An event series for job seekers looking to start a career in Digital Rights, Internet Freedom
Are you looking for a meaningful job related to human rights and technology?
Do you want to work in a field addressing the most pressing challenges at the forefront of social justice, human rights, journalism, freedom of expression, and Internet Freedom?
Whether you are a technologist, researcher, communications professional, community organizer, policy advocate, or any other profession, there is a career path for you in the digital rights field.
Join us for our “Welcome to Digital Rights” Village and hear from diverse experts on how you can break into the digital rights field, no matter what your background. We want to help you join one of the most dynamic, emerging fields!
When?
Various sessions in the month of May!
Who? Diverse talks with experts working in the areas of:
Policy Advocacy ◉ Technology Development ◉
Public Interest Tech ◉ Security ◉ Research ◉
Programming - from communications to operations
How can I participate? RSVP here for the sessions you are interested in! Note: Don’t forget to mark your calendars after you RSVP!
Session Descriptions:
An Overview of the Digital Rights Landscape for Career Seekers
Sandy Ordonez,
Team CommUNITY
Danae Tapia,
Team CommUNITY
Date: May 16 @ 9am EDT / 1pm UTC (Tuesday)
The digital rights field is an emerging field, which looks at challenges arising at the intersection of social justice, human rights, and technology. While exciting and at the cusp of issues facing societies throughout the world, its expansiveness can also be overwhelming to people trying to break into the field. Join us to gain an overview of the digital rights field, as well as different career paths available to you. You can also ask questions about the future sessions of the Village!
Sandy Ordonez has been working in digital rights for over 12 years, primarily focusing on growing the field and elevating the leadership of underrepresented communities. Currently, the head of TCU, Sandra is one of the first Latinas to occupy leadership positions in the open source community, notably having served as the first Director of Comms for the Wikimedia Foundation.
Danae Tapia is a feminist writer, multimedia artist and technologist born in the Chilean working class. She is the founder of The Digital Witchcraft Institute, her fellowship with the Mozilla Foundation and an arts organization where she leads projects that fall at the intersection of posthuman technology, deep migrations and climate justice. She is also a lecturer of Hacking and Autonomous Practices at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
A Sample of Career Paths in Digital Rights:
Researcher looking at online violence.
Technologists contributing to an anti surveillance or censorship tool.
Communications professional working at a digital rights NGO.
Security professional providing activists with threat modeling.
And many More!
A Career in Policy Advocacy with Ayden Férdeline
Ayden Férdeline
Landecker Democracy Fellow
Date: May 17th at 9am EDT / 1pm UTC (Wednesday)
Policy isn’t just for politicians. As an informed advocate and changemaker, you can have a direct and positive impact on how the Internet is developed.
Hear from Ayden Férdeline, currently a Landecker Democracy Fellow, on what it takes to develop a career in policy advocacy. Learn how he got started in the field, what skills are in demand, and what do job prospects look like in the future.
Bio: Ayden Férdeline is a Landecker Democracy Fellow where, with the support of the Alfred Landecker Foundation and Humanity in Action, he monitors the development of the UN Secretary-General’s proposed Global Digital Compact ahead of 2024’s Summit of the Future. He was previously a rapporteur with the Forum on Information and Democracy, a research consultant to the National Democratic Institute as well as the National Endowment for Democracy, and a Mozilla technology policy fellow.
A Career in Tech Tool Making with Giovanni Pellerano
Giovanni Pellerano
Co-founder and co-author of GlobaLeaks
Date: May 18 at 9am EDT / 1pm UTC (Thursday)
Whether you are a developer, designer, a UX expert or project manager, your skills are essential to build the technology tools used by activists, journalists and citizens around the world, to protect themselves and advance their mission.
Hear from Giovanni Pellerano, co-founder and co-author of Globaleaks, one of the most important whistleblowing software in the world. Learn about his professional adventure and his project’s journey to a sustainable organization. Find out how secure a job career in a prominent field with a good team!
Bio: Giovanni Pellerano is a computer engineer and whistleblowing hacktivist. Co-founder and co-author of GlobaLeaks, Giovanni has been involved in the software’s architectural design since the early stages and has supported directly and indirectly several hundred whistleblowing projects around the world. He currently leads the research and development of the software.
