Global Wire Associates Launches New “Recharge E-Waste” Campaign

January 9, 2012 4 Comments

As many of you are still gushing over all the new tech gadgets you received over the holidays, you probably didn’t give a second thought about the “old” gadgets you just threw away.  According to the United Nations Environmental Programme, it is estimated that 20-50 million tons of discarded electronics – electronic waste or e-waste – are dumped into landfills around the world, mostly in developing countries, every year.  Electronics include old mobiles, televisions, microwaves, computers and more.  However, most of the time it’s not because these gadgets are broken; they’re being dumped in favor of newer versions.

For example, many of you may have traded in your iPhone 4, which came out in June 2010, for the iPhone 4S, which was released just last October.  According to Greenpeace, “the average lifespan of computers in developed countries has dropped from six years in 1997 to just two years in 2005, and mobile phones have a life-cycle of less than two years in developed countries.”

Landfills with e-waste create serious problems in the long run.  Toxic chemicals in electronics can leach into the land over time or are released into the atmosphere, creating severe health and environmental hazards in nearby communities.

Global Wire Associates is launching a new awareness campaign called “Recharge E-waste.”  Throughout the year, we will have special posts about the problem and possible solutions – reduce, reuse and recycle.  Check back here for more discussions about proper recycling, donating and/or selling of used electronics, turning electronics into art and design models and, most importantly, why you should resist the urge to buy any of the latest gadgets featured at the Consumer Electronics Association’s (CES) trade show this week in order to extend the life of the gadgets you already have.

We believe environmental hazards affecting marginalized communities is a social justice concern for all.  Also, because we take green business very seriously, we are going the extra mile with this e-waste campaign. Over the years, we have spoken to many of you through our trainings about the problems you are having with e-waste and other tech disparities in your communities.  We will be launching our own e-waste management program later this year with some other like-minded groups on how to effectively deal with this problem and bridge some gaps within our network.  More information will come on this program in the next few weeks.

In Solidarity,

Talia, Marjane, Philip and Maria

Filed under E-Waste, Global, Mobile Phones, Tech Disparities, Tech Life Tagged with , , , , , , ,

New Year, New Digital Activism Ideas for 2012

January 2, 2012 1 Comment

A new year means new beginnings in many ways.  A few weeks ago we asked you about your predictions on digital activism trends for 2012.  Below are the winners of our contest who will be receiving a Flip UltraHD Video Camera.

“I think citizen journalism will begin to be seen as just as valuable and legitimate as mainstream journalism in the new year.  When you look at all the movements from [the previous] year like Occupy and Arab Spring, much of the news was coming from protesters reporting from the ground with pictures and Tweets.  If it weren’t for the brave protesters in Syria recording the atrocities being committed by the government on YouTube, nobody would know what was really happening there.  I can see more professional journalists wanting to collaborate with citizen journalists on reporting stories.”

- Anjula Bhratt, Bangalore, India

“I am exciting about the growth of mobile technology and how it can help those of us in the developing world.  I have seen how mobile entrepreneurship has really taken off in my community, and online business in the developing world will only grow in 2012.  It is so easy for anyone to start their own business today with the lowered barriers for selling products and services.  For the past year I have been thinking about starting my own pocketbook business, and after doing the research, I realized how easy and inexpensive it would be to manage my website, social media and online purchases.  I will be officially starting my business later this year!”

- Lelia Rye, Paramaribo, Suriname

“I think more collaboration will happen in 2012, thanks to tools like cloud computing.  I use a lot of Google products like Gmail and Google Docs and Drop Box to collaborate with other activists in my local community.  But the recent global movements such as Occupy Wall Street and Egypt protests have made me think out loud why can’t activists worldwide collaborate more in the cloud on the same issues more often.  We can organize our own movements without the help of already established NGOs.”

-Fikru Abate, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

“The digital divide will become smaller in the new year.  I am excited about the development of tablet devices like the Aakash.  These tools make technology more accessible to everyone.  I am excited about the new developments in bringing this technology to Africa and Asia and young students being exposed to ideas they wouldn’t have had access to otherwise.  I would like to see that world governments see the investment in supporting more mobile devices for our youth.  People need to understand that a digitally literate world is a better world for everyone.”

- Hugo Batko, Kiev, Ukraine

Filed under Africa, Americas, Asia, Mobile Phones, Online Journalism, Tech Disparities, Tech Life, Twitter, YouTube Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

Library 2.0: Supporting Underserved Communities

December 6, 2011 1 Comment

With the advent of e-books, audio books, Kindles and other devices that make the art of reading a digital experience, many wonder with the declining number of bookstores, what will happen to public libraries.  For those of us who are lucky to live in places where a library exists, they are not only spaces to read and lend out books, but they also act as community meeting spaces.

