I got an email from Laura Schwartz-Henderson on August 8th, 2023, kickstarting my journey with the Advocacy Assembly’s Internet Shutdown Fellowship. I’d tossed in my application on July 15th, the very last day possible. So, imagine my excitement when I found out I was number 20 out of 1040 applicants—putting me right at the top 2%. That was a pretty cool moment.
So, here’s the lowdown on how the whole thing works. It’s all online. Over at the Advocacy Assembly platform, they’ve lined up these courses made by pros. My task is to wrap up one course every week, all about Internet shutdowns. Two months down the line, I’ll have tackled 8 courses in total. After each course, there’s an online chat with the experts. And once I’ve aced all 8 courses at the end of those 2 months, I’ll be diving into some small projects funded by the Advocacy Assembly. Think things like setting up community training, putting together campaigns to spread awareness, figuring out smart legal moves, making tech tools work for the local folks, and teaming up with journalists to report on internet shutdowns.
The big deal about the Advocacy Assembly’s fellowship is to train up activists in a more organized way, to really supercharge the whole movement. So, I did some snooping online and found out that the Advocacy Assembly is run by Small Media. And this is probably the first bunch of folks getting a shot at this program. But there’s not a ton of info out there.
Okay, enough about the program itself. Let me tell you what I’m gunning for and what’s on my plate during this fellowship.
My plan? Write a book all about Internet Shutdowns, but in Burmese. Now, this book isn’t for everyone. It’s aimed right at Myanmar’s Civil Society and Media. The idea is to help them totally get what internet shutdowns are about so they can write even better reports and stories.
Then there’s this other book idea I’m cooking up—for everyone. It’s all about how to stay connected even when the internet taps out. You know, ways to keep the communication flowing. And I’m making sure it’s super easy for anyone to grab a copy. I’m gonna put out PDF versions so it’s always up-to-date and folks can read it straight from their phones.
Oh, and guess what? I’ve been invited by a bunch of community colleges across different parts of Myanmar to teach about Internet Governance. So, my next move is to create a whole plan for that.
Summing it all up, this fellowship has taken all the stuff I know and do in the world of Internet activism and rolled it into one amazing experience.