Acoso.Online is the first Latin American website for victims of non-consensual pornography. It provides straightforward guidelines on how to deal with the platforms involved, as well as with the legal, judicial, organizational and security challenges related to this type of violence against women and LGBTQI individuals.
In June 2017, Acoso.Online was the first website launched in Latin America geared towards victims of non-consensual online pornography, offering recommendations based on five aspects that cut across politics, society and technology, with a strong feminist emphasis in its approach.
The initiative is based on a web application that offers a digital security strategy to prevent and reduce cyber-attacks and protect the information sent over the website. The tool focuses on the women who are its end users (victims) and seeks not only to provide support, but also to persuade these women not to abandon spaces for the realization of human, social and cultural rights such as the Internet.
The scale-up proposal consists of improving the technological component of the website and furthering the project in general to reach more victims throughout Latin America and the Caribbean in a more efficient manner. Specifically, the initiative seeks to:
- Develop new technical tools that recognize victims’ need for personal and confidential communication. Design and program an encrypted chatbot, working together with experts from La Robota, to provide guidance through various platforms, including the Acoso.Online website. This will allow one-to-one communication in Spanish and Portuguese, using a smart interactive format.
- Analyze and explore tools to facilitate the reporting of images and videos on different platforms as well as hashing tools in conjunction with other organizations that are part of the technology industry.
This IoT project involves the building a weather stations in local schools in Dominica and developing a web platform where meteorological data will be posted to and made free available.
Every school in Dominica receives Internet connectivity and most schools have an Internet lab. However, very little technological development results from the use of the lab and most school programs are focused on learning basic digital skills.
Additionally, Dominica is regularly exposed to natural disasters which make disaster management and climate change action essential to the development of this Caribbean island state.
This project aims to reduce the barriers for the adoption of technology in a small island developing state and to expose students and teachers to the benefits of the Internet on a national level.
The hardware required will include rasberry pi boards, arduino, adafruit data logging shield, reed switches, rasberry pi cameras, photoresitors and hall, temperature, humidity and pressure sensors. The software will be developed by leveraging open source solutions already available and would require developing knowledge in python, php, and web server technology as well as other Internet protocols. The software will allow for the recording of data locally and posting to the school’s website and also to a common website.
The system will be built by students and teachers, with the support of local technical volunteers. The process should also inspire and motivate them to continue the building process and seek out other IoT to work on.
Coding Rights is a group of Latin American women based in Brazil and dedicated to the promotion of fundamental rights in the digital world by integrating knowledge and use of technology and the arts in public policy and other processes.
Through three specific initiatives, the organization worked on promoting the critical use of digital technologies, including an understanding of data collection and consent from the user’s perspective, specifically that of women and members of the LGBTTQI community.
These include: (1) A platform for mapping the laws passed by the Brazilian Congress, which announces every new bill or modification to an existing piece of legislation involving digital rights and cyberfeminism (https://codingrights.gitlab.io/pls/). (2) The Chupadatos platform, through which the group conducted a number of investigations on data extractivism with technologies such as surveillance balloons, transportation cards and fertility applications (https://chupadados.codingrights.org/es). (3) The Safer Nudes zine, where the group collaborated with local artists to promote information and reflections on safe and consenting practices for sending nude images (https://www.codingrights.org/safernudes/).
The project is based on the assumption that Latin American women live in a context where digital technologies replicate and perpetuate power imbalances. Examples of digital surveillance and the massive use of apps in everyday life show that gender stereotypes continue to be promoted, that code is not neutral, and that a feminist perspective that addresses such issues is needed in this scenario.
The Armonía project creates digital education media in schools with the participation of the community, in order to contribute to local human development in rural communities.
The project was implemented in more than 20 communities in the Municipality of Segundo Frente, Santiago de Cuba Province. These communities rely mostly on agriculture, and primary schools and other higher-level education institutions are the only institutions that have the possibility of using ICTs.
The project worked on preparing an educational approach for integrating schools and their rural communities, mediated by an information technology culture. The goal of the project was to encourage the use of ICTs for local development, providing solutions to problems identified by the community and socialized among IT specialists, teachers/researchers and local residents.
Results included multimedia, websites and e-books on health, education, environment, local history, and other topics, that will hopefully contribute to human and professional development as well as to job opportunities for members of rural communities.
The Armonía project produced more than 190 digital education media items on various topics decided based on the needs and issues of the rural communities where the project was implemented. As part of the initiative, rural teachers conducted almost 200 scientific investigations in line with the project’s objectives as part of their Masters’ degree in education.
Objetivo
Mejorar la gobernanza democrática (participación
ciudadana, transparencia, rendición de cuentas y
gestión de servicios públicos) de instituciones públi-
cas locales (gobierno, salud, educación y seguridad)
y organizaciones sociales de las provincias peruanas
de Acomayo (departamento de Cusco) y de San Pablo
(Cajamarca), haciendo un uso innovador de tic apro-
piadas al entorno rural.
Principales actividades
Las actividades se desarrollaron en tres áreas.
• Infraestructura tic. Se desplegó una operación
de redes de telecomunicación en las provincias
de Acomayo y San Pablo para 44 instituciones
públicas, que permitieron el acceso a Internet y
a telefonía IP (telefonía entre terminales telefó-
nicos a través de Internet sin necesidad de tener
computadora). También se reforzó el equipamiento
informático (computadoras, impresoras y redes
locales), se empleó una metodología propia para el
diseño participativo de las redes de telecomunica-
ción, se capacitó a usuarios, gestores y encargados
de mantenimiento, y se implantó un modelo de
gestión y operación concertado entre las institu-
ciones públicas beneficiarias. Por otra parte, se
apoyó con capacitación a pequeñas empresas
locales del sector tic que ofrecen sus servicios de
mantenimiento a las municipalidades y se acom-
pañó el proceso de establecimiento de alianzas
público-privadas entre las municipalidades y las
empresas locales para asegurar la sostenibilidad
de la infraestructura de telecomunicación.
