In a life-changing global pandemic, community-rooted initiatives became their own powerhouse of resistance against the risks and inequalities exacerbated by COVID-19. Welcome to the 45th monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks and community-based initiatives.
APC's executive director, Chat Garcia Ramilo, highlighted the importance of community networks in building innovative and community-centred models to overcome access inequalities and foster meaningful connectivity during the launch of the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition Pledging Portal.
How can we address disinformation and its impact on women and gender-diverse people? This was the focus of APC's campaign for International Women's Day 2022.
Statement
APC engages with Chair of Open-ended Working Group around the gendered implications of cyber threatsWomen and girls as well as people of diverse sexualities and gender expressions are more often the targets of online violence, and are increasingly targeted by disinformation campaigns, which can have a more severe impact on these groups because of historical and structural inequalities.
White paper
White paper on feminist internet researchAPC has been working towards imagining and making a feminist internet by building and strengthening networks of researchers, activists and others. This paper aims to assess feminist internet research on internet governance and policy, with a particular focus on scholarship in the global South.
Event report
Cybernorms: Do They Matter IRL (In Real Life)?Although multilateral forums including the United Nations have made some progress in identifying norms, rules and principles to guide responsible state behaviour in cyberspace, applying agreed norms to "real life" throws up challenges of interpretation and enforcement.
Research
Encounters, coffees and conflicts: Reflections from action-research on a feminist autonomous networkA group of women set up a community network in an area without internet connectivity in Brazil – the Terra Seca quilombo community. These are their reflections while conducting a participatory research process on community networks through an intersectional feminist...
Joint statement
International coalition to support filing of a suit to stop South Korea’s shutdown of womenonweb.krIn December 2020, the Korea Communication Standards Commission issued a ruling to block access to womenonweb.kr, a website that provides information on women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. The undersigned organisations support Open Net’s filing of a suit to cancel this ruling.
Research
Not My AI: A feminist framework to challenge algorithmic decision-making systems deployed by the public sectorTaking Latin America as a point of departure, this research seeks to contribute to the development of an anti-colonial feminist framework to question artificial intelligence systems that are being deployed by the public sector, particularly focused on social welfare programmes.
Research
Anti-rights discourse in Brazilian social media: Digital networks, violence and sex politicsThis report addresses the role of social media in the production and dissemination of hate speech and anti-rights discourse in Brazil. The researchers analysed the impact of this hostile climate on feminists, LGBTIQ people and their allies, as well as their individual and collective responses.
Oral statement
HRC 49: Oral statement on online hate speech targeting religious minoritiesAPC welcomes the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief's focus on the use of hateful rhetoric in digital spaces to incite violence against religious minorities, which is of particular concern in India, where women especially are subjected to hate speech and threats online and offline.
In this photo essay we will discover the experiences and learnings from two communities in Mexico – Cherán and Xocoyolo. The women in these communities get together to redefine technologies and develop their networks locally.
A poor understanding of digital inequality continues to lead to inadequate and counterproductive policies. This column discusses six themes that could improve policymakers’ understanding of the nuances behind this persistent inequality and disconnect.
In these beautifully illustrated letters, we learn about the methodology of women circles, and women in community networks show us that crafting relationships is as vital as crafting technology.
Columns
In this weekly column, longstanding associate of APC David Souter looks at different aspects of the digital society. Issues covered include internet governance and sustainable development, human rights and the environment, policy, practice and the use of ICTs.
How are APC members improving their communities' lives? In this section we're highlighting stories of impact and change by our members, supported by APC sub-granting.
Other APC sites
