A summary of this dialogue is now available below!

Thank you for joining New Tactics, Rising Voices, Indigenous Tweets, and other practitioners for an online dialogue on Using Citizen Media Tools to Promote Under-Represented Languages* from November 16 to 22, 2011. 

A brief description of this dialogue topic:

The United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) regularly publishes an Atlas documenting and mapping more than 2,500 global languages that are classified as vulnerable, endangered, or extinct. UNESCO also estimates that of the 6,000 current languages spoken today, more than half will be extinct by the start of the next century, adding that "with the disappearance of unwritten and undocumented languages, humanity will lose not only a cultural wealth, but also important ancestral knowledge embedded, in particular, in indigenous languages."

Thank you for your participation in this dialogue hosted by New Tactics, the Technology for Transparency Team, and other practitioners on the topic Using Technology to Promote Transparency from September 21 to 27, 2011!  This dialogue remains open for anyone that wants to continue to add their comments.  A summary of this dialogue has been posted below. 

There has been an expanding and increasingly global movement of technology and digital media projects aimed at promoting government transparency, accountability, and public participation in political processes.  In Kenya, Mzalendo seeks to make information more accessible from the proceedings of the country’s parliament. In Jordan, Ishki aims to involve citizens in developing solutions to civic problems. Vota Inteligente in Chile promotes government transparency by informing Chilean citizens about corruption and policy debates through the use of social media.  The Technology for Transparency Network, a project of Rising Voices, is documenting these transparency projects to gain a better understanding of their current impact, obstacles, and future potential.

Thank you for joining New Tactics, Jane Barry and other practitioners for an online dialogue on Being Well and Staying Safe: Resources for human rights defenders from June 22 to 28, 2011. It was a fascinating conversation!  Please continue to add comments to this space if there is something that you were not able to add during the dialogue week.  We will begin to work on summarizing this dialogue.  Once that summary is finished, it will be posted on this page, and all of the dialogue participants will be notified.

Human rights work is a powerful and fulfilling vocation.  And it is equally hugely challenging for human rights practitioners.  The nature of this work exposes defenders to distressing and threatening situations.  The need to take care of one’s self is extremely important, as is the need to take care of, protect and support each other.  Human rights defenders cannot be well without being safe.  Likewise, they cannot truly be safe without being well.  

A summary of this dialogue is now available (below). Thank you for your participation in this dialogue!

In this dialogue, participants discussed the ways in which communities dealing with resource extraction can anticipate and prevent conflicts with commercial and governmental actors while empowering themselves in an increasingly globalized environment.  The goals of the dialogue were to evaluate tactics with which we turn the tables and shift the power back to the communities, and ensure that resource extraction benefits the community.

New Tactics hosted this dialogue with the help and engagement of students from the University of St. Thomas Conflict Resolution course.