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Mobile Phones for Social Change

With the new year on the horizon and my Master of Environmental Studies wrapping up it's time to set goals and to focus on laying down the foundation for my future. I feel like I'm at a crossroads in my career with interests flying in a million directions: mobile phones, social media, youth, social change, HIV/AIDS, health prevention, the list goes on. I feel like my identity is split into different areas which require different vocabularies that never meet.

When I think of what a thesis is I often imagine it as taking two strands of thought that usually never touch and combining them to examine an issue in a new light. For me my thesis work does that through examining the ways that youth activists are using mobile technology for social change. I'm in the midst of gathering data in eight different languages on how you the TakingITGlobal users are creating new innovative ways to use mobile phones, whether it's through text message crisis reporting or for facilitating communication for an environmental youth group. Already the data is showing trends, the most interesting being what issues the youth were interested in according to country. While Human Rights issues are popular among Latin American youth, European youth are very concerned about the environment.

It will be interesting to aggregate all of the data into one document and run statistical tests. It will be interesting to look at the data private v.s. public. What effect will private v.s. public have on the connectivity and needs of the users around the globe? In the Economist recently they slammed Ethiopia for having a public phone system claiming that it's stiffing growth. The opposite is true in Costa Rica where their system which is on the brink of being privatized has provided high connectivity rates when compared to the other countries in Central America with one of the lowest price baskets.

Only the next few months of analysis will tell and the results should shed light globally on the current popular practices of youth activists. The results should serve as telecommunications policy recommendations for governments across the globe. There are countless examples of mobile phones adding to development across the globe and policies that stifle this like censorship, high price baskets, will be forced to open up free speech.

December 23, 2009 | 11:29 AM Comments  0 comments



TakingITMobile: Youth, Mobile Phones and Social Change
Related to this project: TakingITMobile Working Group

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic



Are you interested in mobile communications? The TakingITMobile survey is looking for your input! The aim of this research is to share innovation in the field of youth mobile communications and to brainstorm projects and solutions for the TakingITGlobal platform. By sharing examples of mobile innovation, we can examine ways of building mobile tools that are compatible with the existing mobile platform. As well this project aims to tap the larger community's current mobile practices. From the data gathered an environmental scan will be written up to document mobile trends among TIG users and create a list of recommendations for future applications and services. Click here to take the survey in English! The survey is now available in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, Turkish, Dutch and Russian.

August 23, 2009 | 6:32 PM Comments  0 comments

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Drugs drugs drugs... Which are good? Which are bad?
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic



I think that the most important issue for youth and drug use is to examine the philosophy of harm reduction, which seems to be entirely missing from TakingITGlobal's the monthly theme on Substance Abuse. This is very confusing to me, as harm reduction is essential to fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS, an issue that TIG has dedicated much energy into. I really hope that in the future if TIG tackles drug use that harm reduction will be included as a section, as it is vitally important to keeping youth safe and informed about their life choices. According to Steven Lewis, "Harm Reduction must be a central theme, it must not be an afterthought. The world has to awaken." Harm reduction to me means accepting that youth are always going to do drugs, no matter how much the governments of the world battle to stop drug use. The drug war is a criminalizing response that puts youth (especially youth of colour and indigenous youth) in jail and stigmatizes and marginalizes users. Harm reduction takes the opposite approach, and searches to educate youth about the positive and negative effects of drug use, and searches for ways to minimize harm.

In our global society there are a number of drugs which are accepted, and others that are extremely stigmatized. While drugs like coffee, sugar, tobacco, alcohol, prescription medicine, and other mood altering substances are seen as harmless, other drugs are judged as "illicit" and those who use them are criminalized and denied human rights-- right to health care, school, respect, etc. No one does drugs because they want to be "addicted" or overdose or go to jail. Youth do drugs to have fun, explore different states of being, etc. etc.

If youth are going to do drugs we need to educate them about the risks of drug use and ways to do drugs safer. For example, if youth share straws when they're snorting a substance there is the potential to spread Hep C. Same goes for sharing needles, as it is the easiest way to transmit HIV/AIDS. Instead of jailing youth for doing drugs, we need to educate them about the risks and make sure that they have tools available, like clean needles and straws.

One example of a great harm reduction group is the TRIP! Project, a youth-led harm reduction organization that has served the dance music community in Toronto for over 10 years. TRIP! goes to parties and sets up a booth full of information on drugs and sex, allowing youth to make their own choices in a non-judgmental way. Our program is peer-led, so that we can connect with youth directly, providing culturally relevant information. Can you imagine if it was a bunch of police officers offering the information? No one would come or even trust their information!! It's essential that our project is for youth, by youth so that we can reach youth drug users.

If you want to learn more about harm reduction and take action I suggest you check out Youth RISE, "an international youth network for reducing drug-related harm." Check out Kyla Zanardi and Caitlin Padgett talking about harm reduction at the 2008 International AIDS Conference in Mexico City:





July 19, 2009 | 11:06 AM Comments  1 comments



Big Tings be Agwan
Related to country: Canada

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic



So many changes! Josue and I are settling into our life in Toronto and I have to say that the city is treating us very well. So many amazing smart people working on incredibly innovative projects, with lots of ideas in the mix. The last article I posted talked about Toronto 2.0, and boy are we ever on the run. In the last half a year I have been blown away by the amount of cool internet applications from TTCUpdates to my new place of work as Community Evangelist with GetInvolved.ca. The thing that touches my heart is not just the technical talent embedded in this city, but the city's many artists and activists that are creatively forging ahead using the urban landscape as their canvas, from community mural projects to large festivals and conferences.

Not only is this city beaming with talent, it's beaming with opportunity. Collaboration is in the air, and when there is a will there is away. People are enthusiastic about supporting innovation be it social, creative, technical or otherwise. I really feel like anything is possible at this point, and that Toronto is rapidly challenging large American cities for supreme coolness. Will Toronto murals rival San Francisco's? Will our artists challenge NYC and LA as the top North American art market? Will we take over Silicon Valley with our startups, or should we leave that for Waterloo? Either way Toronto is kicking ass!

July 3, 2009 | 12:27 PM Comments  1 comments



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