A Career in Public Interest Technology with Daniel Kahn Gillmor
Daniel Kahn Gillmor
Senior Staff Technologist for ACLU
Date: May 23 at 10am EDT / 2pm UTC (Tuesday)
Technologists can do much more than code. They can also play key leadership roles in the field of public interest technology, or using technology for public good. Finding good technologists to join the cause has become even more critical as civil society across the globe face more threats sitting at the intersection of social justice, human rights and technology.
Join ACLU’s Senior Staff Technologist, Daniel Kahn Gilmor, and find out how he got into this field, what skills you need, and how you can play a key role in helping confront emerging technological threats coming down the road.
Bio: Daniel Kahn Gillmor is a Senior Staff Technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU), a Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, focused on the way our technical infrastructure shapes society and impacts civil liberties. As a free software developer and member of the Debian project, he contributes to fundamental tools that shape the possibilities of our information-rich environment. As a participant in the IETF he fosters the creation of new generations of networking and cryptographic protocols designed and optimized for privacy and security.
A Career in Grassroots to International Nonprofits in Digital Rights with Nathaly Espitia Diaz
Nathaly Espitia Diaz
Internews,
Noise Radio
Date: May 24 at 12pm EDT / 4pm UTC (Wednesday)
Nonprofits and grassroot organizations play a key role in the digital rights field. Their programming goals run the gamut, but overall are responsible for supporting frontline activists and efforts advancing different types of issues. Roles at both nonprofits and grassroots are also diverse - from finance to communications to program monitoring.
Hear about Nathaly Espitia Diaz journey from frontline activist to working at Colombian grassroot org (Nois Radio) to now being program officer at Internews. Find out what working in a nonprofit in the digital rights field is like, the types of opportunities exist, and what skills are needed.
Bio: Nathaly Espitia Diaz works at the intersection of technology, communication, culture, environment and social change. She excels as a content creator and communication and advocacy strategist, currently serving as Program Officer for South America at Internews. She works developing projects related to Digital Rights and Internet Freedom as well. One of the co-funders of the alternative communication collective Noís Radio. The majority of her work centers around working with indigenous, Afro-descendant, and campesinos communities, an area in which she has almost 15 years of experience. Creator and coordinator of Convite noisradio.co/convite just to facilitate the amazing work the community does.
A Career in Technology Research in Digital Rights with Natasha Felizi
Natasha Felizi
Journalism and Media Director at Instituto Serrapilheira
Date: May 25 at 9am EDT / 1pm UTC (Thursday)
Researcher roles are crucial in the digital rights field. They inform strategy, threat landscaping, give us a better understanding of emerging issues, digital culture, and reveal opportunities.
Hear from Natasha Felizi, Journalism and Media Director at Instituto Serrapilheira in Brazil, what it takes to start a career in research in digital rights. Digital culture, campaigning, association with academic institutions, and research for action are some of the topics that we will discuss in this session.
Bio: Natasha Felizi is a science and technology researcher and activist. She currently works as the Journalism and Media Director at Instituto Serrapilheira, a private, non-profit institution created in Brazil to support science and promote critical thinking. She has been responsible for building the Journalism and Media portfolio, which aims to create a better-informed public sphere by supporting journalists, creating digital communications strategies and campaigns, and connecting outstanding scientific ideas to an emerging network of journalists, filmmakers, podcast creators, and digital influencers. As a feminist, Natasha worked for civil society organizations as a researcher and advocate for digital rights and its intersection with gender issues and other civic issues. But her original background is in Russian Literature and her first job was to write about contemporary art for a website. So she frequently wonders: Who am I and how the hell did I end up here?
How Can I Prepare?
Read our blog post "What are Digital Rights? And how do they Impact You?"
Make sure to prepare your questions and comments!
Check out our Digital Rights Job Board and learn about current job opportunities in this field.
Learn about our Digital Justice Every Day Toolkit, which focuses on organizational policies to improve our teams, people and work health.
What is the Digital Rights Field?
Digital Rights is an emerging field looking at the most pressing next gen challenges facing activists, journalists and citizens around the world. They work on a host of issues ranging from online surveillance and censorship; to online harassment and disinformation; to digital attacks and bad policies impacting freedom of expression and privacy.
What do Digital Rights Defenders do?
Digital Rights is human rights in the digital age. Digital rights defenders, located in virtually every country throughout the world, work on protecting activists, journalists and citizens facing new complex risks in the digital age.