News: Cultural & linguistic diversity
Why the Stop Online Piracy Act might pass -- and why it shouldn't
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is being debated in the US House of Representatives today. Wildly unpopular, this bill is the latest in a series of extreme and reactionary legislation that seek a heavy-handed approach to dealing with copyright infringement online. If passed, SOPA would grant broad powers to censor and restrict content on the Internet.
Dear Librarian in Denver: Why are you filtering the internet?
Controlling what users can and can’t see on computers using filtering software is standard in US libraries. APC questions the Denver Public Library on their filtering policy and practices in a fictional exchange that tackles very real questions of freedom of information.
Women's rights and realities transformed by technology
Can information and communication technologies (ICTs) transform women’s realities? Undoubtedly, yes. This connection between ICTs and the advancement of women’s rights will be addressed during the 55th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 22 February – 4 March in New York. The CSW is a global policy-making body of the United Nations dedicated to gender equality and the advancement of women. APC’s GenderIT.org has released a special edition that speaks directly to this year’s theme of the CSW: gender, education and technology. APC staff attending the CSW will provide live coverage from the session in GenderIT.org’s Feminist Talk section on the website, so stay tuned.
Open video films struggle of most marginalised people in Malaysia
On October 23 2007 the Headman of Penan Village in the remote Malaysian state of Sarawak left his wife at a rest area in the forest to check on his traps. He never returned. Two months later his remains were found in a river. The Headman is the final episode in the Sarawak Gone series, a micro-documentary project by Andrew Garton. Sarawak Gone documents the gradual decimation of indigenous life and culture and the struggle for land. The entire work is open licensed -- which means that the materials gathered and produced are returned to the communities who participated in the project and the content is available for re-use, for free, for people who seek to protect the native customary rights of some of the most marginalised people in Malaysia.
Progressive techies declare their rights - and responsibilities
At the United States Social Forum on June 24 fifty politically progressive technologists came together for the first US Progressive Techie Congress. The Congress emerged with a statement applauded by other socially-responsible networks like the APC as “a great set of principles”.
Revolutionary blogfarm for Hungarian activists
APC member in Budapest, Green Spider, is challenging Facebook and YouTube by offering a home-grown Web 2.0 suite for Hungarian activists. “In the face of the overwhelming monoculture of corporate social networking tools, the service has taken off amongst grassroots activists, community organisers and charities in the Hungarian social and environmental movement,” says Green Spider.
Content filtering in US libraries is haphazard
Freedom of speech and its flipside, access to information, is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. However federally-funded libraries are required to prevent people under eighteen accessing “harmful” content. Kevicha Echols and Melissa Ditmore investigate the use of internet filters on public library computers and find that measures adopted by libraries range from installation of filtering software on all computers for child and adult use to no filters at all! The law is being implemented differently varying across city, county and state. Sectors of the society most likely to be affected by this ad hoc censorship are young people and the economically-disadvantaged who rely particularly on library computers to access online information. Photo: “FallWithMe”:http://www.flickr.com/people/fallwithme/
Calling all readers in the USA: Survey on content filtering in public libraries
APC has teamed up with Sex Work Awareness in a study to look at content filtering systems in public libraries with internet access in the United States, with an eye towards reproductive health and sexuality. Find out more and take the survey!
Bytes for All applauds firm Pakistani parliamentarians’ stance on scanning in the USA
While members of the Pakistani parliament were on a diplomatic trip in the United States to talk about the impact of the ar on terror on northern rural tribes in the country, they were asked by airport security in Washington to be body-scanned. The right not to undergo a body scan is a privilege given to parliamentarians the world over. APC member Bytes for All in Pakistan applauds the Pakistani parliamentarians’ firm stance and refusal to be scanned.
New APC member May First / People Link : Redefining the way non-profits use the internet
May First/People Link, a New York collective, has been hosting websites and providing technology solutions and support to the city’s non-profits since the late ’90s. They have doubled in size since 2005 to about 250 members – without government or foundation funding. During the US Social Forum 2007 they provided all the technology for the event and are in the middle of planning for the next USSF. Find out more about APC’s newest member.