However, the increase in digital media has also been compounded with the current economic downturn, which has contributed to the budget cuts and closings of many public libraries around the United States.  Even more unfortunate is that many of these endangered public libraries are serving marginalized populations in rural and inner city areas.

Recently, we had a chance to participate in the Digital Diversity Summit, where there was much discussion about the future of public libraries, and specifically how to keep them relevant.  Jessamyn West, a Vermont  library technologist and am a community manager at MetaFilter.com, said that many librarians, especially in underserved areas, are not up to speed on how to help library users.

“Librarians are trained to do research, not in how to use new technologies,” West said.  “Libraries are also exhausted because they are now being used as social service centers.”

It made us think about the future of public libraries – library 2.0 – in marginalized communities.  How can these institutions not only have a life once physical, printed literature is buried for good, but also be relevant and useful to its clients?

How about turning public libraries into community media centers?  Many libraries already function in this manner already, but maybe it’s time to take this idea further.

Here are our ideas:

1. Provide digital training for librarians: According to the American Library Association, libraries serve 97 percent of the American population, so it is important that librarians be able to help users with as many digital platforms as possible.

2. Provide digital training for library users: Instead of closing down libraries, convert them into community media centers, where users can not only use computers with Internet access for free, but also be trained on how to use e-readers, download free e-books and audio books and learn how to better use the Internet.  In our “perfect world,” all kids should be able to go to a library and get their first experience with digital literacy at their local library.

3. Truly make libraries social service centers as well: Since librarians are exhausted by the many demands of their users, there may be a need to have a discussion about expanding the types of people who work in libraries, like having job placement experts, multilingual specialists, legal services, voter registration experts and other service workers.

4. A nationalized digital public library: One issue that has been up for discussion in recent years is the development of a nationalized digital public library.  Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society was recently awarded $5 million to go forward on their plans to develop the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).

“…The DPLA would essentially create a unified repository for all the digital collections of libraries, museums, archives, and anyone else that had digital content of value that they wanted to share with the public.  There would be standards for adding data to the repository as well as for accessing data from it.  The repository would be secure, redundant, and scalable…”

Read more about the benefits of Library 2.0 here.

Filed under Americas, Tech Disparities, Tech Life Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Tech Entrepreneurs Harness Economic Power

November 14, 2011 Leave a comment

Every November Global Entrepreneurship Week seeks to highlight innovators who drive the economy and advance society.  A new study produced by the Kauffman Foundation shows that while many young adults (ages 18-34) are eager to start their own businesses, they are hesitant to do so because of the economic downturn.

However, this same study shows that Millennials understand the importance of entrepreneurship to reviving the bad economy, and that in America 64 percent of Latinos and 63 percent of African-Americans expressed a desire to start their own companies.

Historically, communities of color have seen entrepreneurship as a social justice issue, as economic self-reliance equals financial freedom.  There is a growing number of people of color looking for opportunities in technology.  This week CNN premiered “Black in America: The New Promised Land: Silicon Valley,” which follows a group of African-American entrepreneurs trying to pitch the next great start-up in the famous tech community.  About one percent of entrepreneurs who received venture capital in the first half of last year are black, according to a study by research firm CB Insights.  Many blame this small number on institutional racism, while others say it is a lack of interest among African-Americans to pursue careers in this field.  Nonetheless, the documentary shows that there is a growing interest in tech entrepreneurship among African-Americans and a new frontier is about to be opened up.

In Africa, mobile entrepreneurship have become key in economic development.   African women entrepreneurs are the driving force in this new economy.  Traditionally, African women work in agriculture, like Kenyan farmer Su Kahumbu, who knows first hand the challenges of raising cattle.  Kahumbu came up with iCow, “a mobile-phone application that allows herders to register each individual cow, and to receive individualized text messages on their mobile phones, including advice for veterinary care and feeding schedules, a database of experts, and updated market rates on cattle prices.”

“Eighty percent of Kenyans are farmers, and by that I mean people who make a living off of the land, and 80 percent of the food people eat comes from people who sell in the rural marketplace,” says Kahumbu to the Christian Science Monitor. “So, even though I’m not an expert in technology or development, I thought, why not take the gestation calendar of a cow and send it to agriculturalists, and that can help them increase their productivity, and also increase their savings.”

Learn about more tech entrepreneurs around the world at http://unleashingideas.org

Filed under Africa, Tech Disparities, Tech Life Tagged with , , , , , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.