access to knowledge

Do you want to organise an edit-a-thon around gender, women in STEM, movements and feminist histories of organising or anything else? Here are a list of (5 and more) things to watch out for - including the safety of your participants and how to navigate the tricky but sometimes essential rules of editing content on Wikipedia. 

Can technology-based solutions improve the quality of life for people with disabilities? Srinidhi Raghavan interviews various women who talk about how mobile phone usage has benefitted them in terms of communication and social interaction, but also about their real concerns around privacy.

This article explores the labour and determination that go into preserving African women’s history, reclaiming online spaces and, more importantly, ensuring that these stories remain accessible and continue to grow for the future generations to come.

Education going online has posed a series of challenges especially for those living in Africa, Asia and other parts of the world where widespread access to the internet is not a given. This article explores how the Zambian government must show a stronger commitment and take measures to address how girls can access online education.

In this article, the Zimbabwean feminist researcher and writer Fungai Machirori challenges the idea of "the global South" as a homogenous space.

In this third column on gender and community networks, GenderIT interviews Carlos Rey Moreno on what movement building around community networks is all about. How do we get policy makers, organisers, community based organisations and others invested and interested in community networks? And in this constellation of actors and organisations, how do we start talking about gender equality and…

Editatonas - are Wikipedia edit-a-thons that are exclusively for women. The reason for these events is to deal with the stark difference and lack of representation for women on Wikipedia as compared to men. This is also reflected in that only 10% of Wikipedian editors are women. Carmen Alcazar explores what editatonas do to change that.

The BPF is collaborating with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the UN University on Computing and Society (UNU-CS) in its important endeavour to research and map projects and initiatives that aim to address different gender digital divides around the world. The objective of this collaborative data-gathering process is to help stakeholders better understand women and girls’…

In this column, Chenai Chair explores motivations of internet use through the ResearchICT Africa study in Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. Business, local and global communication, social ties, and curiosity seem to be the main motivators. By understanding why people go online, we can better shape interventions for a connected society.

As our cities turn smart and countries turn digital the gender gap in terms of internet access is disturbing. The lack of access directly relates to the loss of rights of women and minorities. Sadly there is a long way to go before we close this gap. Chinmayi S K explores projects that attempted in innovative ways to address the digital gender gap online.