access

All over the world, prisons are potentially ground for the spread of the COVID-19 contagion, but another factor at play is the role of repressive governments at this moment continuing to imprison activists. This article looks at what prisoners can still access from jail and the effectiveness of online "visits" for prisoners from their lawyer and families in India.

LGBTQIA+ people are often already isolated, invisibilised in their families and sometimes also facing abuse. In this article, mental health professionals speak about the vulnerability of these groups and people during the lockdown and how fragile links of community and support are still being built.

Access to the internet and ICTs can often be about creating and finding surprising opportunities and uses. If women are familiar with smartphones and able to use them, then this is one way of ensuring that the next generation of girls are also able to access and adopt technology.

What is feminist infrastructure? Our lives are determined now by technology and especially data and surveillance. How can we undermine the existing technological hegemony and rebuild infrastructures that accommodate different realities and needs through community networks?

A photo essay of a community network and the women working at the radio station and using the community network located just at the outskirts of Bangalore in India.

In this layered podcast, the members of Portal sem Porteiras, Marcela and Luisa explore their excitement over the possibilities of their community network and how they are re-finding meaning and solace in connections. 

Zenzeleni, which means ‘do it yourself’ in isiXhosa, has become exemplary of the unique challenges and remarkable successes of a community network in the global south. In this interview, Sol Luca de Tena discusses how the cooperative business model for Zenzeleni has evolved to center community needs and priorities.

In this interview with Chako Armant who researches and works on a community network on the island of Idjwi in DRC, she talks about running a community network while there is ongoing uncertainty and conflict, and how they are addressing norms around gender and technology.

Technology when used well can change lives, especially those of people with disabilities. In this review of the remarkable book by Haben, titled "Haben: the deafblind woman who conquered Harvard law", the question raised is whether feminists working with technology are doing enough about accessibility.

In this exploration of the questions of access and economy for women in Ghana, the author takes a closer look at the digital gender-gap. When women don't have equal access to the internet then what are the economic implications?