there is often a tangible difference in the look, feel and … Read more
Chavez’s Twitter Army: 200 deep
“Twitter is terrorism,” Chavez loudly proclaimed in one of his famous radio addresses to the nation, as a bold response to Secretary Clinton’s recent Internet Freedom speech. A few weeks later, and he is now a rising star on the very same platform, known as @chavezcandanga, ie Chavez the devil or Chavez the strong-willed/fearless depending … Read more
Marginalized by Unicode
Communities that are most marginalized continue to be so online. People who do not have access often speak languages that are not in Unicode and live in places that have never before been mapped, often not even photographed. Some of these things can be considered excessive compared to actual needs. The question, however, is access. … Read more
Future of mobiles for change
On Wednesday I sent out a tweet asking “What can Nokia do to support & empower people around the world.” I was at an event put on by Nokia, Abundancy Partners and Lovely Day, to discuss ICT for good. To give the event some additional structure, some of us reinterpreted the question. Nokia is one … Read more
Haiti: this is not a test
Do countries need a 911-type emergency response system? The situation in Haiti proves that this is not only necessary, but that it needs to be open for anyone to enter and access the data. The response to the earthquake in Haiti had shown a radical shift in relief efforts. Rather than organizations with similar interests … Read more
Interactive Telecommunications Program Winter Show 2009
Last week I got a chance to check out the ITP winter show 2009 and explore the state of innovation at the NYU’s program in a bit more detail. I was already familiar with some of the coolest projects from teaching at the Social Activism using Mobile Technology class. This semester seemed to be heavy … Read more
