RightsCon Tunis 2019

How to make a revolution with internet tools: experience of the Armenian revolution (ArmSec Foundation)

Description: During the Velvet revolution in Armenia (April 2018) the main driver of the protests were the youth, young activists, geeks. People used a lot of net tools to make a protests decentralized, to combat state propaganda, to combat state propaganda trolls attacks in social networks. Activists used specific tools like super-chats in Telegram to maintain distributed protests, special Google Chrome extensions to distinguish media sources and social media profiles and detect propaganda and trolls, Facebook lives to break propaganda lies etc. The possibilities to make a bridge between online and offline in the aggressive environment attacks by state will be provided. During the talk a lot of tools and tactics will be presented which are proved in action to be useful for activists during the protests.

Speaker: Samvel Martirosyan

When it doubt, go digital: Online networks in unfree spaces (DCN)

Description: In Eastern Europe, legislators are not our friends: the freedom is shrinking even online. Yet, there is a way around it. By building digital communities for professionals across sectors, we've managed to do joint projects together both offline and online and help activists in repressed societies. How are we doing that? Come and hear about our experience with Digital Communication Network, which unites 5,000+ tech and media professionals working together. During our talk, we'll share some insights on connecting startups and media makers, working on media sustainability, and helping civil society activists reach greater audiences online by joint training programs. In addition, we'll talk of media literacy efforts and digital influencers in the region, and how these are shaping media landscape in Eastern and Central Europe. Come if you want to know more about the way journos, activists, and techies work together in not so democratic societies, and how our digital work is shaping the region. If you want to learn more about Eastern and Central Europe, stop by as well. We'll be focusing on cross-sectoral aspects, handling money, using social media, & being present while staying digital, and we want to hear about your experience, too.

Speaker: Anna Romandash & Franak Viacorka

Speak my language, or I will hate digital hygiene! (Spectrum, a French based queer feminist NGO)

Description: This is the story of Iranian Rainbow, a project launched in April 2018 to fill up the gap of digital hygiene awareness among the Persian speaking queer community. Iranian.lgbt is offering lessons and awareness to the LGBTQIA+ community, but not like any other digital security training, using comic strips, podcasts broadcasted online and offline, story telling, Persona creation, Instagram lives and more.

Speaker: Soudeh Rad

Creating effective multilingual e-learning experiences for activists in closed societies (Advocacy Assembly)

Description: In this session, the team behind the multilingual digital training platform Advocacy Assembly share tips on how they created a localized e-learning experience in three languages. With a focus on teaching digital security, online campaigning, data skills and more, we will discuss how our approach improved the overall user experience, expanded our audience of Arabic and Persian-speaking activists and advocates, and supported them to complete course materials. We will explain how our user research helped us to localize social media assets, blogs and most importantly, e-learning training materials to create a rapidly-growing platform. The discussion will centre around the challenges encountered when adapting content to activists in different contexts – some relating to technical difficulties, and others to cultural and political sensitivities. This session is for organizations who conduct face-to-face trainings to support activists in hard-to-reach contexts globally. It’s especially useful for those who are interested in developing and delivering training content to activists and advocates working in closed societies.

Speaker: Tara Kelly