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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.

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"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

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Posts about "cellphones" in other sites

Alternative Media Critical to Malaysian Election

Posted by Mary on 04/04/2008 at 14:49

malaysiakini
Malaysiakini.com, one of the biggest alternative news blogs in the country.
 

According to USINFO, a publication of the Department of State, alternative media played a key role in the March 8 parliamentary elections in Malaysia. The ruling Barisan National (BN) party received a surprising blow when it lost 58 seats in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat. Although the BN still holds 63% of seats, it lost its commanding two-thirds majority. The BN has ruled Malaysia for 50 years.

At a forum on April 1, at the University Malaya, columnist Datuk Johan Jaffar noted that alternative media had a crucial effect

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Thoughts on Joining Twitter

Posted by Mary on 31/03/2008 at 11:17

Today I joined Twitter,a service that lets you follow the public SMS dispatches of people you find interesting. I am equally willing to believe that it will be a fabulously useful new social networking medium or a sparkly excuse to distract myself with increasingly hummingbird-like multitasking.  Guess I'll see.  You can follow me at http://twitter.com/Mary_Joyce

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FrontlineSMS is a Finalist in the Stockholm Challenge

Posted by Mary on 26/03/2008 at 13:22

 

I'm really pleased that my friend Ken Banks' text-messaging hub for grassroots NGOs, FrontlineSMS, has been selected as a finalist for the Stockholm Challenge, a prestigious competition that rewards the best in ICT for development. Read more on the Stockholm Challenge site.

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Technology Adoption Now Happening Faster Than Ever

Posted by Mary on 22/02/2008 at 19:54

 

 

According to a recent article in The Economist, "technology is spreading to emerging markets faster than it has ever done anywhere."  The World Bank studied how long it took after the initial invention of a new technology for 80% of surveyed countries to  report use. 

The result are that adoption rates have decreased dramatically in the past 200 years (see graph). Whereas it took 120 for trains to be adopted in "developing" countries in the 19th century and 60 years for aviation and radios to be adopted in the 20th century, it has taken only 20 years for personal

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Awesome Digital Activism in Kenya!

Posted by Mary on 11/01/2008 at 12:47

ushahidi.jpg

Ushahidi is a visual map of human rights abuses reported by SMS (text message).  The site was created by the bloggers behind KenyanPundit.com, WhiteAfrican.com, MentalAcrobatics.com, AfroMusing.com, and Skunkworks and was built by Kobia Interactive.

"Ushahidi" means "witnessing" is Kiswahili and the site allows people to send an SMS to the site which describes an atrocity. The atrocity is then displayed on a map of Kenya using a colored pin and displayed on the home page.  In this way, people can become digital witnesses of the unrest in Kenya.

The violence which Ushahidi is attempting to track is a result of the Kenyan presidential election, which occurred on December 27. On the I&D Blog, Josh Goldstein reports that, "a presidential election pitted incumbent president and Kikuyu tribesman Mwai Kabaki against leading opponent and Luo tribesman Raila Odinga. After what was initially described as a very close vote, Kabaki swiftly announced himself the winner and swore himself in for another term.

[last] week, the election results are being described domestically and internationally as fraudulent, and violence has erupted between rioting mobs and police in Nairobi, and between

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nGOmobile Competition Ends December 14

Posted by Mary on 06/12/2007 at 17:23

A little reminder from my friend Ken Banks that the nGOmobile Competition closes December 14 (next Friday). Consider applying!

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FrontlineSMS Facebook Group

Posted by Mary on 02/11/2007 at 16:24
For those who are interested in using cell phones for political organizing, try the FrontlineSMS Facebook Group and say Mary sent you.
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Activists Protect Themselves with Twitter

Posted by Mary on 06/10/2007 at 13:35

sms_text.jpgTwitter is a multi-platform service that allows users to send "updates" (text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) via SMS (text message), instant messaging, and email. In its most common application, people send Twitter messages via SMS telling what they are doing at that very moment ("eating breakfast," "lots of traffic this morning," "lunch break").  Then people who have subscribed to that feed can then read these messages as they are sent out, allowing them to know what their friend is doing.

The blog Vancouver Social Enterprise Forum has an interesting post about how activists are using Twitter as a

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nGOmobile Competition

Posted by Mary on 26/09/2007 at 18:32

I've sung the praises of Ken Banks before. He's Mr. Cell Phone, dedicated to helping activists use mobile phones to organize for social change, mostly in the developing world. His newest project is nGOmobile, a project dedicated specifically to helping NGOs use mobile phones in their work.

nGOmobile is launching with a contest. From the web site:

NGOs from developing countries are invited to submit a short proposal outlining how text messaging could make their job easier. The ideas don’t need to be rocket science, or even earth-shatteringly original. Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest, easiest and most

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An Awesome Gift

Posted by Mary on 25/09/2007 at 21:38

Heine_portrait.jpg A few months ago I did an e-mail interview with a Belgian graphic journalists named Ben Heine. As compensation for doing the interview (which was for a project related to his journalism degree) Ben offered to create a portrait of me. Seemed like a fair deal.

This is the result and I am honored. I really like to fact that he drew me in the mannerist style of Pontormo, which my art history professor Mom is sure to appreciate.

By the way, the illuminated cell phone in my hand is not me calling God, but rather a reference to

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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.

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