In environments where information is under constant threat of censorship and erasure, decentralized storage offers a vital tool for journalists and activists. Journalists and activists in the Mekong river delta region face these threats due to a growing nexus between governments and social media platforms and the shrinking space for open media. 

This webinar, hosted by digi-cnx in collaboration with TechSoup, will explore how decentralized technologies can safeguard critical evidence, ensure secure access to information, and protect digital archives from authoritarian suppression.

Researcher Adam Rose (joining online) will showcase how decentralized tools and innovative frameworks have been used in high-profile investigations, including a groundbreaking Rolling Stone archive that helped reopen a 30-year-old cold case. The session will examine how similar technologies can support efforts to document human rights violations, preserve journalistic integrity, and protect at-risk digital evidence. Adam Rose is COO of the Starling Lab for Data Integrity, an academic research center co-founded by Stanford and USC.

The event will be hybrid.
Participants may join online or in person at Alt Chiang Mai. We have limited spots for the inperson gathering. Please register to secure a spot. All participants must register here.
Scroll to the bottom for the agenda.

Why Decentralized Storage Matters for Activists and Journalists

For those reporting on or advocating against oppressive regimes, access to secure and tamper-proof storage is critical. Decentralized storage offers key benefits:

• Immutability and Permanence: Protect vital records from tampering and ensure their survival even under censorship.

• Resilience Against Censorship: Store data across a distributed network, reducing the risk of deletion by centralized authorities.

• Enhanced Security: Utilize cryptographic verification to maintain trust in digital archives.

• Community Ownership: Empower journalists and human rights defenders to maintain control over sensitive information.

• Decentralized Access: Ensure restricted materials remain accessible to those who need them, even in highly censored regions.

What You’ll Learn

Participants will gain:

• A foundational understanding of decentralized storage technologies

• Insights into real-world use cases, including investigative journalism and human rights documentation.

• Strategies for securely storing, verifying, and sharing sensitive digital evidence.

• Practical knowledge on implementing decentralized storage in high-risk environments.

Participants will also learn more about Cultural Memory Lab Fellowship with the opportunity to receive between $2,000 to $5,000 in funding, enabling teams to explore inventive applications of decentralized technologies in their ongoing cultural memory work.

Join us to explore how decentralized storage can empower investigative reporting, protect human rights documentation, and ensure the resilience of critical information against censorship. 

If you have any questions or concerns write to Dev at hello@digicnx.network 

All participants must register here.

Hands-On Workshop

This workshop is part of a two-part series designed to help civil society organizations understand decentralized technologies. The follow-up event is an In-Person, Hands-On Implementation Workshop. More details will be shared soon.

This event is supported by an award from the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web.

Public Good App House is a project of Caravan Studios, a division of TechSoup.

digi-cnx:network for digital commons s a local Chiang Mai network committed to dialogue and research on how digital technologies are impacting both people and our planet.