Category Archives: Human Rights

Bill Gates to Development Researchers: Create and Share Statistics

Posted on June 8, 2009 by vcs

I was recently in Doha, Qatar, presenting my research on global communication technology use and democratic tendency at ICTD09. I spoke right before the keynote, Bill Gates, whose main point was that when you engage in a goal-oriented activity, such … Continue reading →

Posted in Conferences, Developing world, Economics, Human Rights, Internet and Democracy, Middle East, Open Science, Statistics, Talks, Technology | Leave a comment

A2K3: Communication Rights as a Framework for Global Connectivity

Posted on September 10, 2008 by vcs

In the last A2K3 panel, entitled The Global Public Sphere: Media and Communication Rights, Seán Ó Siochrú made some striking statements based on his experience building local communication networks in undeveloped areas of LCDs. He states that the global public … Continue reading →

Posted in A2K3, Conferences, Developing world, Human Rights, Internet and Democracy, Technology | 1 Comment

A2K3: Access to Knowledge as a Human Right

Posted on September 8, 2008 by vcs

Building on the opening remarks, the second panel addresses Human right and Access to Knowledge. Caroline Dommen, director of 3D, an advocacy group promoting human rights consideration in trade agreements, emphasizes the need for metrics: how can we tell how … Continue reading →

Posted in A2K3, Conferences, Developing world, Human Rights, Intellectual Property | 1 Comment

A2K3: Tim Hubbard on Open Science

Posted on September 8, 2008 by vcs

In the first panel at A2K3 on the history, impact, and future of the global A2K movement, Tim Hubbard, a genetics researcher, laments that scientists tend to carry out their work in a closed way and thus very little data … Continue reading →

Posted in A2K3, Conferences, Developing world, Human Rights, Intellectual Property, Open Science, Technology | 4 Comments

Amartya Sen at the Aurora Forum at Stanford University: Global Solidarity, Human Rights, and the End of Poverty

Posted on April 5, 2008 by vcs

This is a one day conference to commemorate Martin Luther King’s “The Other America” in his 1967 speech at Stanford, and heed that speech’s call to create a more just world. Mark Gonnerman, director of the Aurora Forum introduces the … Continue reading →

Posted in Conferences, Developing world, Economics, Human Rights, Talks | Leave a comment

A Test of the Internet's Free Speech Promise: China and Tibet

Posted on March 25, 2008 by vcs

I haven’t seen any evidence that the internet was an important facilitator of the organization of the protests in Tibet, but citizen reporting on the events in Lhasa beginning March 10 made heavy use of the internet. The interesting question … Continue reading →

Posted in Developing world, Human Rights, Internet and Democracy, Media | Leave a comment

Book Review: "Development as Freedom" by Amartya Sen

Posted on March 18, 2008 by vcs

What is a developed country? According to Sen, development should be measured by how much freedom a country has since without freedom people cannot make the choices that allow them to help themselves and others. He defines freedom as an … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Developing world, Economics, Human Rights, Statistics | Leave a comment

Implementing a Human Rights Policy at the World Bank

Posted on March 17, 2008 by vcs

Galit Safarty gave a talk at Harvard Law School today titled: Why Culture Matters in International Institutions: The Marginality of Human Rights at the World Bank. Sarfaty obtained her JD from Yale and is a lawyer and anthropologist. She is … Continue reading →

Posted in Developing world, Human Rights, Talks | Leave a comment

Patrick Ball in NYT Magazine

Posted on March 6, 2008 by vcs

Recently the Berkman Internet and Democracy group hosted a conference on Digital Activism in Istanbul. One of the attendees was Patrick Ball, Chief Scientist and Director of the Human Rights program at Benetech. His work was the focus of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Statistics | Leave a comment