Empowerment Technology

ICT as PLATFORM for CHANGE

Advocacy - is a process of supporting and enabling people to: express their views and
concerns, access information and services, defend and promote their rights and
responsibilities

The Power of Social Media

Global Digital Divide - describes the unequal distribution of information and
communication technology across nations, commonly described as the “gap between
information haves and have-nots”

The Role of ICT in the Recent History

EDSA (People Power Revolution)

 A major protest that took place along EDSA from February 22 to 25, 1986 involving
2 million Filipinos from different sectors
 Cardinal Sin encouraged the Filipinos to help end the regime of the former
President Ferdinand Marcos through Radyo Veritas which helped change the
course of history.
EDSA Dos - Also known as 2001 EDSA Revolution
 Happened during Jan 17-21, 2001
 It was fueled after 11 prosecutors of then President Joseph Estrada walked out of
the impeachment trial. As a result, the people in EDSA grew over the course of a
few days through text brigades

Yolanda People Finder - Recent storms in the Philippines gave birth to the People Finder
database powered by Google. During typhoon Yolanda, the People Finder was a vital tool
for people across the globe to track the situation of their relatives. This proved to be
successful and is now adapted by more organizations to help people track relatives during
calamities.

Million People March

 a series of protests that mainly took place in Luneta Park from Aug 22 to 26, 2013.
There were several demonstrations that happened around the key cities in the
Philippines and some locations overseas. It was to condemn the misuse of the
Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF)
 Though dubbed as the Million People March, the number of total attendees was
only around 400,000. The organizers and promoters of the protest used Facebook
and Change.org as their mediums.

ICT as Medium for Advocacy

Change.org - is dubbed as the “world’s platform for change” where anyone from online
community can create a petition and ask others to sign it

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 It gives access to more people by allowing the online community to affix their digital
signatures on a petition.
 Its mission is to help people from around the world create the change they want to
see.
 Sample petitions raised were: economic problems, criminal injustice, abuse of
human rights, lack of education, environmental concerns, animal abuse, human
health concerns and world hunger.

Digital Citizenship - refers to the utilization of information technology (IT) in order to

engage in society, politics, and government.
- K. Mossberger, et al. define digital citizens as "those who use the Internet regularly
and effectively".

Digital Citizenship Principles:

 Engage Positively
 Know your online world.
 Choose consciously.

Engage Positively:
 respect the rights of others to participate and have an opinion
 ask before tagging other people or posting photos
 report offensive or illegal content
 stand up and speak out about cyberbullying — protect your friends
 don't respond to hurtful or nasty comments — block and report cyberbullying
 speak to your parents or trusted adult about upsetting online experiences
 report threats of violence to the police (collect the evidence to show them).

Know your Online World:

 learn how new skills will help you explore the online world
 recognize online risks and how to manage them
 look out for suspicious emails and scams
 use secure websites for financial and retail services
 keep passwords secret, strong and unique • know how to report bullying
behavior on social media sites.

Choose Consciously:
 choose privacy and security settings carefully and check them regularly
 choose friends wisely online — not everybody online is who they claim to be,
regularly review your connections and remove people
 if you have made a mistake apologize and take down offensive material as soon
as possible
 ask for permission before uploading pictures of your friends.

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Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship

 Access  Law
 Commerce  Rights and Responsibilities
 Communication  Health
 Literacy  Security
 Etiquette

Digital Access - This is perhaps one of the most fundamental blocks to being a digital
citizen. However, due to socioeconomic status, location, and other disabilities some
individuals may not have digital access. Digital access is available in many remote
countries via cyber cafés and small coffee shops.

Digital Commerce - This is the ability for users to recognize that much of the economy
is regulated online. It also deals with the understanding of the dangers and benefits of
online buying, using credit cards online, and so forth.
- As with the advantages and legal activities- there is also dangerous activities such
as illegal downloads, gambling, drug deals, pornography, plagiarism, and so forth.

Digital Communication - This element deals with understanding the variety of online
communication mediums such as email, instant messaging, FB messenger, the variety
of apps, and so forth. There is a standard of etiquette associated with each medium.

Digital Literacy - This deals with the understanding of how to use various digital devices.
It is ability and knowledge needed to learn and teach using technology tools

Digital Etiquette - This is the expectation that various mediums require a variety of
etiquette. Certain mediums demand more appropriate behavior and language than others
Digital Law - This is where enforcement occurs for illegal downloads, plagiarizing,
hacking, creating viruses, sending spams, identity theft, cyberbullying, and so forth

Digital Rights and Responsibilities - This is the set of rights that digital citizens have
such as privacy, speech, and so forth.

Digital Health - Digital citizens must be aware of the physical stress placed on their
bodies by internet usage. They must be aware to not become overly dependent on the
internet causing eye strain, headaches, stress problems, and so on.

Digital Security - This simply means that citizens must take measures to be safe by
practicing using difficult passwords, virus protection, backing up data, and so forth.