Info-Activism is an approach which helps rights advocates tactically utilise information, communications and digital technologies to enhance advocacy work. Tactical Tech believes that new technologies have significant potential to enhance the work of campaigners and advocates, giving them the tools to gather and analyse information and the means to turn that information into action. In this website, we would like to introduce you to our new initiative - The Info-Activism Camp which will be held in Bangalore, India between the 19th and 25th of February 2009. More about our approach to Info-Activism can be found here.

Mobiles-in-a-box: Tools and Tactics for Mobile Advocacy

Our new toolkit, Mobiles in-a-box: Tools and Tactics for Mobile Advocacy (http://mobiles.tacticaltech.org/) - is a collection of tools, tactics, how-to guides and case studies designed to inspire advocacy organisations and present possibilities for the use of mobile telephony in their work. From choosing an audience, to privacy and security issues and also countering technological challenges, Mobiles in-a-box provides effective solutions to enable you get started with using mobiles in your advocacy efforts.

The tactics discussed in this toolkit revolve around the following scenarios which many advocates find themselves dealing with: outreach and participation, fundraising and resource mobilisation, people's media, and coordinating and mobilising. Mobiles can be very handy in each of the above situations to disseminate information, make calls, check and send e-mails as well as updating blogs.

The toolkit also explores the possibility of mixing mobile advocacy with other media like the internet where the aim is to broaden the scope for information gathering and dissemination. Mobiles in-a-box explores options for advocacy including creating a website which mobile phone users can easily access, sending out messages in bulk through a website, or even collecting data on your phone and sending it back to your computer.

While mobile phones offer rights advocates incredible opportunities to increase the impact of advocacy and campaigning, they also bring activists face to face with security issues and budgeting. This toolkit provides useful tips to ensure privacy while also helping scale your mobile advocacy efforts to the resources your organisation has available.

Mobiles in-a-box also presents inspiring case studies from around the world to show how mobile telephony has made a difference to varied areas of activism - from election monitoring to tracking environmental destruction.

For more information about the toolkit or to order a copy, please write to mobiles@tacticaltech.org

Mobiles-in-a-box: Tools and Tactics for Mobile Advocacy

10 Tactics