Digital Democracy

On the border of Thailand and Burma/Myanmar, I met Aung Zaw, who told me about risking his life  to document human rights abuses performed by the government of Myanmar. His hope was that this information could help to defend his people. At the end of our talk, he asked if we could become Facebook friends. [...]

Digital Democracy is delighted to announce that we have been awarded a grant from the Clowes Fund of Indianapolis, Indiana. The grant will support the launch of Project Einstein Indianapolis, a digital penpal program that teaches 21st century skills while facilitating cross-cultural dialogue. Project Einstein will connect young Burmese refugees and their classmates in Indianapolis [...]

Ever since Digital Democracy began working with Burmese populations we have believed that it is essential to have a completely comprehensive understanding of the country and the challenges it faces. This means going beyond the well-understood populations living on the border with Thailand to understand conditions on the ground inside Burma and along all of [...]

On January 12th, a devastating earthquake shook Haiti. We had a team of people on the ground working with young Haitians. Thankfully they all survived, but what was life like before and what can it be like after? Today we’re proudly publishing our report from the research they were conducting, looking at the economic livelihoods of  young [...]

In early January 2010 we partnered with Tufts University’s Center for Emerging Market Enterprises (CEME) to conduct research and a photography training with young adults in Haiti. Researchers Chrissy Martin and Joshua Haynes, using the Project Einstein curriculum, worked with young adults ages 18-24 to explore – through the use of digital photography – how [...]

Today we had the pleasure of hosting five journalists from Indonesia at the Digital Democracy office. Although none of us on staff speak Indonesian and none of their English was particularly strong, we managed to communicate through 2 translators who had a portable translator toolkit that connected the group via wired headsets. While it looked [...]

What is education in the 21st century? How do we prepare kids for the future when our teachers are unprepared? And what about the underserved children living on the margins of society, whether the tens of thousands of newly resettled refugees from Burma, Somalia and Iraq, or youth from districts that spend more money on [...]

In August 2008, Digital Democracy conducted research with Burmese community groups operating in southern China, near the Burma/Myanmar border. While researching the use of communications technologies, one young Kachin man explained the difference between the Internet in China and Burma, stating, “To me the web in China is totally free.” Censored though the Chinese web [...]

When the Brooklyn Bridge was built in 1893, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. Built by John, Washington and Emily Warren Roebling, it was a feet of engineering that has connected millions of people.
We’re working on our own bridge, for educators to connect students around the world. Partnering with MIT Center for [...]

Mark recently represented Digital Democracy at the Global Kids’ Virtual World Capacity Building Program, a four-week intensive exposure to virtual worlds for public good institutions. At the end of the program, each of the participants gave presentations at the Global Kids-hosted Fall 09 Roundtable on Virtual Worlds and Nonprofits on MacArthur Island in Second Life [...]