• Sistemas de Información. Se implantó un sistemas
de información y aplicativos que apoyo a la gestión
de las instituciones públicas y la relación con las
organizaciones sociales. Se ofrecieron herramientas
que refuerzan las áreas de trabajo seleccionadas:
presupuesto participativo, rendición de cuentas y
transparencia, vigilancia ciudadana, gestión educativa,
gestión en salud, promoción del desarrollo económico,
y gestión de la inversión pública.
• Mejora participativa de procesos. Se diseñó e imple-
mentó una metodología que combina la adaptación
simplificada de la reingeniería de procesos y la
investigación-acción participativa. Se mejoraron las
formas de trabajo mediante un análisis participativo
de estos y se introdujo de forma transversal el uso
apropiado de sistemas de información y la infraes-
tructura tic. Además, se mejoraron los procesos en
las áreas de trabajo seleccionadas y se reforzaron
capacidades (como forma de reducir las brechas de
capacidades entre las instituciones públicas y las
organizaciones sociales). Para ello se empleó el enfo-
que basado en derechos: responsabilidad, autoridad,
toma de decisiones informadas, gestión de recursos
y comunicación.
Principales resultados
Con el proyecto se implantó la tecnología y se inició
el trabajo de refuerzo de instituciones públicas, el
apoyo a organizaciones sociales y los espacios de
concertación. Por tanto, los resultados en términos
de productos/servicios (outputs) son: infraestructura
para acceso a servicios tic, implantación de siste-
mas de información y, aplicativos y capacitaciones.
Los resultado en términos de efectos (outcomes) se
centran en el impacto de la infraestructura tic y los
sistemas de información (dos redes de telecomuni-
cación para 44 instituciones públicas con tecnología
Wi-Fi para largas distancias —WiLD— y equipamiento
informático que dan acceso a Internet y telefonía IP
con conexión a la red de telefonía pública de Perú).
Además, se capacitó a personal de empreseas públi-
cas y privadas y se implantó un modelo de gestión
y operación en el que cada institución mantiene los
equipos ubicado en su establecimiento (computa-
dora, impresora, y sistemas de acceso a la red de
telecomunicación) y las municipalidades mantie-
nen lo elementos comunes de la red (repetidores).
Actualmente las redes están operativas con una
disponibilidad media superior al 90 % y se trabaja
con pequeñas empresas locales del sector tic y en
el proceso de transferencia del mantenimiento a los
actores locales.
This project provides a digital communication infrastructure for traditional communities in the isolated rural rainforest areas in Acre State, in the Amazon region of Brazil. This research is the continuation of the Fonias Juruá academic research project where, in 2015, five High Frequency (HF) radio stations were installed inside the Alto Juruá Reserve, in communities without any communication infrastructure, sometimes taking more than one day by boat to reach the nearest phone. The project aims at expanding and improving the already existing radio network, testing and adapting the social technology that was previously developed, analog voice communication, based on the local community requirements and feedback. Each HF station will be equipped with a digital modem, connected to the radio, which will allow digital data exchange between the communities.
BIDYA seeks to act on some of the factors that affect the educational track of children, teenagers and young people with visual disabilities. Its goal is to offer tools that will favor their reinsertion and continuity in the formal education system, thus guaranteeing equal opportunities. The limited availability of study material in braille, audio, electronic, or extended character format is one of the greatest difficulties visually impaired students encounter in the educational system. BIDYA proposes the creation of a system for digitizing books and making them available online through a repository of books and other materials in various formats. The Digital and Accessible Library will allow universal access, regardless of geographic and physical barriers or mobility limitations.
There are more than 300 informal settlements in the metropolitan area of Guatemala. The goal of the Digital Mapping project is to design a methodology that can be used to identify risk factors and areas, and then apply this methodology in pilot settlements so that it can be assessed, improved and replicated in others. Information will be collected by the local population and field workers with the help of drones and mobile devices, and this data will help streamline and prioritize public policies and/or actions to prevent tragedies in these territories. The information will be made available through an online platform. The project seeks to become a benchmark for multisectoral participation in the production of urban information and diagnosis. The topic of informal settlements was chosen because of its relevance and a pressing need at national level.
Méxicoleaks is an independent whistleblowing platform for leaking information in the public interest of Mexico. In addition to offering a platform where whistleblowers can share information safely and anonymously, Méxicoleaks is an alliance of media outlets and NGOs working together to build a more transparent and democratic Mexico. Since its creation, the partners behind Méxicoleaks have published 27 news stories based on13 leaks, including information regarding embezzlement in the public real estate loans system, the systematic mass destruction of pre-Hispanic ruins, and other cases of corruption.
AgriNeTT is an e-Agriculture project which infuses ICT into the agriculture sector of Trinidad & Tobago to build a knowledge intensive agriculture economy. The project provides ICT tools for the farming community and agricultural institutions to help to drive economic growth of the agriculture sector and increase its competitiveness. The project aims to increase agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale farmers, in particular women and youth and family farmers. The AgriNeTT team has developed two Open Data platforms which serve as a repository for agriculture data sets from institutions and associations. Several mobile and web-based applications have been developed for the platform: AgriExpense – a farm financial management tool, AgriPrice – provides up-to-date data on market prices, AgriMaps – a Land Suitability tool which recommends preferred crops for various parcels of land, and AgriDiagnose – a pest and disease diagnosis system.