"Blog for a Cause" now available in Arabic

Mary — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:12:31 -0400

A few months ago I wrote Blog for a Cause!, a guide to blog activism, for Global Voices Advocacy. The guide is now available in Arabic. Click the image to download.

Tibetans Use the Internet to Get the News Out

Mary — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:25:00 -0400

Last week hundreds of Tibetan monks took to the streets in and near the Tibetan capital of Lhasa to protest Chinese rule. Although the heavily censored Chinese media refused to cover the story, both Tibetans and foreign tourists used the Internet to get the news out.

cell phone image of protests published on the site of a Tibetan rights NGO based in India

According to the Vancouver Sun, “Amateur cellphone photos and video clips showing what were described as confrontations between police and Tibetans protesting Chinese rule poured onto websites big and small, including those for major news media,

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Prison Blogging: Making Invisible People Visible

Mary — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:05:00 -0300

Today I read in the New York Times that 1 in 100 American adults is in prison. This is the highest incarceration rate in America's history and I believe it is also one of the highest in the world. This is really shameful, not to mention horrible social policy, given what we know about high recidivism rates and the crimilnalizing effects of being in jail.

Because of the way my mind works, I am always wondering if there is grassroots digital solution to any problem and I am wondering if having inmates blog might be a good idea.

Certainly this

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Blog for a Cause!: The Global Voices Guide to Blog Advocacy

Mary — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:57:00 -0300

I wrote this guide for Global Voices Advocacy. It explains how activists can use blogs as part of campaigns against injustice around the world. Blogging can help activists in se veral ways. It is a quick and inexpensive way to create a presence on the Internet, to disseminate information about a cause, and to organize actions to lobby decision-makers.

The goal of Blog for a Cause is twofold: to inform and to inspire. The guide is designed to be accessible and practical, giving activists a number of easy-to-follow tips on how to use a blog to further their particular

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Free Fouad on CNN

Mary — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:39:16 -0300

A great piece on CNN about Fouad Alfarhan's imprisonment and the blog campaign to free him:

New York Times Sees Blogs as Threat

Mary — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:36:59 -0300

I just got this as in my daily New York Times e-mail briefing:

Who do you think NYTimes could possibly mean by "second opinions"? Could they be talking about blogs, perhaps? Looks like the NYTimes is feeling the heat from bloggers and is feeling the need to push back a bit to retain market share.

The Campign to Free Fouad

Mary — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 20:35:41 -0300

Fouad Alfaran, only of Saudi Arabia's most important bloggers, was arrested on December 10 for blogging about Saudi Arabia's political prisoners. Ironically, he is now a political prisoner himself.

The campaign to free him is taking advantage of several digital activism techniques, including a Free Fouad blog (in English and Arabic), a Free Fouad Facebook group, and an e-petition.

Please consider taking action by signing the petition, joining the Facebook group, and learning more about the case on the blog. I'll be posting more about this campaign as it develops.

Don't Cry for Us, Thomas Friedman

Mary — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 01:55:20 -0400

Columnist Thomas Friedman is worried about the politics of the Internet generation. He wrote the following in the New York Times on Wednesday in an editorial entitled "Generation Q."

I just spent the past week visiting several colleges...and I can report that the more I am around this generation of college students, the more I am both baffled and impressed....
I’ve been calling them “Generation Q” — the Quiet Americans, in the best sense of that term, quietly pursuing their idealism, at home and abroad....
But Generation Q may be too quiet, too online, for its own good,

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Taking Back the Internet

Mary — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 13:06:00 -0400

Most of the Internet is like a village square where the rich come to sell you something and the powerful come to remind you who is boss. The rich don't expect you to interact with them and they don't want you to interact with them unless it will somehow encourage you to buy more. The powerful don't expect you to interact with them and they don't want you to interact with you unless it will somehow encourage you to be more obedient.

We have accepted that we can't talk back to the rich and powerful. But that is a lie.

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The Election Blogging Guide

Mary — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 00:29:45 -0400

Back in 2006 I wrote The Election Blogging Guide with Solana Larsen and Zephyr Teachout. At the time we wrote it, Solana was an editor at openDemocracy, and now she is also co-managing editor at Global Voices. Zephyr Teachout was Director of Online Organizing for Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign and also worked with the Sunlight Foundation. Basically, these two women are rock stars and I am honored to have worked with them.

We decided to write the guide because blogs are a new forum for political expression and engagement. They offer a space for freer speech

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