digitaldemocracy's Media

Life After the Earthquake The Situation for Haitian Women

digitaldemocracy — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 06:37:27 -0700

Since January's devastating earthquake the women of Haiti have been subject to increased rates of gender-based violence. This violence is due in large part to the relocation of many to displaced persons camps, where the threat of attack is high and levels of security low. While women are frequently the head of the household, they have little opportunity for representation in diplomacy, government and the economy in Haiti - and therefore little chance to combat this and other issues.
On this episode of DdTv, Dd Co-Director Emily Jacobi, and Dd Principal for Latin American and Gender Programming Abby Goldberg, travel to Port Au Prince, Haiti to participate in meetings with organizations working to create a mechanism to streamline methods of protection, documentation and service provisions around gender-based violence. In addition, Emily and Abby meet with local women leaders working to combat this violence. With these women, they conduct a photography training to help empower women to raise awareness of this violence by documenting their lives and struggle.
How do these women describe themselves and other Haitian women? How do they photograph their communities and the people in them? Find out on this episode of DdTv.

The Dreams of Stateless Youth

digitaldemocracy — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:28:26 -0700

In this episode of DdTv venture back with us to January 2008 to see the origins of Digital Democracy's digital photography program Project Einstein. Digital Democracy Co-Directors Mark Belinsky and Emily Jacobi spend several days in Kutupalong refugee camp in Southern Bangladesh, home to thousands of Rohingya refugees from Burma. Stateless, the Rohingya, a muslim ethnic group from western Burma have fled to Bangladesh to escape the human rights violations they've suffered in Burma, where they are also denied citizenship.
In the camp, Mark and Emily train a group of youth ages 9-14 in digital photography skills, enabling the kids to explore where in their lives they encounter such universal themes as peace, happiness, the disabled and sadness. See their photographs, listen to them as they reveal their dreams, their hopes for the future, and become the inspiration behind the creation of Project Einstein.

Stories from a Thai Refugee Camp

digitaldemocracy — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 04:52:44 -0700

Digital Democracy Co-Directors Mark and Emily travel to Northern Thailand to Mae La refugee camp to launch Dd's digital penpal program Project Einstein with Burmese youth living in the camp. Students from the Leadership Management Training College, never having held a camera before, are taught the fundamentals of digital photography and choose themes from their lives to document with the cameras: Internally Displaced People, A day in the life in the camp, youth life and School life. While giving this training, Mark and Emily stream live for DdTv viewers, we see a tour of the camp's facilities, and conversations with the students on topics of technology access in the camp, and how digital photography has the potential to change their lives. Watch this episode of DdTv and see what this refugee camp looks like through the eyes of the youth who are living there

Earthquake in Haiti

digitaldemocracy — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:35:59 -0800

In early January 2010 Digital Democracy 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 Dd's Project Einstein curriculum, worked with young adults ages 18-24 to explore – through the use of digital photography – how these youth view money and finance in their society.
Several days after the completion of this training a devastating Earthquake shook the country. In this episode of DdTv, Chrissy discusses her experiences being in the Earthquake, witnessing first-hand the toll it took on the country and its people, and her reflections on the photo training that took place only 3 days prior. In addition, the emergency response through the use of Ushahidi, spearheaded by Chrissy and Josh’s classmates at the Fletcher School and Digital Democracy Co-Directors Mark and Emily, which helped get critical updates including information about missing persons, locations of danger zones and available aid to groups working on the ground.

Handheld Human Rights

digitaldemocracy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:46:57 -0800

While in Northern Thailand, Mark and Emily meet with Digital Democracy's partner The All Burma IT Students' Union (ABITSU) to set up equipment and train ABITSU's core staff, as well as members of other human rights groups working along the border, in the uses and features of Handheld Human Rights (HHR) for its initial launch. HHR enables organizations to communicate securely through the use of mobile phones, and to make human rights data accessible and actionable. ABITSU, an organization that teaches the next generation of young leaders critical IT skills to be effective leaders in the 21st Century, also runs a school and technical support for human rights organizations working along the border. While working with ABITSU, Mark and Emily hear a powerful personal story from one of the organization's head trainers - his determination, at any cost, to do this important and necessary work.

Burma's Political Prisoners

digitaldemocracy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:48:28 -0800

The number of political prisoners has increased exponentially since Burma’s Saffron Revolution in 2007. This number, as told by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners‘ Aung Myo Thein, is a clear indicator of the political situation in Burma.

In this episode of DdTv, Mark and Emily travel to northern Thailand to launch Handheld Human Rights. While there, they meet with Aung Myo Thein, a former political prisoner, now working along the Thai-Burma border to help prisoners like he once was. He gives them a tour of a museum in the organization, and we hear about the horrible conditions and treatment he experienced during his 6 1/2 years in one of Burma’s most notorious prisons.

Prachatai

digitaldemocracy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:21:41 -0800

While continuing to explore the technology community in Bangkok, Mark and Emily meet some of the courageous people working in online Journalism today. Among them is Jiew, the Executive Director of Prachatai, an online alternative news source for Thailand. Prachatai hosts an online forum, allowing readers to respond to news and issues that are posted. Recently, Jiew was arrested due to several comments posted on the forum by one of its users. In this episode, Mark and Emily take a tour of the Prachatai office, and interview Jiew about her experiences from the past year - discussing the details of her arrest, why she continues to do what she does, and why Prachatai continues to be an important news source for Thailand.

Open Dream

digitaldemocracy — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:08:17 -0700

Bangkok is one of the centers of tech innovation in Asia, but it hasn't always been that way. Tune in as our newly inoculated team moves from Bangkok Hospital to speak with John Berns, one of the co-founders of Barcamp Bangkok, about the rise of the local tech community. After a bike tour of the city, Emily and Mark then travel to Open Dream to meet Thai developers building digital tools for civil society and business. They give us a tour of their office co-working space. What do open government initiatives look like in Thailand and are there ways to support the community there by creating programming teams for new gadgets things like Livescribe? Find out in this episode of DdTv!

Medical Tourism

digitaldemocracy — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:50:12 -0700

As the debate over healthcare reform rages in the United States, Mark and Emily explore another option: medical tourism. Inoculation against certain tropical diseases is a routine precaution for traveling in Southeast Asia but even getting a handful of shots in the US can quickly become very expensive. So Mark asked: "Why not just get them in Thailand?" Can he expect the same quality of care overseas? Can he afford it? And if so, what does that say about our own healthcare system in America? Find out on this episode of DdTv!

Digital Democracy TV: Arriving in Bangkok

digitaldemocracy — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:36:01 -0700

Digital Democracy's Co-Directors' Mark and Emily are headed to Thailand for six weeks. While there, they'll be working with our partners around Burma's borders to implement our programs Handheld Human Rights and Project Einstein. In this episode the voyage begins: from packing, to flying, their arrival in Bangkok, and ultimately navigating the city, we follow Mark and Emily half way around the world as they begin the journey of launching Dd's programs, which have developed from nearly 2 years of research and project development.