Dear DDN'ers --
I wanted to make you aware of a gathering of some of the world's leading
activists using mobile phones and SMS in their work that is taking place
next week in Toronto, Canada. We are very happy to note that Taran, an
active member of this community, is coming. It is a small strategy
meeting to build a stronger social network amongst each other, share
skills and knowledge and map and document the field of mobile activism.
Due to a cancellation, we have two spots available, so if there is
anyone you know who can get to Toronto on short noctice who has
experience and skills in using mobiles and texting in her/his activist
work, please drop me a line. There is no cost associated with this event
and we will accommodate participants.
After this stratgey meeting, we are hoping that we can have a much
larger event next year for those activists and nonprofits who want to
learn about how to use mobile phones in advocacy and civic engagement
work but currently do not do so.
Below is the press advisory, for more information.
Thanks so much!
Best,
Katrin Verclas
Aspiration: Better Tools for a Better World
www.aspirationtech.org
****************************************************
PRESS ADVISORY
CONTACT: Katrin Verclas, Aspiration
413-687-9877 or 413-884-0094
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Leading Activists from Around the World Gather for First-Ever
“MobileActive” on Use of Mobile Phones in Human Rights,Emergency Relief,
and Democracy Campaigns
Washington, DC, September 6, 2005 – Ring, ring …Social Change is
Calling: Green Media Toolshed and Aspiration, two US-based nonprofit
organizations, are convening technologists and activists using mobile
phones and text messaging for advocacy, human rights work, democracy
campaigns, and mass mobilizations.
MobileActive: Cellphones for Civic Engagement will take place in
Toronto, Canada on September 22-24, 2005 – www.mobileactive.org.
"Call me on my cell phone -- Send me a text message -- You can get me on
my cell when you need me. These are not just words among friends
anymore. Now that power is being used by activist working for mass
mobilizations, human rights campaigns, environmental protection, and
democratic elections,” says Katrin Verclas of Aspiration: Better Tools
for a Better World.
Marty Kearns, one of the organizers, says: "Email is dead. The cell
phone is the real tool for moving voice and connecting on the go. In a
world on the move, we need to connect the voice of the people to civil
society campaigns. The voices of the world are on mobile devices and the
leaders of social change need to be there to engage and mobilize.”
“Cell phones can be a powerful tool for human rights,” said Firoze
Manji, director of Fahamu – Networks for Social Justice, a not-for-
profit organisation based in South Africa and the UK. “In much of
Africa, landline telephones are either not available or are extremely
unreliable. With the growing ubiquity of cell phones--there are more
than 81 million cell phones in Africa, but only about 15 million email
accounts--there are real opportunities for promoting and protecting
human rights. Cell phones have become effective tools for advocacy and
campaigning as demonstrated recently by the coalition on Solidarity for
African Women’s Rights in Africa who used text messaging to enable
online petitions to be signed. The activist community internationally
has developed a range of skills, tools and techniques to enable cell
phones to become effective tools for social justice – and these need to
be shared widely. This is why this meeting is such an important first
step towards making these technologies available globally.”
MobileActive.org and the MobileActive strategy meeting bring together
campaigners, technology experts and communications strategists to
reconnect campaigns, issue work and civic engagement to people on the
street. MobileActive will help speed the dissemination of innovative
practices and technology by skill and knowledge-sharing among activists.
Attendees will explore strategies and tactics for the use of cell phones
as an organizing tool, and develop useable guidance for practitioners,
donors and campaigners to be disseminated widely. The overarching goal
is to help civil society activists capitalize on the global wireless
phone infrastructure for advocacy communications and organizing.
Activists and technologists from the Philippines, England, Canada,
Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and the Congo
representing Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Fahamu, Working Assets,
txtpower.org, WorldChanging.org, the Open Society Institute, MacArthur
Foundation, MIT Media Labs, EchoDitto, Association de Defense des Droits
des Prisonniers, Txtmob, Mobile Voter, Movement Strategy Center, Surdna
Foundation, 160Characters, EchoDitto, Idealist.org, Intercasting Corp,
TakingITGlobal, and many others will attend.
Strategists and activists interested in participating, please go to
www.mobileactive.org.
About Green Media Toolshed: Green Media Toolshed is a nonprofit
environmental organization that provides communications tools to our
members, environmental nonprofits, so that they can more effectively
project their messages to the public and decision-makers. We provide
tools and membership services to more than 165 environmental groups
across the U.S. -- www.greenmediatoolshed.org
About Aspiration: Aspiration, www.aspirationtech.org, connects nonprofit
organizations with software solutions that help them better carry out
their work. We want nonprofit organizations to obtain and use the best
software to maximize their effectiveness and impact so that they, in
turn, can change the world. We identify what is available and what is
missing in NGO software arena, and foster relationships, delivery
systems, and sustainability strategies between NGOs around the world.
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