« Texting safe water... | Main | The reality of India’s IT challenge »

11 January 2007

The new wave of mobile activism

OK, Wakabi - I owe you an apology for this long silence! A belated happy new year to you and everyone who reads this blog!

I have been hearing – especially over the last month – lots of ‘evidence’ about the use of the internet and mobile phones for social activism.

For example, www.indianfemalefoeticide.org (an odd choice of name, I must admit) raises awareness to stop sex-selective abortion in India. The site has so far received 750 ‘complaints’ to end this brutal act, which it then passes on to the authorities.

Meanwhile www.mobileactive.org, a US-based web portal, encourages the use of mobile phones for civic action and engagement. It is building up a series of ‘strategy guides’ to show how activists and campaigners can become mobile-active.

And it seems that ICT-related development projects are also taking on a political and activism theme. The African organisation Fahamu is helping rural women in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa to report incidences of violence against them and children – and violations of land rights – via SMS technology.

There are no doubt many more examples out there – what’s happening in your country?

Posted on 11 January 2007 at 12:33 PM in Africa, India, Mobile phones |

Tags: activism, development, icts, internet, mobile phones, sms

Comments

Des

SMS mobile news services and public journalism is picking up in Sri Lanka (which is racing ahead with 45% mobile usage growth and 3G roll out) with a venture called Jasmine News www.jnw.lk that is exploring public journalism via sms, mobile telephony.

Posted by: Des | 26 January 2007 at 02:23 PM

Recruitment Software

Hmmm... Interesting point of view. Ought to be Dugg.

Posted by: Recruitment Software | 01 September 2009 at 01:38 PM

cialis to buy

can cialis cut in half cost of daily dose cialis cialis line order http://www.maxipharmacy.com/ generic cialis united states.

Posted by: cialis to buy | 18 July 2011 at 04:06 PM

The comments to this entry are closed.

The i-Witnesses

  • This blog is written by Murali Shanmugavelan, with help from the i-Witness team (Victoria Room and Nicky Lewis).

    It's a place for journalists - particularly in developing countries - to read commentary and share insights about the information society, what it means for ordinary people in the global South, and how it can be reported in a meaningful way.

November 2007

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
        1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30  

Archives

Categories

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

i-Witness resources


  • Check out Panos London's i-Witness microsite, packed with reporting tips, topic briefings, background information and links, and experts for interview...
    > i-Witness microsite

Small print

  • Panos London is not responsible for the content of external websites. This blog presents the personal views of the author, which are not necessarily shared by Panos London.