Recent innovations in science and technology have provided human rights advocates, journalists, and scientists with new tools to expose war crimes and other serious violations of human rights and to disseminate this information in real time throughout the world.
The Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley is pleased to showcase these recent developments and push new frontiers of applied research.
Bio
Ken Banks
Ken Banks, founder of kiwanja.net, devotes himself to the application of mobile technology for positive social and environmental change in the developing world, and has spent the last 15 years working on projects in Africa. Recently, his research resulted in the development of FrontlineSMS, a field communication system designed to empower grassroots non-profit organisations.
Banks graduated from Sussex University with honours in Social Anthropology with Development Studies, and was awarded a Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship in 2006, and named a Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow in 2008. Banks's work has been supported by the MacArthur Foundation and Open Society Institute, and he is the current recipient of a grant from the Hewlett Foundation. Further details of Banks's wider work are available on his website at www.kiwanja.net
Rose Donna
Rose Donna leads DataDyne.org's consulting efforts, providing a range of organizations with customized ICT solutions that meet their needs and match their resources.
As Project Manager for information systems and communications for the American Red Cross, she led the organization's international services division in the practical application of database systems, handheld computing, and wireless technologies, particularly in disaster settings.
Erik Hersman
Erik Hersman is an avid blogger and writes four different technology blogs, including AfriGadget, WhiteAfrican, African Signals, and Realty Thoughts.
When he is not blogging, Hersman serves as VP of strategy and marketing at eppraisal.com, an online real estate site providing on-demand access to home valuations, real estate professionals, home inspectors and appraisers. In this position, he is responsible for marketing implementation, partner strategy and consumer evangelism.
Raised in Sudan and Kenya, Hersman brings unique energy and insight to the world of technology and bridging the gap between Africa and the Silicon Valley.
Robert Kirkpatrick
Robert Kirkpatrick is an expert in the design and use of technology to facilitate cross-organizational collaboration in austere field environments, developing countries, and sudden-onset emergencies.
He has spent more than 12 years in collaboration technology, developing systems for health data collection, disaster relief, NGO field security, telemedicine, conflict mediation and civil-military cooperation. His work with technology industry partners, government agencies, and international humanitarian organizations has explored ways that the design of virtual interaction environments may influence trust-building, information sharing, and joint decision-making across technical, organizational, and cultural boundaries.
Phuong Pham
Phuong Pham is Director of Research at the Human Rights Center and Adjunct Associate Professor at Tulane University's Payson Center for International Development.
She completed a survey on trauma, PSTD, justice, and reconciliation as part of the Human Rights Center's project, "Communities in Crisis: Justice, Accountability and Social Reconstruction in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia." She is a founding member of the Initiative on Vulnerable Populations and conducts research in northern Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cambodia, and other areas affected by mass violence.
Steve Wright
Before coming to the Foundation, Steve Wright acquired 13 years of experience in technology and education. He was a high school administrator for two years and was a classroom teacher for seven years, beginning in the Peace Corps. In the mid-80s, while teaching in Pasadena, he became interested in the confluence of education and technology; specifically, in the role that electronic communication could play to encourage conversation between students in underserved communities and the rest of the world. He also worked in a high-tech startup that made a software-training program for people with receptive language difficulties. Mr. Wright has a Masters degree in Education.
Mr. Wright joined salesforce.com/foundation in September 2000. In his role as Program Director, he works directly with youth, technology coordinators and community organizations to ensure a productive experience in which technology is used in service of youth. Both Mr. Wirght and the Foundation believe that the most
effective use of technology in this setting is as a creative tool to publish unheard voices.
If the general population wants it enough, they will make sure they get the latest product and the iphone is a perfect example. There are plenty of people who are part of the low/middle class that will figure out a way to save up enough money to purchase this new piece of technology.
Having around cheap and workable cel phones is always a good thing as the speaker demonstrated in the video. We already have cel phone companies that sell month to month cel phone plans/phones and they do provide the same services as phones with yearly/biyearly plans.
