Since 1993, almost 400 women in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, a town on the U.S./Mexico border, have been violently murdered without reason or explanation (Amnesty International). For the most part, they all fit a certain description; pretty, petite, dark haired, and extremely poor (Teresa Rodriguez 2007). There are several theories as to who is behind the killings, ranging from cults, to drug dealers, to police themselves, however the cases remain unsolved.  Read More »

This week's blog heroes, doing good one click at a time

• In honor of their 10 year anniversary, Google announced their Project 10^100, a contest based on the idea that “helping helps everybody, helper and helped alike.”  They are committing $10 million dollars to fund a winning proposal that “will help as many people as possible.”

• Gaurav Mishra, the Yahoo! Fellow in International Values, Communications, Technology, and Global Internet critiques the cliché of “using technology to do good” and proposes a framework to help think systemically and strategically about the possibilities of communication technologies to “create disruptive models of social change.”

• Might the Planned Parenthood/Sarah Palin (subversive) fundraising campaign that Ashley Bowen blogs about be an example of the kind of disruptive model of social change that Gaurav refers to?  She explains: “This campaign combines the two actions campaign organizers are always begging for: donate some cash and/or write a letter.  Now, in just a few clicks you can do both.”