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Bio

livingroom_100x113.jpgIn 2006, I founded ZapBoom Consulting,  which specializes in the analysis of how digital tools like cell phones and the Internet can be used in social change campaigns in developing countries.  I have researched and written reports on topics ranging from online citizen journalism to blog advocacy and internet censorship.  I have also performed in-country Internet monitoring and international conference organizing. 

You can contact me at MaryCJoyce AT gmail DOT com.

Read full bio....

Client Buzz

Feedback from Zapboom Clients:

"Mary's passion and energy for digital activism is obvious in every action and initiative she makes."...read more

"Right away she cut to the core of our needs."...read more

"She deserves much of the credit for organizing a tremendously successful event."...read more

"She was able to turn a potentially complex technical task into something that brought all the different viewpoints together and channelled everyone's energy in a collaborative manner."...read more

Digital Activism Projects

Current CV

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Posts about "blogging" in other sites

Tibetans Use the Internet to Get the News Out

Posted by Mary on 17/03/2008 at 13:25

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,

(Read more)

Prison Blogging: Making Invisible People Visible

Posted by Mary on 29/02/2008 at 12:05

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

(Read more)

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

Posted by Mary on 30/01/2008 at 13:57

blogforacause.jpgI 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

(Read more)

Free Fouad on CNN

Posted by Mary on 08/01/2008 at 13:34

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


New York Times Sees Blogs as Threat

Posted by Mary on 03/01/2008 at 13:29

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

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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

Posted by Mary on 27/12/2007 at 20:32

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

Posted by Mary on 12/10/2007 at 1:07

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,

(Read more)

Taking Back the Internet

Posted by Mary on 17/08/2007 at 13:06

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. 

(Read more)

The Election Blogging Guide

Posted by Mary on 10/08/2007 at 23:58

electionguide.jpgBack 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

(Read more)

Activism with your Friends

Posted by Mary on 30/07/2007 at 5:44

facebookprofilecrop.jpg why Facebook makes the activist in me smile


For the lofty academic goals of pure research I have recently been joining online social networks, specifically Facebook, Change.org, Care2, and LinkedIn. The only one I became attached to was Facebook and actually, I am embarrassed to say, I visit the site every day.

My affinity for Facebook is a bit of a surpise to me. My original reason for signing up for these networks was because I am interested in the possiblity of online communities for activism. I'd really like to see people using online social networks

(Read more)

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Quote of the Week

"If you think you can influence the agenda, you walk through the world with different eyes and different ears."

-Yochai Benkler

What is Digital Activism?

Digital activism means grassroots activists using digital technologies like cell phones and the internet to increase their impact, thus subverting traditional power hierarchies and changing the world.

The Blog Advocacy Guide

        

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