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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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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

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Can Activists Trust YouTube?

Posted by Mary on 08/01/2008 at 19:37

In late November, Egyptian activist Wael Abbas' YouTube account was suspended due to videos of torture which he had posted. Though his account was re-activated a few days later, all his videos had been removed. YouTube's side of the story is that Abbas had violated their terms of use by posting videos of "graphic or gratuitous violence" (many of Abbas' video depict police torture, including sodomy. ) However, other videos, of police brutality, demonstrations, strikes, sit-ins and election irregularities were also deleted when his account was restored.

 

This case clearly put YouTube in an awkward situation. Clearly the videos of torture were violent and possibly offensive, but they undoubtedly had political value as they exposed the crimes of the Egyptian government. Wael is not a young hooligan posting inappropriate material, but an award-winning journalist trying to stoke political reform in his country. I hope that YouTube (owned by Google) will consider the implications of its actions more carefully in the future.

In the mean time, activists should be aware that the principal concern of many of the most useful digital activism technologies (YouTube, Blogger, Google, Skype) is not justice but profit. You cannot necessarily trust them to defend your content and your rights if they come under government pressure to remove your content or reveal your identity. For this reason, it is important to back up your content in a second location in case it is deleted and use these services anonymously if you think that the revelation of your identity by the services you use could be dangerous to your safety.

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We Blog Freedom

Posted by Mary on 29/12/2007 at 14:09


translation: "We Blog Freedom"

I really liked this image from Abdel Monem's blog, Ana Ikhwan, so I decided to post it here.  He has a whole post (in Arabic) about imprisoned bloggers.

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Jihad's Digital Activists

Posted by Mary on 15/10/2007 at 17:48

                  

image from a terror-promoting web site celebrating the attack in Kenya in 1998 


I'm wary of even discussing this topic. I need to begin by saying that this post in no way advocates terrorism or violence of any kind. Terrorism and war and hatred make me sick and sad. Rather, this article is an analysis of how Islamic terrorists are incredibly effective at using the Internet to active their strategic aims while traditional NGOs lag behind. It is about implications.

An article in the New York Times today, An Internet Jihad Aims at US Viewers, inspired me to finally

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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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Digital Activism Examples

Posted by Mary on 29/09/2007 at 11:05

In the interest of defining what exactly grassroots digital activism is, I thought I'd create a list of some examples of grassroots digital campaigns. I'll be updating the list, so please send me your examples through the comments section.

Nosamo (2000-present): This is the fan club of Korean president Roh Moo-Hyun (the group's name means "those who love Roh"). The independent volunteer organization used a website and digital organizing techniques to support the progressive campaign of Roh, who won the 2002 is a huge upset. They are like Deaniacs except they also drafted their candidate by convincing him to

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Hide Your Cell Phone: Digital Activism is Criminalized in Egypt

Posted by Mary on 02/09/2007 at 11:11

monem-freed_how_long.jpg

In June, Egyptian blogger Abdel Monem Mahmoud was released after spending 46 days in prison on charges of belonging to an illegal organization, creating and possessing images destructive to public order, organizing secret meetings with the aim of disturbing public order. But now Global Voices Advocacy reports that he's under threat again. Monem has been writing about the torture he underwent while in police custody in 2003 and the Egyptian doesn't like it.

This time a journalist at Al-Ahram newspaper, Ahmed Moussa, is being used as a proxy in the persecution of Monem, a sad case of citizen journalist vs.

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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

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From Egypt: "A Call to Blogging... A Call to Freedom"

Posted by Mary on 20/07/2007 at 15:21

Abdel-Monem Mahmoud is a prolific Egyptian blogger. Though an outspoken member of the Muslim Brotherhood, his message of greater political freedoms for all Egyptians has made him an admired figure across the political spectrum. He has been imprisoned by the Mubarak regime several times and was once tortured while in police custody. His most recent arrested in mid-April of this year resulted in a global Free Monem campaign.

After approximately six weeks in jail, Monem was released from prision and got right back to blogging. His time in jail did not temper his strong criticism of the Egyptian government

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The Cute Cat Theory of Digital Activism

Posted by Mary on 19/07/2007 at 18:17


"Just one moment, let me come over there and help you with your e-petition."


I like to pay credit where credit is due. Not many people are treating digital activism with the rigor of deep intellectual analysis, so I'd like to point out Ethan Zuckerman's contribution to this area. Ethan, co-founder of Geek Corps and Global Voices, is also the originator of the Cute Cat Theory of Digital Activism.

This theory states that while many Web 2.0 tools were created to help people share information about their cats (Flickr: look at my cute cat!, blogging: read about what my

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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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