digital activism

22nd of March, it´s world water day , an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. All over the world events highlighted the need to raise awareness about conflicts and health issues stemming from water scarcity.

The 2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference concluded yesterday, and there was a nuanced energy about how the nonprofit sector can use new media to bring social change.

"Poison Fire follows a team of local activists as they gather “video testimonies” fromcommunities on the impact of oils spills and gas flaring. We see creeks full of crude oil, devastated mangrove forests, wellheads that has been leaking gas and oil for months. We meet  people whose survival is acutely threatened by the loss of farmland, fishing and drinking water and the health hazards of gas flaring."

The major factor that will shape the future evolution of Africa is in the education and sensitisation of the people. A commonly cited example is the AIDs epidemic. Over 20 years after its outbreak, ignorance and stigma still surround the epidemic to the point where AIDs victims are unable to openly talk about their struggles for fear of discrimination or violence.

DigiActive.org is seeking volunteer correspondents to write about digital activism in Africa. Please direct inqueries to Mary Joyce (Mary@digiactive.org).

What is DigiActive? DigiActive is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to helping grassroots activists around the world use mobile phones and the Internet to increase their impact. Our goal is a world of activists made more powerful and more effective through the use of digital technology.

Erik Hersman has an excellent and informative post on Mapping Activism based on a recent presentation he gave at the "Where 2.0" conference in the US.  You can read the whole post but below are some of the things  that got me excited!