[liberationtech] MOOC on Tech for Accountability by Stanford Online (English / Arabic)

[Vivek S.]

Dear Libtech community,

I am excited to announce a course on the use of Technology for
Accountability to be offered on Stanford Online.  Please see the
announcement below for more details.  The course offers a space for
participants to collaborate on tech for accountability projects.  I would
like to welcome the Libtech community to bring your project ideas on this
topic, in case you are looking for people to collaborate with.  Projects
can be at any stage - from a thought experiment to a finished project
looking for adoption.

We hope to have a global audience that would give you the right partners to
build your ideas with. Please feel free to write to me if you have any
questions about the course or about bring your project ideas.

I would appreciate your help in spreading the word about the course.

Thank you,

Warm regards

S. Vivek

Course leader,
Technology for Accountability Lab


​Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL)
together with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) will offer a free
open-online course starting Aug 9, 2016 on using technology to promote
transparency and accountability. The objective of this course, dubbed
‘Technology for Accountability Lab,’ is to guide democracy activists,
software developers, and other stakeholders to conceptualize, plan and
implement technological tools and advocacy strategies to improve
transparency by opening political and governmental processes.


Tech for Accountability Lab will run for 10 weeks and feature short video
lectures by scholars at Stanford and NDI who will be joined by experts from
the Sunlight Foundation, Creative Commons, Hacker Lab (Parliament of
Brazil), My Society, Transparency International, The New York Times and
other organizations. In order to be relevant to a broad international
audience, the course draws case studies and presentations from Brazil,
Czech Republic, India, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, US, UK and other
countries.


Course topics will expose participants to both theoretical and practical
applications of the field, which include: monitoring corruption at the
grassroots; tracking legislators and their bills; using technology to
monitor election fraud; tracking money in politics; and designing
innovative technology tools.


NDI and Stanford’s CDDRL – who both have a long tradition of working with
democracy activists around the world – developed and designed the course in
response to activists’ interest in incorporating technology into their
work. The course aims to attract a unique set of global participants with a
background in accountability movements who can learn more about the tools
that can help them to enrich and magnify their work. No previous experience
or exposure to technology is required.


*Arabic platform and materials*: Thanks to a grant from the Steven's
Initiative (supported by the State Department and the Bezos Family
Foundation), the course materials have been translated into Arabic. For the
first time on Stanford Online, participants will have the option of doing
the course through an Arabic platform with extensive language support to
facilitate the participation of youth in the MENA region.


To learn more about the course and register, please visit the url below.
Please share this announcement widely with interested participants and
professional networks.

Course link:
https://lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/course-v1:Home+TFALab+2016/about



ABOUT:


Stanford's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law
<http://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/> bridges the worlds of scholarship, policy
and practice to understand and advance the conditions for just, democratic,
and sustainable development around the world.


The National Democratic Institute  <https://www.ndi.org/>is a nonprofit,
nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic
institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and
accountability in government.


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