Digital Democracy

Guatemala is a country with a complicated history. Although the 36-year civil war has ended, Guatemalan society is still struggling to rebuild from this history of war and ethnic conflict. One opportunity and challenge is the need to engage young Guatemalans, many of whom continue to be marginalized from political life. Participating in elections is [...]

In one year since CGI commitment, Digital Democracy has trained 150 women and built a database documenting over 400 cases of rape in Haiti. Today we announce the launch of the only phone-based emergency response system dedicated to rape and sexual assault in Haiti. Together with our partners at  KOFAVIV, the Commission for Women Victims [...]

Its an honor to be invited to speak at the White House . Its especially exciting to see an administration that understands the power of youth and works to pull in our voices. The White House was pulling together 20 “awesome” youth leaders to discuss the future of international foreign aid. The conversation was between [...]

What is the future of libraries? The debate is raging on what information management will look like in the 21st century and how relevant and useful public buildings such as libraries really are. I was excited to travel to Kiev to discuss the issue with some libraries from Ukraine and Romania. As a trainer, my [...]

A student of mine named Genghis Kahn raises his hand and declares that he wants to do a media project on why adults need to learn technology. He explained that in the 21st century, these tools are really important and if the people in the city of Atyrau want to move forward, they’re going to [...]

In November 2008, I traveled to Harare, Zimbabwe with Emily to investigate how technology is being used to overcome the obstacles that are inherent in a closed society. We researched methods of survival despite hyperinflation and looked at how communications strategies help citizens to address their needs. It was fascinating to be there at a [...]

Allegedly a country with less than 1% Internet & mobile penetration, Digital Democracy traveled to Burma/Myanmar in August 2009 to conduct research on ICT in the country to uncover the realities of how people are communicating. The trip offered a unique opportunity to look at how people and companies are developing unique mobile & internet [...]

What are the similarities between open source software and a Hawaiian shirt? I recently traveled to Erbil, Iraq with Digital Democracy Advisor, and Director of Tech Innovation for the NY State Senate, Noel Hidalgo for the Emerging Technologies/Emerging Democracies IREX and Institute for War and Peace Reporting hosted Iraq E-Media conference. To break through the [...]

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 [...]

“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) I recently returned from a trip to Erbil, Iraq, a [...]