DemTech: Our Blog
The Challenges of High Tech, e.g. Bikes
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Nicholas Kristoff wrote a good story in the Grey Lady on the power of bikes to transform lives in Africa.
It's a nice Kristoff-style human interest piece. What really intrigued me was his comment on…
Read MoreBroadcast is Technology Too
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When we talk about technology for development, older technologies tend to get lost in the shuffle. Radio and television just aren’t sexy the way that mobile and mapping are – we know them too well to get exercised about the possibilities. Too…
Read MoreMoments of Opportunity: 2008 Zimbabwe Elections
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A good example of combining good use of technology with well-organized political activity by strong organizations to increase political space in an authoritarian or closed society was Zimbabwe’s 2008…
Read MoreDemocratic Development? There's an App for That.
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Innovative ideas coming out of the State Department these days.
The Apps4Africa contest is designed to encourage and support African mobile…
Read MoreOpening Afghanistan's Elections
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In the run-up to this weekend's parliamentary (Wolesi Jirga or WJ) vote in Afghanistan, NDI has just launched our latest election data site - …
Read MoreJob Post: We're Recruiting a Drupal Developer
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We're looking for a Drupal developer to join our team here in Washington, DC.
The job would require you to build and manage NDI's public websites (including this blog!) as well as new tools for our international development projects. We…
Read MoreField Trip
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I'm currently in Erbil, Iraq in the Kurdistan region, doing an assessment of an upcoming project with the Iraqi Parliament.
It's hot.
The NDItech team travels a good deal for this kind…
Read MoreSecurity Blanket Statements
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People sometimes come to ICT to ask “How can I make my computer and network secure?”
To which I will respond: “Well, what do you mean by secure?”
This makes me very popular.
The first problem is that there is no big red on/off…
Read MoreHigh-Tech Doesn’t Equal Democracy
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One of the challenges of technology related development assistance is always employing solutions that are appropriate for the environment into which they are being introduced. In democracy assistance we're often faced with a similiar…
Read MoreWhat Does Radio Sound Like in Sudan?
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What does radio sound like in Sudan? A cacophony, in the best possible way. The many competing stations on the Juba FM dial are a sort of cacophony of democracy, where everyone has a voice and an opinion and wants to share it with the world.
… Read More