Security-in-a-Box.
A complete guide to digital security for advocates and human rights defenders (and for you too!). It includes all the info and tools you'll need for anything related to personal digital security.
Mobiles in-a-box: Tools and tactics for mobile advocacy.
Message in-a-box: Everything you need to make and distribute your own media.
NGO-in-a-box: Set up you NGO using free and open-source software.
[more inside]
posted by lemuring
on Feb 28, 2011 -
14 comments
"What if America wasn't America?" That was the question posed by a series of ads broadcast in the wake of the September 11th attacks, ads which depicted a dystopian America bereft of liberty:
Library -
Diner -
Church. Together with more positive ads like
Remember Freedom and
I Am an American, they encouraged frightened viewers to cherish their freedoms and defend against division and prejudice in the face of terrorism (
seven years previously). The campaign was the work of the
Ad Council, a non-profit agency that employs the creative muscle of volunteer advertisers to raise awareness for social issues of national importance. Founded during WWII as the War Advertising Council, the organization has been behind
some of the most memorable public service campaigns in American history, including
Rosie the Riveter,
Smokey the Bear,
McGruff the Crime Dog, and
the Crash Test Dummies. And the Council is still at it today, producing striking, funny, and above all
effective PSAs on everything from
student invention to
global warming to
arts education to
community service.
Additional resources:
A-to-Z index of Ad Council campaigns -
Campaigns organized by category -
Award-winning campaigns -
PSA Central: A free download directory of TV, radio, and print PSAs
(registration req'd) -
An exhaustive history of the Ad Council [46-page PDF] -
YouTube channel -
Vimeo channel -
Twitter feed
posted by Rhaomi
on Sep 11, 2009 -
69 comments
Single-payer health care advocates arrested at Senate hearing. On May 5, 2009 advocates of a U.S. national health care program
disrupted a Senate Finance Committee event to call for single-payer healthcare to be part of the discussion. The eight protesters were subsequently
arrested. The protesters included representatives of
Physicians for a National Health Program, which favors the
The United States National Health Care Act, H.R. 676. Committee Chair Max Baucus (D - Montana), who has received
more money in contributions from health insurance companies than any other member of Congress,
favors requiring Americans to purchase private health insurance from those companies. Baucus, who has previously said that single-payer is "
off the table," responded to the doctors and their fellow activists with, “I want you to know I care deeply about your views," and then, "we need more police [to eject protesters]."
posted by univac
on May 6, 2009 -
146 comments
Campaigns track voters' personal data. Ever wonder why you get mail and calls from particular political groups, and not others? Turns out the political parties are developing far richer datasets on individuals than the government is.
Aristotle International, Inc. (mentioned in the article) is the giant in the field, but there's much smaller ones all over the place (
Weave, for instance, helps with environmental activism, and
Local Victory is an example on the right).
On the one hand, with limited resources, campaigns would say they must do this. On the other hand (as the article points out) it may partially explain why fewer and fewer seem to participate in the electoral process.
posted by MidasMulligan
on Jan 20, 2004 -
22 comments
Why I Hate Advocacy. Baseball, politics, and programming languages? Mark Jason-Dominus created a classic article that is really about the general human tendancy towards flawed dialogue and the pitfalls surrounding evangelism, even though it's specifically directed towards the perl programming community. Indeed, as
in the past, some may see the "spectre of Metafilter itself" in Mark's words.
posted by weston
on Aug 4, 2003 -
19 comments
