Join us on September 14 at noon for our first Civic Lunch talk of the semester with Emily Jacobi of Digital Democracy.

Digital Democracy (Dd) is an Oakland, California based nonprofit that is dedicated to supporting marginalized communities who are using technology to defend their rights. Dd works directly with local communities to help train them in technology and support specific programs, and builds open-source technology tools that anyone can use.

For the past four years Digital Democracy has worked primarily in the Amazon rainforest. In collaboration with a network of local partners, Dd has supported indigenous organizations and federations in:

• mapping traditional territories
  
• monitoring ongoing environmental & human rights threats
  
• using drones and satellites to monitor threats including land invasions on ancestral territory, illegal gold mining, and deforestation
  
• creating interactive maps for storytelling
  
• building technology tools that work OFFLINE and allow communities to manage their OWN information
  

Emily will discuss the creation of Mapeo, a peer-to-peer mapping tool based off of OpenStreetMap that works offline, and recent work with the Waorani Nation in Ecuador to support an ambitious project to map their entire territory. In the face of potential oil concessions by the Ecuadorian government, the Waorani are undertaking an initiative involving paper mapping, walks with elders through the forest, and training multiple mappers in the village. This process will involve all 5,000 members of the Waorani Nation and works to honor their traditional wisdom.

Lunch will be served at noon.