The Al Jazeera network has an interesting story on the the real weapon of mass destruction, the AK-47. If you've worked in a conflict zone you've probably seen and heard it. If you are an aid worker you've probably seen the results of its use. It is the weapon of choice for revolutionaries, dictators, drug lords, and child soldiers.



Part two includes an interview with former child soldier Ishmael Beah, author of "A Long Way Gone".

Tags: weapons

This morning I came across Luis Suarez’s very informative post about micro-blogging in emergencies at elsua.net. His post led me to a great YouTube video by W David Stephenson.


David’s video led me to the American Red Cross’s twitter feed and their Safe and Well feed. Ike Pigott at Occam’s RazR has a great post that explains how Twitter can be used to keep the Safe and Well database up to date.

I left a comment on Ike’s site wondering about how to get the word out to the general public. After all most people wont be reading blogs like this before an emergency. While I was writing this post it occurred to me that Red Cross t-shirts would be the ideal medium. Just include the instructions for how to SMS the Safe and Well feed on the back of the shirt.

Tags: Twitter, Technology, Tools, SMS, Social Networking

NGO in a Box has a Security Edition that includes Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) to aid NGOs in securing and protecting their data and online activities. The package seems ideally suited to human rights, anti-corruption, and womens groups, as well as independent media outlets. Any other group that wants to protect their data from abuse, misuse, and vandalism might want to check it out as well.

Tags: NGO Security, Technology, Software