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Liberation Technology in Authoritarian Regimes October 11‐12, 2010

Bechtel Conference Center, Encina Hall,

Conference Attendees’ Bios

Esra’a Al Shafei, MideastYouth.com Esra'a Al Shafei is the founder and Executive Director of MideastYouth.com, a grassroots, indigenous digital network that leverages the power of new media to facilitate the struggle against oppression in the Middle East and North Africa. She is a recipient of the Berkman Award from Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society for "outstanding contributions to the internet and its impact on society," and is currently a TED Fellow and an Echoing Green Fellow. Most recently, her project won a ThinkSocial Award for serving as a "powerful model for how social media can be used to address global problems."

Walid Al‐Saqaf, Yemen Portal Walid AL‐SAQAF is a Yemeni activist, software engineer and scholar concerned with studying Internet censorship around the world, but with a special focus on the Middle East. During 1999‐ 2005, he held the position of publisher and editor‐in‐chief of Yemen Times, which was founded by his father in 1990 and since 2009, he has been a PhD candidate at Örebro University in Sweden, where he also teaches online investigative journalism. In 2010, he won a TED fellowship and the Democracy award of Örebro University for his research and activism in promoting access to information and for fighting cyber censorship. Among his notable works is Yemen Portal (https://yemenportal.net), which is a news aggregator focused on content on Yemen and alkasir (https://alkasir.com), a unique censorship circumvention software solution that allows Internet users around the world to access websites blocked by regimes.

Hicham Ben Abdallah, Stanford University Hicham Ben Abdallah is a visiting scholar at Stanford’s Center for Democracy, Development and Rule of Law with an interest in the politics of the transition from authoritarianism to democracy. He has written extensively on that and related subjects pertaining to the Arab world in journals such as , Le Monde Diplomatique, Politique Internationale, and Al‐Hyat. He has also lectured in 2 numerous universities and think tanks in North America and Europe. His work for the advancement of peace and conflict resolution has brought him to Kosovo as a special Assistant to Bernard Kouchner, and to Nigeria and Palestine as an election observer with the . He is also an entrepreneur with interests in agriculture, real estate, and renewable energies. His company, Al Tayyar Energy, has a number of clean energy projects in Asia and Europe. His latest project is the development of an eco‐city in Morocco.

Bob Boorstin, , Inc. Bob Boorstin is a Director of Public Policy in the Washington D.C. office of Google, where he focuses on global promotion of online free expression. Mr. Boorstin previously worked for the Center for American Progress, where he founded the national security programs, and served in the Clinton administration for seven years. He began his professional life as a journalist and has also worked in public opinion research and political communications.

Daniel Calingaert, Daniel Calingaert oversees Freedom House's civil society and media programs worldwide. He is a frequent contributor to policy and media discussions on democracy issues, including internet freedom, elections, authoritarian regimes, and government policy to support democracy. He previously was Professorial Lecturer at American University, Associate Director of American University's Center for Democracy and Election Management, and Associate Director of the Commission on Federal Election Reform. Dr. Calingaert has served as Director for Asia and as Deputy Director for Eastern Europe at the International Republican Institute, where he designed and managed a wide range of programs to promote democracy. Dr. Calingaert began his career as a researcher at the RAND Corporation and later directed programs of the Civic Education Project to reform social science education at universities across Eastern Europe and Eurasia.

Farhad Cavard, EHESS Farhad Khosrokhavar is professor at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in , . His main fields of study are contemporary Iran and Islam, in particular its radical forms in Europe and the Middle East. He was a Yale Visiting Scholar in Winter 2008 and a Harvard Visiting Scholar in Winter 2009. His latest books are: Muslims in Prison : a comparative perspective between Great Britain and France (with James Beckford and Danièle Joly), Palgrave, , 2005; Suicide Bombers, The New Martyrs of Allah (translation from French), Pluto Press, 2005; Quand Al Qaeda Parle: témoignages derrière les barreaux, Grasset, Paris, 2006. Inside Jihadism (Yale Cultural Sociology Series), Paradigm Publishers, 2009; Etre jeune dans le pays des ayatollahs (in cooperation with Amir Nikpey), Robert Laffont Publishers, Paris, 2009.

