College of Psychology and Humanistic Studies

Popular TED conference begins a new initiative focused on education

In trying to revolutionize education, amazing strides have been made in the last few years, but so many of them don't spread beyond the local level. Real movements for change need a critical mass of interest and a force to help drive them.

TED, the conference series that highlights groundbreaking ideas and people across every discipline you can think of, has in many ways become an informal voice for the "change education" movement. This week TED made it offical by announcing a new initiative called TED-ED.

The TED-ED Brain Trust is a private forum created to shape and accelerate TED's push into the realm of Education. The aim of this community is to assemble a new archive of remarkable TED-ED videos, each designed to catalyze learning around the globe. Unlike TEDTalks, TED-ED videos are less than ten minutes long and may assume a variety of different formats.

At present, the non-profit association has an open call for interest. "We're seeking the expertise of visionary educators, students, organizations, filmmakers & other creative professionals to guide, galvanize & ultimately lead this exciting new initiative," TED posted on a TED-ED Brain Trust interest form. The Brain Trust will pool together these formative ideas to help shape TED-ED, which will later showcase videos, too.

According to a report from The Chronicle of Higher Education, TED-ED will also maintain a list of existing TED talks that relate to educational issues and will re-categorize them in a way that makes sense to educators and learners. Currently, TED tags its talk with terms like "jaw-dropping" and "courageous," which encourages exploration, certainly, but is less useful to educators and administrators looking for ideas and motivation in specific fields or business issues.

Part of this post taken from PCMag.com

Mobile phones provide new opportunities for conflict transformation in Yemen

 Cross-posted from the MobileActive website. MobileActive is the 
leading
 network
 and resource on the
 use 
of 
mobile 
technology
 for
 social
 impact, providing 
field 
consulting,
 conducting 
research, 
connecting
 people 
online
 and 
through
 participatory 
events, 
and 
advancing
 the 
use 
of 
mobiles 
for 
NGOs and
 civil
 society 
organizations.

Editor's Note: This post is written by Ibrahim Mothana who is an Atlas Fellow with MobileActive.org in 2011/2012. He is a Yemeni citizen from Sanaa.

In Yemen it’s difficult to know just how many wars are raging in the country at any one time. For centuries the country has been plagued by revenge killings and tribal conflict and the result is hundreds of deaths each year with many more injured. These localized wars can last for decades and are one of the most serious issues facing the country today.

In rural regions of Yemen, formal legal systems and a legal infrastructure do not exist, and tribal law has significant legitimacy as the only effective and efficient means of conflict resolution. Tribal laws are based on consensus, and conflicts are resolved through complex mediation processes and appeals procedures presided over by tribal elders and leaders (sheikhs).  Due to the lack of many formal legal channels and the corruption in the legal infrastructure that exists, tribal law is faster, more efficient, and enjoys greater legitimacy.

Yet one of the biggest obstacles in using tribal law as a tool for conflict resolution is the lack of communication -- which is, in fact, often the root cause of many of the disputes between tribes. Creating dialogue between communities becomes an extraordinary challenge in a country with 24 million people dispersed over 150,000 human settlements. 

Most of the tribal conflicts are dealt with customary tribal laws before becoming violent but if an armed conflict starts between tribes, then all channels of communication stop and the members of one tribe are not allowed to enter the territory of the other tribe. Only a third party can bring representatives from both sides to negotiate in a neutral environment, and convince the two or more tribal parties to negotiate or choose an arbitrator to settle the dispute. The increasing penetration of mobiles in the past years have eased this mediation process and virtual meetings have helped overcome the dilemma of finding a neutral meeting territory.

Resources for training in nonviolence and civil resistance

With the many Occupy movements currently underway worldwide, there is an increased need for preparation and training in nonviolent protest. Many resources have been offered on the Peace and Justice Studies Association listserv, including the following.

American Friends Service Committee offers training for a wide range of nonviolent campaigns
and to help people considering participation in an act of civil disobedience.

Pace e Bene has developed training programs, projects and action steps for putting creative nonviolence into practice.

Training for Change specializes in training trainers, to create a ripple effect in quality activist training. Their approach empowers and challenges activists.

Fellowship of Reconciliation seeks to replace violence, war, racism and economic injustice with nonviolence, peace, and justice. We are an interfaith organization committed to active nonviolence as a transforming way of life and as a means of radical change. We educate, train, build coalitions, and engage in nonviolent and compassionate actions locally, nationally, and globally.
 
ACT UP  has gained a strong reputation for civil disobedience training and produces a training manual

The ACLU offers a guide for civil disobedience at public universities.

The progressive political blog Daily Kos offers a Civil Disobedience Training Manual

Debating human rights in the IT industry

By Jillian York, 10/31/2011, in Movements.org

(This article is cross posted from Al Jazeera English)

Last week in San Francisco, a unique gathering occurred. Dubbed "Rightscon" (Silicon Valley Human Rights Conference), the conference attracted Silicon Valley executives, activists, academics and NGOs, all gathered in one room to debate the role of human rights within the tech industry, as well as the role of the tech industry in serving human rights interests. 

Incidents from the past year - from the denial of service to WikiLeaks by Amazon, PayPal and others to the complicity of international companies in Egypt’s telecommunications shutdown - have put the subject of human rights at the forefront of discussion within the technology industry. While companies debate their responsibilities to serve activists, whose particular circumstances may be seen as "edge cases", NGOs often frame their advocacy within the same rubric.

Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, who is currently under threat of military prosecution, argued that the framing is wrong, stating that both parties should think more about ordinary users. Referring specifically to the controversysurrounding identity on social networks, Facebook and Google+, he said:

"When ordinary users can’t choose a pseudonym, their identity is negated. Women know the importance of negotiating identity, they do it all the time. So do gays, religious minorities, whatever. We choose how to reveal who I am, on what terms and in what basis. When you restrict me from doing this, you violate my human rights… It is about who I am, my identity, how I express myself and how I communicate with the world."