APC Internet Rights Charter now in Esperanto
The Asocio de Verduloj Esperantistaj (AVE), an Esperanto organisation in Germany has translated the APC Internet Rights Charter into Esperanto. This takes the number of languages the charter is available up to twenty. Thanks, AVE!
Young but experienced Cambodian NGO joins APC
APC welcomes its new Cambodian member, Open Institute. “We see ourselves as facilitators,” explained Chim Manavy, executive director of the start-up NGO. “We facilitate communication, knowledge-sharing and gender equity through the strategic use of ICT and of the Khmer language”. What this means on the ground, is easy to understand when one takes a look at the track record of OI’s colleagues.
LaborTech 2008 Conference Call For Papers
LaborTech which holds a semi-annual international labor communication conference has issued a call for paper for the conference which will be held on December 4,5,6&7 at the University of San Francisco in San Francisco.
Free Geek has been keeping the needy nerdy for seven full years
Contribute your work, and get a computer! That’s the option offered by the Portland,Oregon-based Free Geek. They have been "helping the needy get nerdy since the beginning of the third millennium”. In recognition of their work – made possible with GNU/Linux and free software – this not-for-profit community organisation was jointly awarded the first APC Chris Nicol FOSS Prize. Journalist and BytesForAll co-founder Frederick Noronha (FN) interviewed Elizabeth Swager of Free Geek, to find out more about the project, its challenges and how it can be replicated.
National Literacy Award for Canadian APC member Web Networks
APC member in Canada Web Networks announced that its "Tusaalanga" Inuktitut language online learning platform (developed using the open source Drupal system) has received the prestigious national literacy award. Inuktitut is an indigenous language spoken in Candada and other northern territories.
We killed the previous business models that tried to charge for WiFi
With about 90 active volunteers over the years, Île Sans Fil now has managed to install some 130 hotspots all around town, using a nice piece of software. Wifidog is an open source solution designed primarily for wireless community groups, it is now in use in more than 36 locations, including at the municipality of Rosario (Argentina), the Tegucigalpa technical university (Honduras) or the Hull libraries (United Kingdom). Can Wifidog work in the developing world? Interview with the key figure of the group, Michael Lenczner.
“The discussion about diversity must not become diversity”
Over the past few years, a considerable number of discussions have been conducted on linguistic diversity in the online world. It has brought with it a controversy, in part due to the fact that the spread of the internet is frequently hailed as a cause for the loss of cultural diversity. At the recent Internet Governance Forum though, much attention was given to the protection of our linguistic diversity.
Accessibility for all, central to internet forum
Aside from ‘access to the internet’ – the single most important issue at this weeks first Internet Governance Forum – ‘accessibility’ follows suite in what is to be labelled “priority”. In fact, access to the internet deals with submarine fibre optic cables, gigantic satellite dishes and other infrastructure considerations. That has to come first. But when you break down the story of internet access to the personal level, what is needed, is a strong commitment towards getting women, underprivileged and people with disabilities on board.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT TRAINING: Working in triangles to get projects moving
From September 3-8, APC people descended on Pruhonice, a small town just outside Prague for the annual board and management meeting. While the first focused on APC governance issues, the management part of the meeting got under way with a warm-up training. Rob Purdie from iMPORTANT PROJECTS joined the APC folk from as far as Cambodia, the USA and South Africa for two very specific reasons: tp explain the different project management concepts out there, and apply some of them to APC’s reality.
Bitter-sweet: mixed feelings about working to Indian language solutions
Unlike its parent-organisation, the New Delhi-based Sarai.net is young, full of ideas and peppy. Not that the institution it grew out of is not full of ideas; but it has an old-world air about it, while Sarai fits in with the trendy, cyber-generation in an unusual way. APCNews met with Ravikant from Sarai.net to discuss localisation issues.
