Digital Democracy » mobile

Burma/Myanmar Technology Research

Mark Belinsky — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 17:29:17 +0000

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 technology strategies to benefit their society.

Article on DDOS attacks in Myanmar newspaper

The tripʼs goals were to conduct research through data mapping, perform trainings, and create media profiles and organizations. Dd visited Mandalay Division, Rakhine/Arakan State and Yangon/Rangoon Division. Digital Democracy has previously conducted research with Burmese groups in Thailand, Bangladesh India and China, creating a comprehensive study on information in and around the county.

In the lead up to elections in the country, information access is becoming more suspect. Arbor Networks points out that the county once again fell off the Internet. Over the course of the past several days, their main Internet service provider, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication suffered a large, sustained DDoS attack disrupting most network traffic in and out of the country. The other ISP, Redlink is reporting similar data loss.

We’re proud to be launching our report on the state of ICT in the country to help contribute to the often misunderstood reality on the ground. Despite the growing and lively sectors, there are still major limitations and room for improvement. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments.

Digital Democracy Burma Report

Launching China-Burma Border Report

Gabe Hopkins — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:30:23 +0000

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 it’s international borders.

Government slogan in Ruili: “Speak Civilized, Act Civilized, Be Civilized.”

In 2008 Digital Democracy sent a team of researchers to China to investigate the state of Kachin youth in community-based and human rights organizations and their use of technology on the China-Burma border. The team conducted interviews with Kachin youth leaders and educators and led new media literacy and photography trainings. We are now releasing the results of that research and our recommendations in a new report.

For more information about our work there, please see the following report:
Digital Democracy China Report 2008

Presenting at ITP Social Activism using Mobile Technology class

Mark Belinsky — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:10:51 +0000

Emily and I had the pleasure of guest lecturing at Nathan Freitas’ Social Activism using Mobile Technology class at NYU’s ITP program. It was a wonderful opportunity that you can read more about below:

The topic of our class was “Grassroots Development – Techniques & Strategies,” discussing Digital Democracy‘s experiences doing fieldwork. Before introducing the process by which we developed Handheld Human Rights and the story of developing it in the field, we wanted to have an understanding of how the students have begun to grow their own ideas. Having just completed their midterm assignments, we went around and had each group introduce themselves and their project, touching on these four points:

Who are you and what is your project?

How did you determine the need?

What’s your biggest barrier to success?

What impact do you hope to achieve?

Social Activism using Mobile Technology class & Dd Advisor Abby Goldberg

Visit my blog to read more about the class and their projects.