Amnesty International

Demand Dignity: Amplifying Voices Across Multiple Platforms

Posted by MelissaUlbricht on May 03, 2011

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Demand Dignity: Amplifying Voices Across Multiple Platforms data sheet 2335 Views

Amnesty International has launched a campaign to amplify the voices of poor people around the world. Demand Dignity is an economic, cultural, and social rights campaign for the organization and the online platform, DemandDignity.org, was launched in May 2009. Since then, the site has collected 57,384 comments, or “voices,” from people around the world, via SMS, Twitter, and on the Demand Dignity website.

The campaign attempts to give a voice to people who are living in poverty or who have had their human rights violated, said Sarah Pyke, communications coordinator of the campaign. It enables people to be able to access their rights, hold their governments to account, and to be able to make their voices heard. These aims led to the creation of the DemandDignity.org platform, an interactive website where people can submit audio, video, or text reports and answer prompted questions such as What does living in dignity mean to you?

Website URL: 
http://www.amnesty.org/
Organization involved in the project?: 
Amnesty International
Project goals: 

The Demand Dignity campaign attempts to give a voice to people who are living in poverty or who have had their human rights violated. People can use Twitter, the website, or SMS to comment and add their voice to the platform.

I do like the platform.

Brief description of the project: 

Amnesty International has launched a campaign that aims to :amplify the voices of poor people" around the world. Demand Dignity is an economic, cultural, and social rights campaign and an online platform, DemandDignity.org, that launched in May 2009. Since then, the site has collected 57,384 comments, or “voices,” from people around the world, via SMS, Twitter, and on the Demand Dignity website.

Target audience: 
Anyone who wishes to comment on the Demand Dignity platform.
Length of Project (in months) : 
24
Status: 
Ongoing
What worked well? : 

The campaign uses a "house" social network to be channel-independent. The platform allows for submissions from Twitter, SMS, or directly on the DemandDignity.org site. During a mission in Kenya, the Demand Dignity team issues a free short code which contributed to 9000 submissions from people living Kiberam a slum in Nairobi.

What did not work? What were the challenges?: 

Spamming of the system can be an issue. Also, the site uses a public moderation approach to flag inappropriate content. Defining languages and issuing replies or responses is a challenge, as is incentive for the user. The team is working to enhance audio submissions.

Countries: 
Kenya
Last Name: 
Shams
First Name: 
Shehzaad
City: 
London
State/Province: 
UK
Country: 
UK
Email: 
shehzaad.shams@amnesty.org 


 




  
Networked Activism 


Posted by MohiniBhavsar on Jun 29, 2010





 

        
      
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Networked Activism  data sheet 1338 Views

	

      
Author: 

    

            

                    Land, Molly Beutz        

        





      
Publication Type: 

    

            

                    Journal article        

        





      
Publication Date: 

    

            

                    Aug 2009        

        





      
Abstract: 

    

            

                    
The  same technologies that groups of ordinary citizens are using to write  operating systems and encyclopedias are fostering a quiet revolution in  another area - social activism. On websites such as Avaaz.org and  Wikipedia, citizens are forming groups to report on human rights  violations and organize email writing campaigns, activities formerly the  prerogative of professionals. This article considers whether the  participatory potential of technology can be used to mobilize ordinary  citizens in the work of human rights advocacy. 


Existing online  advocacy efforts reveal a de facto inverse relationship between broad  mobilization and deep participation. Large groups mobilize many  individuals, but each of those individuals has only a limited ability to  participate in decisions about the group’s goals or methods. Thus,  although we currently have the tools necessary for individuals to engage  in advocacy without the need for professional organizations, we are  still far from realizing an ideal of fully decentralized, user-generated  activism. 


Drawing on the insights of network theory, the  article proposes a model of “networked activism” that would help ensure  both deep participation and broad mobilization by encouraging the  formation of highly participatory small groups while providing  opportunities for those small groups to connect with one another.  Drawing on a series of interviews with human rights and other civil  society organizations, the article recommends specific design elements  that might foster a model of networked activism. The article concludes  that although online activism is unlikely to replace some of the  functions served by human rights organizations, efforts to create  synergies between traditional and online efforts have the potential to  provide avenues for real, meaningful, and effective citizen  participation in human rights advocacy.