Samlanchith Chanthavong, National Endowment for Democracy Sam Chanthavong is the program officer for multiregional and global programs at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). She manages grants to civil society organizations implementing 3 projects in a variety of areas, including human rights, women's empowerment, and independent media development. Sam has also been conducting research at the NED on the role of information and communication technology in fostering and strengthening democracy. Prior to joining the NED in 2006, she worked in the Asia division of the American Bar Association’s rule of law initiative. She holds an MA in international affairs from American University.

Premish Chandran, Malaysiakini.com Pramesh Chandran is the co‐founder and Chief Executive Officer of Malaysiakini.com, an independent news media organization in Malaysia. He leads the technology and business sections of Malaysiakini. He also leads the Southeast Asia Centre for E‐media, a non‐profit division of Malaysiakini that aims to assist online media in the region. Malaysiakini has been recognized through various awards and accolades, including from the International Press Institute, Reporters Sans Frontiers, Committee to Protect Journalists, Asiaweek and Businessweek. Pramesh has previously worked as a journalist and a labor researcher. He holds a degree in Physics and a Masters degree in International Studies.

Dorothy Chou, Google, Inc. Dorothy Chou is a Policy Analyst at Google, where she focuses primarily on global content and free expression issues.

Joshua Cohen, Stanford University Joshua Cohen is a political theorist, trained in philosophy. He has written extensively on issues of democratic theory, particularly on deliberative democracy and its implications for issues of personal liberty, freedom of expression, electoral finance, and new forms of associative and direct‐ democratic participation. More recently, he has been writing on issues of global justice, including the foundations of human rights, distributive fairness, and supra‐national democratic governance, and is co‐coordinator, with MIT's Richard Locke, of the Just Supply Chains project. Professor Cohen comes to Stanford University from MIT where he was a professor of philosophy and political science, and chair of both departments. He has also been, since 1991, editor of Boston Review.

Ron Deibert, University of Toronto Ron Deibert is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Citizen at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto. The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary research and development hothouse working at the intersection of the Internet, global security, and human rights. He is a co‐founder and a principal investigator of the OpenNet Initiative and Information Warfare Monitor projects. Deibert was one of the founders and (former) VP of global policy and outreach for Psiphon Inc. and a founder of SecDev.cyber. Deibert has published numerous articles, chapters, and three books on issues related technology, media, and world politics. 4

Larry Diamond, Stanford University Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the and FSI; a professor of political science and sociology, by courtesy; and director of CDDRL. He is a specialist on democratic development and regime change and on U.S. foreign policy affecting democracy abroad. His research examines comparative trends in the quality and stability of democracy in developing countries and post‐ communist states, and public opinion in new democracies. During 2002‐2003, he has served as consultant to the U.S. Agency for International Development and is also a Senior Consultant for the International Forum for Democratic Studies of the National Endowment for Democracy. During the first three months of 2004, Diamond served as a senior adviser on governance to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, and he has also advised and lectured to the World Bank, the United Nations, the State Department, and other governmental and nongovernmental agencies dealing with governance and development. His latest book, The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World (Times Books, 2008), explores the sources of global democratic progress and stress and the prospects for future democratic expansion.

Troy Etulian, USAID In his current role as a World Learning Democracy Fellow, Troy Etulain serves as a technical advisor for media development programs with a specific focus on rural areas. He provides training to media managers in these locations for the purpose of improving e‐governance programs which support media laws and the legal defense of the media. Most recently, Troy served as a correspondent for Bloomberg News covering political, social, and economic news events in Georgia and Armenia. He has also served as a Country Director for the InterNews Network managing media development projects in Tajikistan. Troy received his MA in Law and Diplomacy from Tufts University. He speaks Russian, German and Spanish.

Nathan Frietas, University A mobile software developer, entrepreneur and activist, Nathan Freitas now leads Project, an effort to build secure, open‐source mobile solutions for activists, journalists and human rights organizations. As an entrepreneur, Nathan co‐developed, and later sold to Palm, Inc., a patented mobile software platform competitive with the RIM Blackberry Enterprise Server. As an activist, Nathan has been involved with the work of Students for a Free Tibet for the last decade, and recently helped launch the Tibet Action Institute, an effort to train the next generation of Tibetan leaders in new media technology and strategies of non‐violence. This fall, Nathan is teaching “Social Activism using Mobile Technology”, a graduate course at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunication Program. Learn more at http://openideals.com.

