Berkeley Human Rights Center GTUG June Meetup

Welcome to the crew.

You are something special, someone who wants to use our everyday tools to make the world a better place. You might be interested in human rights, or you might be interested in participating in a Google Technology User Group with a mission. Whoever you might be, whatever your skill level, you are welcome to learn, to teach, and to make things that are just plain cool. Bring your skills, bring your heart and help us develop the tool necessary to change the world. RSVP to the next Meet-Up.

The Human Rights Center investigates war crimes and other serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. Our empirical studies recommend specific policy measures to hold perpetrators accountable, protect vulnerable populations, and help rebuild war-torn societies.

We used to do this with paper. Now we do it with ones and zeroes. We are pioneering methods to change the way that research and communication are used to promote Human Rights.

As an example, researching transitional justice in Uganda we programmed PDAs to take survey data and trained local Acoli speakers to take interviews. We completed thousands of surveys in record time, were able to review data in almost real time, and produced reliable information by removing errors-prone data entry steps. With this proof of concept tested in the field,

This is a Google Technology User Group, so the focus will be on using Android, Wave, App Engine, Web Toolkit, Ajax, etc. Free and Open Source is important so that technologies we develop can be used and modified by anyone.

We will be meeting on Berkeley Campus, at the Human Rights Center (depending on the numbers).