Closer than ever
APC understands that we are all dealing with unprecedented circumstances as we face the challenges, fear and uncertainty brought on by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. We know it impacts our work, our personal lives and the lives of those we care about. Each country is tackling the situation differently, so the contexts we find ourselves in are as diverse as the ways we find to navigate shifting conditions.
In these exceptional times, we wish to send our solidarity and appreciation for connecting with us. While we are distancing ourselves physically, we continue to stay closer than ever to each other and share tools and resources as well as support. We also want to examine how we can continue to promote human rights online in the context of a global pandemic. We are all facing this problem together but we know it affects different countries and communities in different ways. Therefore, we would like to channel the strength of our network to share some important resources that we hope will be empowering, enlightening and reassuring.
Below you will find articles and insights shared by our community, which has been working on human rights and technology issues for over 30 years. We will be updating these lists on a regular basis, so please feel free to connect with us if you have some resources to share.
The accelerated growth of e-commerce, especially e-shopping, has been one of the themes of COVID-19’s relationship with digital. What’s been happening, what’s the likely impact and, as always, who are likely to be winners and losers in this part of the digital ecosystem?
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a spike in gender-based violence in India. Helplines and digital tools have been used to reach out to survivors, given the absence of physical services. But women who can't use phones, email or social media are most likely to be entirely excluded from these systems.
This publication is a compilation of 19 articles by African researchers, academics, journalists and human and digital rights activists on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on digital rights in Africa.
Brindaalakshmi. K shares her experience of working with community networks in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in India and the importance of independent community networks as a support mechanism for gender and sexual minorities.
When people talk about the digital society, what’s their priority?
This beautifully illustrated story is a tale about how two community network women in India and the women around them sustained connectivity while navigating a global pandemic as the country came to a lockdown.
In a partnership with APC and Rhizomatica's LocNet initiative, 48percent.org is supporting five organisations, in Argentina, India, Mexico, Nigeria and Uganda, in their efforts to strengthen community networks and respond to the challenges in the face of COVID-19.
Unprecedented levels of surveillance, data exploitation, and misinformation are being tested across the world. It is important to examine how these technological solutions will impact democracy at the global level, both during this emergency period and moving forward.
GenderIT.org and APC's local access networks project invited women who work in community networks to share their experiences in the times of COVID-19 and their reflections on what these times have revealed around centring meaningful communication in their physical and digital communities.
The last blog post of the year. Last week I reflected on the (digital) year gone by; this week some thoughts – and hopes – for the (digital) year to come.
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2022
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