Carl Gershman, National Endowment for Democracy 5

Carl Gershman is President of the National Endowment for Democracy, a private, congressionally supported grant‐making institution with the mission to strengthen democratic institutions around the world through nongovernmental efforts. In addition to presiding over the Endowment's grants program in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and Latin America, he has overseen the creation of the quarterly Journal of Democracy, International Forum for Democratic Studies, and the Reagan‐Fascell Democracy Fellows Program. He also took the lead in launching in New Delhi in 1999 the World Movement for Democracy, which is a global network of democracy practitioners and scholars. Mr. Gershman is currently encouraging other democracies to establish their own foundations devoted to the promotion of democratic institutions in the world.

Hany Ibrahim, El‐Mashreq Foundation Hany Ibrahim, Egypt, is the co‐founder of El‐Mashreq Foundation for Development and Population, an Egyptian NGO, and the founder of the Resources for Development Center (RDC). For the past ten years, Hany has worked with national and international organizations such as CARE International, Catholic Relief Services, and the International Republican Institute. In 2009, he was recognized as one of the Top Ten People Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics by PoliticsOnline and World E‐Democracy Forum for his online creative activities in the areas of voters' education, peace building, and anticorruption.

Ishimaru Jiro, Rimjin‐gana Magazine Ishimaru Jiro is the founder and editor of Rimjin‐gang, a magazine featuring reports and photography by North Koreans in North Korea. Originally from Japan, Jiro has served as the office representative for ASIAPRESS in Osaka. He studied in Seoul for two and a half years, then traversed the entire 1400 kilometer China‐North Korean border. He has made reports from inside North Korea three times, and been to the border region more than seventy times, interviewing more than 700 North Korean citizens. Since 2002, he has been supporting the development of journalists within North Korea. In 2007, he first published News from Inside North Korea as chief editor of Rimjin‐gang. The first English edition of Rimjin‐gang was published in October of this year.

Mary Joyce, Meta‐activism.org Mary Joyce is the founder of the Meta‐Activism project, which has the goal of strengthening the field of digital activism by encouraging collaborative and reflective knowledge‐building among thought leaders. Her first book, an anthology called Digital Activism Decoded, was published in the summer of 2010. She acted as New Media Operations Manager for President Obama’s campaign. While pursuing a Master of in Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, she served as a research assistant for the Internet & Democracy Project at the Berkman Center. She is the co‐founder of DigiActive.org, a community blog whose goal is to inform grassroots activists of how to use digital technology to achieve social and political change. She is also the founder and principal of ZapBoom digital activism consulting, and blogs at ZapBoom.com.

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Oleg Kozlovsky, Oborona Oleg Kozlovsky is a Russian democracy and civil rights activist. As a leader of Oborona youth movement, he has been an organizer of Dissenters’ Marches, Strategy 31 and other nonviolent protests. He blogs in Russian and in English; his texts have been published by The Washington Post, Huffington Post, and other sources. In recent years, he has been arrested multiple times and even illegally drafted into the army. Kozlovsky received Human Rights Award 2008 from Human Rights First as a “next generation Internet activist”. He holds BSc in Computer Science and MA in Political Science.

Kim Kwang‐Jin, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea Kim Kwang‐Jin, a defector from North Korea, is a senior fellow at the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy in South Korea. Prior to 2004, Mr. Kim lived in North Korea, where he was the Singapore representative of the North East Asia Bank. Previously, Mr. Kim was a professor at Pyongyang Computer College. As a policy researcher, he has written on issues relating to economic policy, banking, exchange rate control, and human rights issues in North Korea. Mr. Kim is also a board member of the Committee for Democratization of North Korea and an adviser to the Association of North Korean Defectors. He has written many papers, including, “After Kim Jong‐il: Can We Hope for Better Human Rights Protection?” (2009), “Kim Jong‐il’s Royal Court and Destruction of the People’s Economy” (2008) and “The Change of North Korea’s Foreign Exchange Control System and its Increasing Dependence on Foreign Currency” (2008).

