Digital Democracy

Digital Democracy is thrilled to announce we have been named as one of eight winners of  the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Knight News Challenge on Mobiles. Support from Knight Foundation will enable us to launch Remote Access this spring, an initiative aimed at empowering remote and off-the-grid communities with a toolkit to [...]

At Digital Democracy, we’re passionate about the opportunities new technologies create to disrupt how information is communicated & shared, especially across traditional divides – urban/rural, rich/poor, majority/minority, and many more. However these opportunities also come with new challenges & risks – when marginalized groups use new tools that amplify their voices, they can also encounter [...]

Off the coattails of our recent Board Retreat and Meeting in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, we want to take a moment to officially introduce the three members of the Digital Democracy (Dd) inaugural Board of Directors: Michael Gaouette (Chair), Janet Harris & Vince Warren. They have expertise in peace-keeping, international development and humanitarian work, human rights law, [...]

Rebecca Joy Norlander is a PhD candidate focused on the intersection of digital tools and social transformation. She first joined Dd as a volunteer in 2011 and is now one of our Strategic Advisors, helping us broaden our exposure to the many different ways digital tools are creating opportunities for empowerment and peace. Check our [...]

A team of Dd supporters will climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in July… and to prepare they are raising funds and awareness about Dd. Digital Democracy is proud to shout out the team of mountaineers Dd supporters Dan Fredinburg, Sara Pelosi, Michele Battelli, Andrew Swerdlow, Sam Gilbert, Lindsey Smart and Megan Ezell, who have committed to fundraise [...]

Deep in the Lacandon Jungle of Chiapas Mexico, indigenous groups are facing the fight of their lives. Caught between conservation policies and the slow pace of land reform, villagers are fighting to prevent forced evictions from the land where they have lived for generations. If evicted, they face urban slums, poverty, and the necessity of [...]

Chiapas, Mexico: Three indigenous communities in the Lancandon Jungle are under urgent threat of eviction from the Mexican authorities. We need your help to halt the evictions and help the indigenous communities gain more equal footing to advocate for their human rights. There are three ways you can help today: 1) Understand this complex issue. [...]

The concept of “small-d democracy” is at the foundation of our work at Digital Democracy. Fast Company’s March 2012 issue features Dd in solidarity with other innovators who have helped elevate, amplify and fortify the Occupy Movement. This fall, Dd challenged the claim that “the Occupy Movement doesn’t know what it wants” by building a polling [...]

At crossroads in my life, I bike across countries. Nine years ago, I biked across the United States. Today, I find myself at another transition: I am moving on from my role as President of Digital Democracy. In honor of that change, I’ll be crossing the Dominican Republic and Haiti on the island of Hispaniola. [...]

Editors Note: In Dd’s work around the world, we have seen first-hand the critical need for ordinary citizens to access unfiltered content online. Take Thailand, where we have profiled the work of journalist Chiranuch Premchaiporn who has faced jail time for content posted to the comment section of the news site Prachatai. Currently, legislation is afoot [...]