Blogs: The Perils of Posts and Posting

By An Anonymous Blogger

Blogging came about in the 1990s and, unlike other contemporary tech crazes like Mini CDs and Tamagotchis, has continued to catch the attention and interest of new users.  Beyond personal journals, blogs are used to review products, advertise cottage industries, provide organization updates, and give additional perspectives on news and political events.  Because of the difficulty of censoring blogs and other social media, these forms of communications have become instrumental in expressing political dissidence in regions with limited free speech.  

Despite the acknowledged benefits of blogging, it is a form of communication that has significant drawbacks.  As you peruse blogs and write your own, consider these warnings:

1. Do not believe everything you read.
2. Be very mindful of what you post.
3. Be just as mindful of what you repost.

ICTs in Education and the Bottom Of Pyramid

By Ruchita Rathi

Education is the fundamental human right and there is a widespread consensus that it is the single most important investment that can lead to a greater social and financial mobility for an individual. Yet, globally there are a staggering 61 million primary-aged children out of school[1] . Progress in reducing this number has stalled for the first time since 2002 because of decreasing aids, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics and Education for All Global Monitoring Report [2]

Making New from Old

By Antonin Milza

Information and communication technologies can be useful to help countries develop themselves. But, are the newest and the more sophisticated technologies required? Is there a link between the age of technologies and there potential utility and impact on developing societies? Is a new technology always ‘better’ than an old one to help people and societies to develop themselves?

Join us for upcoming blog discussions on ICT for Development

This website will be used as the blog platform for the upcoming UC Berkeley iSchool course on ICT for Development. This class starts on 22nd January 2014 and ends in May 2014. No matter whether you are registered for that class or not, and especially if you are not, we would love if you could join us for vibrant virtual discussions. Visit the class website and look out for further announcements! 

Paper: Financing Access to Justice: Innovating Possibilities To Promote Access For All

Published online: 16 April 2013 by Hague Journal on the Rule of Law.

Abstract: This paper explores the rationale for development actors to become more engaged in its pursuit of providing support for mass, sustainable mechanisms, which increase access to justice for the majority of people around the globe. It does so by demonstrating the importance of the historical evidence demonstrating finance as the key hindrance to individuals' accessing justice. Finally, it sets out two emerging areas that would be worthy of further investigation and support by the development community but which have at present received scant to no attention by the vast majority of ‘rule of law’ or ‘justice reform’ efforts.

Richard Nash
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1876404512001042

Summary of HIIL Report: Towards Basic Justice Care for Everyone

I have recently announced the publication of HiiL's recent Report: Towards Basic Justice Care for Everyone, and have been meaning to summarize its findings (some which might run counter to the conservative legal tradition). This report was in part based on a meeting in The Hague on 16 and 17 April on the topic, that we attended. Summary follows (asie from the summary, you should read the report for highlights of some innovative approaches, that interestingly are not expensive) :

Southeast Asia Regional Meeting on Paralegals Nov 6-7 Jakarta

Southeast Asia Regional Meeting on Legal Workshop
Jakarta, Indonesia
November 6-7, 2012

Call for Applications

Does your organization provide community-based paralegal services in Southeast Asia? Are you interested in learning from the experiences of others to address common challenges? Do you want to know more about the impact your program is having, and how to improve on it?

The Open Society Justice Initiative, TIFA Foundation, Namati, and the Indonesian Legal Resource Center (ILRC) are bringing together legal empowerment practitioners from across Southeast Asia to a Regional Workshop for Community-Based Paralegal Programmes.

The training workshop will provide a space for NGO leaders and senior program managersto learn from each other about the breadth of legal empowerment methods employed in the region and methods for improving them. It will also offer participants an opportunity to explore their own monitoring and evaluation plans with some of the world’s leading experts in measuring the impact of legal empowerment.

For more information, click here. To download an application, click here. Applications are due on September 7, 2012.

Discussion on legal technology innovation, in San Francisco, California

Tim Hwang tells us  http://twitter.com/RobotandHwang/status/242024464336969728  that he is organizing a dinner / discussion about legal technology innovation, in San Francisco, California, on 4 September 2012, this coming Tuesday.  To RSVP, please contact Tim via the email listed on his Website  http://brosephstalin.com/  or on Twitter at  http://twitter.com/RobotandHwang/  or  http://twitter.com/timhwang/