Hugo Landa, CubaNet News Hugo Landa came to the in 1980 and has lived in Miami since 1987. He has been the director of CubaNet News, Inc. since 2007. Founded in 1994, CubaNet is a resource in which independent journalists in write about firsthand accounts of social issues they face on the ground, including problems with repression, food shortages, housing, unemployment and poorly equipped schools. There are 24 independent journalists incarcerated by the Cuban government and the ones that are not in prison are constantly harassed and detained. In his position as director, Landa is responsible for maintaining constant contact and supporting the independent journalists that write for the site, as well as the overall direction of the project. Due to its solid reputation and wide readership, Cuban authorities consider CubaNet one of the most “dangerous counter revolutionary publications” and make every effort to block access to the page from the Island. However, presently more than 25 % of CubaNet’s readers access the page from Cuba.

Namgyal Lhekshey, Tibetan Computer Resource Center 7

Namgyal Llekshey is a the Manager and System Administrator of the Tibetan Computer Resource Center (TCRC) at the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala, India. Llekshey has worked for TCRC in various capacities for more than 10 years. He has trained in information technology in India and the United States.

Nicklas Lundblad, Google, Inc. As Senior Policy Counsel and Head of Public Policy at Google, Dr. Nicklas Lundblad leads a small team of policy experts in analyzing and advising on public policy. He has worked with tech policy since he wrote his first article on the politics of crypto in 1994. Prior to joining Google he was senior executive vice president of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce and co‐founded Swedish current affairs magazine Neo.. He currently serves on the Swedish ICT‐council, advising the Swedish ICT‐minister, works as a member of Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt's reference group on Internet Freedom and has been a member of several corporate and organizational boards. Nicklas was recently elected member of the Royal Engineering Academy in Sweden and is an Eisenhower fellow. In 2009 he was recognized as ICT‐person of the year by Swedish publications Computer Sweden and Affarsvarlden. He holds a B.A. in philosophy, a L.LM and a PhD in applied information technology.

Rebecca MacKinnon, New America Foundation Rebecca MacKinnon is a Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, focusing on global Internet policy. She is writing a book about the future of freedom in the Internet age. MacKinnon is cofounder of Global Voices Online, a global citizen media network. She also serves on the Boards of Directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Global Network Initiative, a multi‐stakeholder initiative to advance principles of freedom of expression and privacy in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, MacKinnon worked as a journalist for CNN in Beijing for nine years, serving as CNN’s Beijing Bureau Chief and Correspondent from 1998‐2001 and then as CNN’s Tokyo Bureau Chief and Correspondent from 2001‐03. From 2004‐06 she was a Research Fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, where she began her study of the Chinese Internet in addition to launching Global Voices Online. In 2007‐08 she served on the faculty of the University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Centre, where she taught online journalism and conducted research on Chinese Internet censorship. In 2009 she continued her research and writing as an Open Society Institute Fellow, and in the Spring of 2010 she was a Visiting Fellow at Princeton’s Center or Information Technology Policy.

Patrick Meier, Stanford University Patrick Meier is a Predoctoral Fellow at CDDRL, a fourth‐year PhD Candidate at The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy and Co‐Director of the Program on Crisis Mapping and Early Warning at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. His dissertation research analyzes the impact of the 8 information revolution on the balance of power between repressive rule and civil resistance. He is particularly interested in how repressive regimes and resistance groups use information communication technologies to further their own strategic and tactical goals. Patrick serves as Director of Crisis Mapping and Strategic Partnerships at Ushahidi and co‐founded the International Network of Crisis Mappers. He is also on the Board of Advisors of DigiActive and Digital Democracy, two leading digital activism and democracy initiatives. Patrick blogs at iRevolution and Early Warning.

Watson Meng, Boxun News Website Watson Meng is the founder of Boxun.com, a U.S.‐based website which has become one of the most important alternative Chinese news sources. Since its launch in 2000, Boxun News ("Abundant News") has published news and stories from China that rarely make it to the pages of the official Chinese press. The site relies mainly on citizen journalists. Before launching Boxun, Meng worked for two multinational countries in China, including as an accountant for Motorola. He studied management of information systems in Rochester, New York.

