Activist Technology Demo Day
2012
Running demos of my own project, Signal Strength, at Occupy Wall Street led me to discover many talented people with the same goal: to further democracy through emerging technology. I helped organize Activist Technology Demo Day to bring them all together. What follows is the info and participants from the event.
Photo: Tim Clark
Saturday, January 28 3-6pm at Eyebeam
From Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street, technology has played an important role in shaping contemporary resistance and the representation of these events in the media. What new tools of protest and occupation have emerged over the past year? How does their use help to shape tomorrow's democracies? The Urban Research Group @ Eyebeam and The Public School New York has invited activists, technologists, artists, designers, and community organizers who have a working prototype of an activist technology to occupy a worktable at Eyebeam and share their work with the public. Drawn from proposals submitted through an open call, we have selected a group of projects and communities that extend the creative use of technology and its social implications. Our interest is in creating a platform for encounter, conversation and collaboration.
OWS TECH OPS
Supports the online communication and organization needs of OWS and the New York City General Assembly.
http://www.nycga.net/groups/tech/
DIGITAL DEMOCRACY
Empowering marginalized communities to use technology to build their futures.
http://www.digital-democracy.org/
ENERGY BIKE
Human powered bike generators from Zuccotti Park.
http://times-up.org/index.php?page=energy-bikes-the-story
http://times-up.org/index.php?page=energy-bikes
OCCUPY WITH ART
(Formerly the Occupennial) Artists, writers, curators, and art professionals lending our skills to produce art, cultural events and projects, with a particular focus on OWS itself as a social art process.
http://www.occupywithart.com/
I'M GETTING ARRESTED
An Android app that enables anyone, with one click, to broadcast a custom message to anyone they wish (loved ones, lawyer, etc) in the event they are arrested.
https://market.android.com/details?id=us.quadrant2.arrested
THE SIGNAL STRENGTH PROJECT
Modules for ad-hoc social networking that let people in an urban area interact offline, leveraging their mobile phones for untraceable communications.
http://www.signalstrengthproject.com
OCCUPY HERE
Hacking a wifi router to offer a new kind of venue where both committed activists and casual supporters can engage with each other.
http://occupyhere.org/
THE PEOPLE'S SKYPE
The People's Skype is a phone powered platform that lets anyone with old or new phones magnify the range of the People's Mic.
http://www.peoplesskype.org/
OUR GOODS
An online barter network for creative people.
http://ourgoods.org/
SPACEBANK
To offer our virtual community a set of innovative and revolutionary ideas related to banking, speculation and investment.
http://spacebank.org/
http://www.artslant.com/ny/works/show/528158
AUGMENTED REALITY ACTIVISTS
An archive, a meeting place, and a knowledge center for activists working with augmented reality.
http://markskwarek.blogspot.com/2011/11/ar-flash-mob-wall-st.html
http://augmentedrealityactivists.blogspot.com/
OCCU-BOT
A D.I.Y robot for occupation and picket holding.
http://taeyoonchoi.com/2011/12/occu-bot-and-financier-bot/
GUARDIAN PROJECT
Open-source mobile tools for activists.
https://guardianproject.info/apps/securecam/
MYI
An app that allows users to instantaneously upload media from handheld devices to the Internet.
http://my-i.me/
VIBE APP
A new GeoSocial App with which users send Mini-Blogs with Anonymous and Self-Destruct options.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vibe/id433067417?mt=8
GREENMAP
Interact with thousands of great places charged by local Green Mapmakers around the world.
http://www.opengreenmap.org/
NEWSMOTION BIKE MESSENGER
An alpha prototype kit for LED wheel displays that will visually broadcast geolocative data- such as traffic fatalities at each intersection and block, updating as you ride.
http://newsmotion.org/blogs/newsmotion/natalie-jeremijenkos-newsmotion-nm-bike-messengers
This public event culminated with a panel discussion at 5pm with special guest Stephen Duncombe, Associate Professor at the Gallatin School and the Department of Media, Culture and Communications of New York University and co-creator of the School for Creative Activism; Mary Mattingly, Eyebeam Fellow and the creator of Waterpod; and moderated by Taeyoon Choi, Eyebeam Fellow and member of The Public School New York committee.
Organizers: Amelia Marzec, Taeyoon Choi, Dan Phiffer, Mark Shepard, Gloria Suzie Kim, Mary Mattingly