Author: Caitlin Turner

Caitlin Turner is a graduate student at the Institute of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University. Through her thesis work, Caitlin hopes to bring attention to the ways in which social media can promote sustainable peace, encourage mobilization and foster social change. The first time Caitlin truly became interested in conflict issues was at the University of Calgary where she obtained her BA in Urban Studies and developed an affinity for flash mobs and Robert Putnam. In recent years, she has carved out a niche as a blogger and hopes to carry this momentum forward bringing a unique voice to complex issues.

In the technological game of cat and mouse, where activists and governments seek to control the flow of information through digital devices, activists have a new card to play: Bambuser.

Information is power. And controlling the flow of information is important to the strategies of those who have power, and those who seek to take it away from them. Different tech tools have been taking center stage at different times – each with it’s own features that make it the right tool for the right at the time. And right now, Bambuser is giving the upper hand to those want to stream video in real time. As described by CEO Hans Eriksson, Bambuser is what you get if “YouTube fell in love with Skype and had a love child.” Compatible with 260 mobile phone models, Bambuser allows users to broadcast live from their mobile device. As footage is taken, Bambuser streams it directly to social network platforms, blogs, and the Bambuser site among others.

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Over the weekend TechChange had the opportunity to teach a two-day course on Technology and Peacebuilding at the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR) at George Mason University. This was a first for S-CAR students and we were excited to see what the graduate students would bring to the discussions, case studies and group work. The TechChange team learned just as much from the students as they learned form us.

The course consisted of two full day sessions of hands on simulations, group discussions and a variety of presentations from the TechChange team. The goal of the course was to examine the growing power of technology for peacebuilding in the 21^st Century and to provide hands on experience with these new tools. During the weekend, the team was able to introduce the students to a variety of topics including the One Laptop Per Child Project, SMS & Radio Technology, Crowdsourcing, Ushahidi, FrontlineSMS and of course, Twitter. (more…)

On Monday May 2, 2011 Canadians will be voting in the 41st Canadian Federal Election. The election comes as the result of non-confidence vote held on March 25th, 2011 that saw the defeat of the Conservative party’s cabinet in the House of Commons on a motion declaring the Government to be in Contempt of Parliament – a first in the history of the Commonwealth of Nations. (more…)

Perhaps the biggest thing to come out of this years famed South By Southwest Conference (SXSWi) was the GroupMe app. And since there’s basically an app for everything, we need to wonder what is so special about this one. What has captured the attention of tech nerds, and social network junkies all over the US? (more…)

Qatar-based Al Jazeera may be completely responsible for the lack of productivity amongst university students, in many different disciplines, all over the world. Walking through the halls of a local university you may hear, at any one point, one student saying to another “Al Jazeera ate my homework.”

The reason for this is what the LA Times has coined Al Jazeera’s ‘CNN moment’ (referring to the network’s coverage of the Gulf War, which catapulted it into popularity). Al Jazeera’s around the clock news and live updated coverage of the protests and revolutions throughout the Middle East and Africa, has in many ways changed the rules of the media game. Al Jazeera has led news media outlets down a path that forces all others to be very conscientious of not only what they report but also in keeping up with real-time events. (more…)

The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission, more commonly referred to as the CRTC, has recently ignited a firestorm among Internet users in Canada. In January, the CRTC announced the approval of a user-based billing (UBB) system.

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Google Africa has a new Manager of Policy – Ory Okolloh.

Okolloh, co-founder of the very successful crowdsourcing platform, known as Ushahidi, recently announced that she will be stepping down as Executive Director, and stepping into the new position with Google.

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Romeo Dallaire may be best known for his book titled Shaking Hands with the Devil. Since retiring from his illustrious military career, he has taken on a new task – to end the use of child soldiers in war. He is the first to admit that this is no small task, and Dallaire has gone on record to say “I have been leading this fight for over five years, without a force behind me. I’ve come to realize that this is not something anyone can accomplish alone.” And with that realization, Dallaire has turned to social media for help.

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Mobile health technologies are one of the fastest growing, arguably most innovative new platforms that utilize the power of mobile phones. As mentioned before by Jordan Hosmer-Henner on the TechChange blog: “Mobiles have the potential to increase efficiency at nearly every step of health care provision.”

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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Mead. Margaret Mead spoken such simple words with such profound impact, and just recently, to an audience at George Mason University, Micheal Wesch made those same words come alive.

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