Laura Mottaz, National Endowment for Democracy Laura Mottaz is project coordinator for the Center for International Media Assistance at the National Endowment for Democracy. She recently graduated with her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in political science from Stanford University. Her honors thesis entitled "New Media, New Democracies" analyzed the role of digital technologies in democratic movements, focusing specifically on the cases of Ukraine and Burma. During her time at Stanford, Laura worked as a research associate at the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law researching external influences on democratization.

Evgeny Morozov, Stanford University Evgeny Morozov is a visiting scholar at CDDRL and a Scwhartz fellow at the New America Foundation. He is also a blogger and contributing editor to Foreign Policy Magazine. He is a former Yahoo fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at and a former fellow at the Open Society Institute, where he remains on the board of the Information Program. His book The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom will be published by PublicAffairs in early January 2011.

Ali Akbar Mousavi, former member of the Iranian Parliament S. Aliakbar Mousavi is the Visiting fellow in Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University and collaborates with NGOs and Universities to develop Internet freedom in Iran. He is the founder and former general secretary of the Iranian Graduates Organization (Advar‐e‐Tahkim) and was a member of the Central Council of the Iranian Students Union (Daftar‐e‐Tahkim‐e‐Vahdat). 9

Aliakabar was also a participant in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), and an establisher of the Prisoners Rights Defense Association. From 2000 to 2004, Aliakbar was a member of the 6th Parliament of Iran where he held several positions including, Deputy of the Parliamentary ICT Committee, Secretary of the Tehran District, Head of Inspecting and Supervising of Prisons, and Member of the Student Movement Caucus.

Xiao Qiang, University of California at Berkeley Xiao Qiang is the Founder and Editor‐in‐Chief of China Digital Times, a bi‐lingual China news website, and an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California at Berkeley. He is also the Principle Investigator of the Counter‐Power Lab, an interdisciplinary faculty‐student research group focusing on the intersection of social media, digital activism and Internet freedom, based in the School of Information,UC Berkeley. Xiao is a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship in 2001, and is profiled in the book Soul Purpose: 40 People Who are Changing the World for the Better (Melcher Media, 2003).

Daniel Schmidt, Bradley Foundation Daniel Schmidt is Vice President for Program and an Officer of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He joined the Bradley Foundation staff in 1985, working as a Program and Senior Program Officer, Vice President for Operations, Executive Vice President and COO, and, from July 2001 to June 2002, served as Acting President. During his years as a member of Bradley’s staff he has been involved with grant making work in the fields of education and social policy reform, gifted education, national defense and security policy issues, and human rights and international affairs. Dr. Schmidt received his educational training from his undergraduate work through his doctoral studies at Marquette University. His Ph.D. is in Modern European History with special emphasis on diplomatic affairs in the nineteenth century. Before joining the Bradley Foundation in 1985, Dr. Schmidt taught Russian History and Western Civilization, and served as Assistant to the Vice President for Academic Affairs at Marquette University.

Gregory Shvedov, Memo.ru Gregory Shvedov is editor‐in‐chief of the 24/7 Internet edition of the Caucasian Knot, Russia, which covers 19 regions in Russia and independent parts of the Caucasus, and has 50 journalists and editors on staff. More than 120,000 materials have been published in Russian and English over the last 7 years. He is responsible for the overall coordination of the Internet edition, trips to the Caucasus, presentations to other journalists and conference fundraising. He is director of the Information AgencyMEMO.RU, Russia, running social marketing campaigns in the regions of Russia. Currently he is coordinating campaigns in North and Central Russia, providing personal expertise to all aspects of the marketing campaign (two monthly news papers, websites, topic guides for the 10 focus groups, scenarios for the talk shows), overall coordination of staff (more than 20 employees), trips, and fundraising.

