Action Steps: A decade of civil society advocacy in the information society

The purpose of this review was to look back over the past decade of country reports published in Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) and attempt to identify trends in civil society perspectives on what needed to be done to create a people-centred information society. The period for analysis was, more accurately, just over a decade: 2007-2017, during which a GISWatch report was produced each year – a total of 11 reports.

Themes

Access to educational materials
Internet governance
Access to libraries
Civil society participation
Climate change
Communications surveillance
E-waste
Environment and ICT
Freedom of association
Freedom of expression
Information and democracy
Information and livelihoods
Infrastructure
Intellectual property rights
Internet and corruption
Internet rights
Knowledge rights
Open culture
Open standards
Privacy
Sexual rights
Transparency and accountability online
Women's rights, gender

GISWatch: An annual snapshot of the information society, 10 years running

Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) has reached its 10th edition, providing the international community with yearly reports on the state of the information society from the perspective of local civil society organisations and experts from all around the world.

Themes

Access to educational materials
Access to libraries
Civil society participation
Climate change
Communications surveillance
E-waste
Environment and ICT
Freedom of association
Freedom of expression
Information and democracy
Information and livelihoods
Infrastructure
Intellectual property rights
Internet and corruption
Internet rights
Knowledge rights
Open culture
Open standards
Privacy
Sexual rights
Transparency and accountability online
Women's rights, gender

The internet and social movements in North Africa

Year

2011 - Internet rights and democratisation

Authored by

Ramy Raoof

Organization

Egyptian Blog for Human Rights

Creating free space 

Many taboos and “red lines” are imposed on offline spaces like newspapers and TV channels in several states in North Africa, as well as many limits on freedom of expression and the right to assembly. It is not easy to establish a newspaper in Libya or a human rights organisation in Algeria or to call for a march in Bahrain.

Themes

Information and democracy
Internet rights

Workers’ rights and the internet

Year

2011 - Internet rights and democratisation

Authored by

Steve Seltzer

Organization

LaborNet

Communication, solidarity and the internet: How the internet, information technology and new media are shaping the world working class

From textile factory workers at the Egyptian Mahalla textile plants, to Chinese workers in Honda factories, to Wisconsin public workers: social networks, the internet and new communications technologies are playing a critical role in linking up workers locally, nationally and internationally.

Free Tag

freedom of association online

Themes

Freedom of association
Freedom of expression
Information and democracy

E-revolutions and cyber crackdowns: User-generated content and social networking in protests in MENA and beyond

Year

2011 - Internet rights and democratisation

Authored by

Alex Comninos

Organization

Doctoral candidate, Department of Geography, Justus Liebig University Giessen

Introduction

The recent protests and uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt have both been called “Twitter revolutions” and “Facebook revolutions” due to the widespread use of user-generated content (UGC) disseminated over social networks like Facebook and Twitter by protesters, activists and supporters of the protests, as well as by those following the events around the globe. This report investigates the usage and role of UGC and social networking websites in the recent protests and uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), as well as other cases outside of the region. 

Free Tag

freedom of expression
censorship

Themes

Internet rights