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ellen sluis

I am currently enrolled in the MA New Media. After graduating in Communication and Information Sciences from the Utrecht University I worked during one year in Brazil (São Paulo) as a web designer and, after that, at a NGO, developing the website and PR.

http://marieellensluis.wordpress.com
baile funk Brazil crime Digital Divide Digital Inclusion discrimination encyclopedia favela FLOSS funk ict4d Internet MetaReciclagem New Media Research open source technologies pacification rio de janeiro social activism upp wikipedia

De-Funkification? The Fight For The Right Of The Funkeiro

As a result of the “pacification” project through the implementation of a “peace police” (UPP) in Rio de Janeiro, which is intended to combat (armed) drugs trafficking and decrease violence in the favelas, the Baile Funk (Funk party) has...
By ellen sluis on 06/16/11 1

Amazonian Geeks and Social Activism: An Ethnographic Study

A couple of months ago I went to Brazil to conduct my MA reseach in the North of Brazil. This ethnographic study offers insight in the usage and appropriation of ICTs and the several projects and initiatives aiming at...
By ellen sluis on 09/27/10 Comments Off on Amazonian Geeks and Social Activism: An Ethnographic Study

Internet, Policy and Politics Conference in Oxford

Last week I attended a conference on Internet, Policy and Politics at the OII in Oxford. I was invited to present my paper based on my MA research conducted in Brazil, which I finished a couple of weeks ago.
By ellen sluis on 09/22/10 Comments Off on Internet, Policy and Politics Conference in Oxford
Social Activism in the Amazon

Social Activism in the Amazon

Social activism is strong in Santarém, a city of nearly 300.000 habitants in the North of Brazil, the Amazon region. Mainly driven by a group of media activists, they aim at the appropriation of alternative technology throughout the Amazon.
By ellen sluis on 05/18/10 1

Brazilian culture is free, collaborative and participatory

After only a few days in São Paulo, I could already feel the Brazilian creativity, inventiveness, the passion for free culture, collaboration, FLOSS, and alternative technology. They are positive, optimistic and embrace digital technologies for their changing and empowering...
By ellen sluis on 05/10/10 3

(Re)organizing NGOs: An Open Information System

Projeto Alavanca is one of the many NGOs in Brazil that aim at social and digital inclusion of underprivileged people. What distinguishes them from other organizations is their current project; the development of a set of web-based applications that...
By ellen sluis on 03/07/10 2

Towards Digital Inclusion: Gathering, Digesting and Creating ICTs

‘Problems are not a monopoly of the South and solutions are not a monopoly of the North’. Particularly the latter part of this quote struck me, since within many studies on developmental aid and ICT4D (Information and Communication Technology...
By ellen sluis on 02/16/10 8

The Digital Revolution vs. the Cuban Revolution?

‘ since information wants to be free, then so do the people who have it - setting the stage for a titanic political struggle between the last Soviet-style dictatorship in the world and the first Internet insurgency. Call it...
By ellen sluis on 11/11/09 Comments Off on The Digital Revolution vs. the Cuban Revolution?

Fear And Leisure In São Paulo

A few weeks ago I watched Richard Williams’ lecture about ‘Architecture and Economies of Violence in São Paulo’ as part of the workshop ‘Globalization and Violence’. It doesn’t have to do so much with new media in particular but...
By ellen sluis on 10/29/09 Comments Off on Fear And Leisure In São Paulo

One Laptop Per Child; Is That Enough?

Isn’t it ironic that we’re trying to reduce the digital inequality and poverty with ICT, while it is the ICT that caused and augments this digital divide? We’re using technology to solve the problems it has caused…
By ellen sluis on 10/13/09 Comments Off on One Laptop Per Child; Is That Enough?

Twitter: Public Space or Public Sphere?

Internet kills writing? According to Andrea Lunsford, researcher at the Stanford University, it is totally the other way around. There is an immense increase of people starting to write and digital writing is the biggest revolution in writing since...
By ellen sluis on 10/06/09 3

Facebook, Connecting and Controlling People

Facebook connects people. Not a very new phenomenon, but the amount of people using the social network increases every day and so does the amount of information people show and share with (too many?) others.
By ellen sluis on 09/28/09 Comments Off on Facebook, Connecting and Controlling People

‘Useless Content’ – Part 2

This week assignment for New Media Practices was writing an Wikipedia entry. Although this clarified a lot about Wikipedia and its policies, the job caused me a lot of frustration. I wrote an entry about the Brazilian NGO I...
By ellen sluis on 09/22/09 Comments Off on ‘Useless Content’ – Part 2

‘Useless Content’ – Part 1

‘Wikipedia is not a valid source’. That’s a common critique on the online encyclopedia. Erin Harty from the University of Idaho stresses that the information on Wikipedia doesn’t have any academic background and that it ‘is not really an...
By ellen sluis on 09/22/09 Comments Off on ‘Useless Content’ – Part 1

Book Review of Cyber Racism – Jessie Daniels, 2009

I realize the commonly held view that abortion is murder and that white women should be having children instead of aborting them. However, black women are much more likely to have abortions than white women. (...) Those fetuses that...
By ellen sluis on 09/12/09 Comments Off on Book Review of Cyber Racism – Jessie Daniels, 2009