Lhadon Tethong, Tibet Action Institute Lhadon Tethong is the Director of Tibet Action Institute, an organization committed to the promotion of open‐source technology, strategy and training for Tibetans and their allies. A Tibetan born in Canada, she was the Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet from 2003‐2009 and is one of the most recognizable faces in the Tibetan freedom movement. Ms. Tethong is largely credited with building the modern youth movement for Tibet as well as the success of the innovative global campaign targeting the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Janice Trey, Global Information Freedom Janice Trey is the executive director of Global Information Freedom to inform, connect, and empower the people in closed societies about a free internet via its secured and free software. She has been an executive for Fortune 500 companies and a certified public accountant for a number of years. Her experiences include various leadership roles for a $12 billion diversified enterprise with 47,000 associates globally as well as $50+ billion technology firm including an overseas assignment as the Director of Human Resources Operations for Asia Pacific, overseeing 13 countries. Mrs. Trey is also known for campaigning for civil liberties, humanitarian causes and freedom for the press and internet. She has founded scholarships for students who express freedom and democracy in performing arts and fine arts. She has sponsored radio broadcasting and satellite TV projects to provide uncensored news programs between closed and open societies. She organizes forums, exhibitions and arranges speaking arrangements for freedom defenders and rights advocates.

Katharine Wang, Google Inc. Katharine Wang is a Policy Associate at Google, where she supports the public policy team on a variety of issues including free expression.

Nicole Wong, Google, Inc. Nicole Wong is a Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Google, primarily responsible for the company’s product and regulatory matters. She is a frequent speaker and author on issues related to law and technology, including four appearances before the US Congress regarding internet policy. Nicole also has taught media and internet law courses as an adjunct professor at the University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University and University of . Prior to joining Google, Nicole was a partner at the law firm of Perkins Coie, LLP, where she represented traditional media and “new media” clients, including Hearst Corporation, McClatchy Company, The Los Angeles Times, Walt Disney Company, General Electric, , .com and Yahoo!. Nicole is also a co‐editor of Electronic Media and Privacy Law Handbook (2003), which is now a collaborative digital treatise maintained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and students at Boalt Hall School of Law (see http://ilt.eff.org). Nicole has served on the Governing Committee of 11 the ABA Communications Law Forum since 2001 and on the Board of Directors of the First Amendment Coalition since 2007. She previously served as a co‐chair of the Practising Law Institute’s Internet Law Institute from 2001‐04, and as a member of the San Francisco Sunshine Task Force from 1997‐98. She was one of the founders and the first editor‐in‐chief of the Asian Law Journal. Nicole received her law degree and a Master’s degree in Journalism from the University of California at Berkeley.

Terry Winograd, Stanford University Terry Winograd is a co‐leader of the Liberation Technology program at CDDRL and Professor of Computer Science in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University. His research focus is on human‐computer interaction design, especially theoretical background and conceptual models. He directs the teaching programs and HCI research in the Stanford Human‐Computer Interaction Group, and is also a founding faculty member of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. Prof. Winograd was a founding member and former president of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. He is on a number of journal editorial boards, including Human Computer Interaction, ACM Transactions on Computer Human Interaction, and Informatica. Some of his publications includes Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design (Addison‐ Wesley, 1987) and Usability: Turning Technologies into Tools (Oxford, 1992).

Mehdi Yahyanejad, Balatarin Mehdi Yahyanejad is an entrepreneur and the founder of Balatarin.com. Balatarin was launched in 2006 and is now recognized as the most popular user‐driven news website in Persian. Balatarin played a crucial role in distributing news after the disputed Iranian presidential election. He received his PhD in Physics from MIT and was a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University. For the past 5 years, he has worked on social media initiatives. Currently, he is working on the next generation of online collaboration and citizen journalism tools.

Katie Zoglin, Freedom House Katie Zoglin is a Senior Program Manager for Freedom House’s Middle East and North Africa programs. She has worked in Morocco as Deputy Director of the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Initiative overseeing programs in Morocco and , and previous worked in and Macedonia with the American Bar Association’s Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative. As a Fulbright scholar, Katie conducted human rights work in Paraguay, including research in the “Archive of Terror.” She has taught international human rights at Stanford Law School. Ms. Zoglin has been an author and speaker on topics such as war crimes tribunals, women’s rights, and human rights abuses under military regimes. Katie has twenty years of experience as a prosecutor and civil litigator for local government in California (San Francisco Bay Area). She is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.