Below you will find new articles and featured resources that are part of this edition.


As the year comes to a close, GenderIT.org is bringing you one more special edition, this time on the recent Take Back the Tech! campaign. The 2011 campaign shed new light on the issue of technology-mediated violence against women, through its documenting and evidence-building efforts.

The edition gathers an impressive amount of articles which capture the nature of this year´s Take Back the Tech! campaign, as well as highlight some of the abundant and meaningful resources developed during the 16 days of activism. As the Take Back the Tech! campaign coordinator, Jac sm Kee, says in her editorial: we sincerely hope you enjoy this edition as “a great snapshot into this creative and groundbreaking movement”.

You are also invited to tell us **your** stories when did you first realise that your rights are truly inalienable, even online.

Mapping the intersection of technology and gender-based violence

sonia
On 25 November 2011, Take Back The Tech! campaign launched an interactive map that allows internet users to share their stories, local news and personal experiences of gender-based violence they faced online or through the use of mobile phone technologies. As of 7 December, the map has recorded 103 stories from across the globe, with the majority of stories coming from Africa, Latin America and Asia. Sonia Randhawa draws on the data collected through the mapping platform and looks at some of the trends this data reveals to us about technology-related violence against women.

Mapping and privacy: Interview with Privacy International's Gus Hosein

sonia
Sonia Randhawa spoke with senior fellow at Privacy International Gus Hosein about how mobile devices and their ability to map our movements are intruding on personal privacy and individual autonomy.

Take Back the Tech! But know the risks first

erika & Grady
Like any tool, ICTs can be tremendously useful, but dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. This is doubly true for activists and women's rights defenders. Jennifer Radloff and Erika Smith speak to participants from one of our secure online communications for women human rights defenders workshops who share their own experiences with ICTs and what they've learned from the training.

From Clock Square to StreetWatch: mapping sexual harassment in Palestina

genderit.org team
Dalia Othman, a researcher and human rights activist, reports on a new initiative in Ramallah, Palestina, that uses online mapping and mobile phone technology to allow women to combat sexual harassment in the streets.

It's time to stand up and be counted

Grady
If we want to tackle the problem of gender-based violence online, we need to develop a strong evidence base, argues Grady Johnson in this article. At the risk of revisiting old traumas, we need women to document the scope of the problem, so that the gravity of the situation can no longer be denied. Most of all, we need good numbers if we hope to make good policies.

Coordinates for change: putting violence against women on the map

flavia
“Map it. End it. Demand change” was the core of the Take Back the Tech! campaign for 2011. Flavia Fascendini writes about several mapping initiatives around the world that aim to document forms of violence against women so as to “put them on the map” in the sense that they are named, pointed out, shown as related, and denounced - and in that way the mapped territory is changed into one that respects the rights of women and children.
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