Microaggressions are everyday acts of violence and oppression that people encounter. They are specific encounters between people of different identities (race, class, gender, sex, orientation, culture, ability) and are non-physical, typically involving demeaning implications or subtle insults against a minority identity.

Frequently non-verbal, microaggressions are simply the small ways that folks with power intentionally or unintentionally make it clear that opposed identities are unwelcome, not on par or even not respected. Commonly this is "colourblindness" ("I don't see you as black, you're just a person") or denial of bias ("I'm not homophobic, I have a lot of gay friends").

Hollaback! is a non-profit involved in the movement to end street based gender violence through mobile technology. By using mobile phone apps and crowd sourcing technology, hollaback provides a safe virtual space when folks can share their experiences of gender violence and have it plotted on an interactive map.

Street harassment is a culturally acceptable form of gender violence. Hollaback tracks the violence and gives a folks a forum to break the silence around street harassment while actively resisting it.

History

Sometimes it's important to keep your identity hidden. For these dangerous times, there's Global Voice's guide to anonymous blogging. This 25 page guide has screen-shot step by step instructions for activists to make their blog much harder to trace. The guide uses Wordpress and Tor to create more secure sites and gives instructions for using public computers as well as personal systems. Every action has a blurb about why it's important for non-tech savvy activists.

Tumblr is a microblogging platform. If you think of different platforms on a timeline from the 140 character posts on twitter to the infinitely long blog entries on a provider like wordpress, Tumblr is somewhere in between.

Your blog may host longer posts, mostly made up of text and hyperlinks while your tumblr has quicker hits of content. Tumblrs are good for short form multimedia content. They're better at providing quotes, videos, pictures or links one at a time rather than commentary. Tumblrs are typically known for their short style, quick hits and ability to be reblogged and shared by other users on their Tumblrs.

Background

Introduction

This guide is designed to introduce activists to blogging.

Overview

In 2002, few recognized the potential of blogs as a journalistic medium. In recent years, however, this mentality has shifted entirely. Today, bloggers command prominence and recognition as journalists. Moreover, in some regions, blogs are considered to be more credible information sources than state-run news agencies. In light of this, today’s blogosphere remains an invaluable forum for the activist community. Issue-based blogs unite like-mined individuals, and such connectivity helps to establish support networks for any given cause.
 
 

Considerations

Since its 2005 founding, Global Voices has existed as an online community of bloggers and translators from around the world.  By leveraging the power of citizen media, Global Voices aims to tackle issues not covered by the mainstream media.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/

**** Reserved for women of colour ****

Are you?: Wanting to start a blog but don't know where to begin? Looking for a way to publish your work? Seeking out your place in the social media landscape? Looking to add "blogger" to your list of things you can do? This workshop will provide you with a quick and dirty overview of blogging and show you how to start your very own blog.

Topics to be covered include:

- Very Short History of Blogging

- Types of Blogs - Creating Content, Building Audience, Spreading the Word

- Group Exercise: Make a Class Blog