The Program on Liberation Technology (LibTech) at Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law together with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) are proud to launch a free massive open online course dubbed "Technology for Accountability Lab.”
The course is geared for global 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.
This 10-week course - which starts on August 9, 2016 - will feature video lectures by Stanford professors Terry Winograd and Larry Diamond, as well as lecturers from NDI, Transparency International, Sunlight Foundation, Creative Commons, ProPublica, and other experts.
The course includes topics such as monitoring corruption, tracking money in politics, and using technology to monitor election fraud. 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.
Through a grant made possible by the Steven's Initiative at the Aspen Institute (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 taking the course through an Arabic platform - with extensive language support - to facilitate the participation of youth in the Middle East and North Africa.
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. Participants will also have the option to collaborate on projects to design or implement real-world democracy tools, including advocacy materials, during the course.
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.
To to learn more about the course and register, visit the course link. Please share this announcement widely with interested participants and professional networks (#TFALAB).