Activist web.When it comes to research, activists often don't have enough. Activism is fast-paced and under-resourced. Research, on the other hand, can feel slow and expensive, so it often gets second priority. But when critical information emerges too late, we quietly complain, if only I had known this sooner. The DataCenter's new website (www.datacenter.org) will help organizations avoid this pain. DataCenter.org reflects nearly 25 years of experience helping organizers and activists get the best information, in the most efficient and effective way possible, before making critical decisions. Many of you know the DataCenter. We began in 1977 as the Investigative Resource Center, a small library in downtown Oakland Downtown Oakland is the central business district in Oakland, California. This part of town is bounded, depending on the definition used by either Interstate 880 or the Oakland Estuary on the southwest, Interstate 980 on the northwest, Grand Avenue on the northeast and Lake Merritt where activists could do research on corporations, plant closures, the military industrial complex, and foreign policy, especially in Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. . Over the years, we grew into a national organization that has provided customized research services and training to thousands of activists. As one example, a national environmental justice campaign wanted the Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and (EPA EPA eicosapentaenoic acid. EPA abbr. eicosapentaenoic acid EPA, n.pr See acid, eicosapentaenoic. EPA, n. ) to release a report admitting to the sources and dangerous health effects of dioxin dioxin Aromatic compound, any of a group of contaminants produced in making herbicides (e.g., Agent Orange), disinfectants, and other agents. Their basic chemical structure consists of two benzene rings connected by a pair of oxygen atoms; when substituents on the rings are , an industry-produced toxin toxin, poison produced by living organisms. Toxins are classified as either exotoxins or endotoxins. Exotoxins are a diverse group of soluble proteins released into the surrounding tissue by living bacterial cells. that poisons communities of color not of the white race; - commonly meaning, esp. in the United States, of negro blood, pure or mixed. See also: Color disproportionately. But many worried that the EPA-appointed committee in charge of reviewing and releasing the report would drag its heels. DataCenter research showed that some committee members had ties to polluting pol·lute tr.v. pol·lut·ed, pol·lut·ing, pol·lutes 1. To make unfit for or harmful to living things, especially by the addition of waste matter. See Synonyms at contaminate. 2. industries, Using this research, activists effectively muted the report's opponents and convinced neutral committee members to support the report. We hope our new site helps you create systems to discover critical information like this early in your campaigns. It features tips on research planning, target research, and using the web, including our Ten Step Campaign Research Process. The ten steps are designed to make research--whether done in-house or out-sourced to groups like the DataCenter--an organic part of your campaign process. The site also has an indexed, regularly updated guide to useful research websites. This includes a link to CorpWatch's web-based corporate research guide (http://www.corpwatch.org/research/guide/). DataCenter.org will be regularly updated with tips, tricks, and tools that our researchers have tried and tested along the way. To keep up with these updates, you can sign up for our new listserv on the site as well. Strategic information can move us forward more effectively, but only if we learn to capture it. We hope DataCenter.org helps you learn. The DataCenter provides impact research for social justice. Ryan Pintado-Vertner, "Activist Web." Ryan is co-director of the DataCenter, a national research organization based in Oakland. He is also a writer, and is working on his first novel. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion