New Media Action Lab (MIT NMAL)

New Media Action Lab is devoted to carrying out research initiatives in developing countries that are seeking solutions provided by new media and information technology to alleviate the symptoms of the digital divide and to enrich the communication capability of target population.

We work with non profit organizations and communities to improve the ICT (Information & Communication Technology) literacy of members associated with them.

Through customized solutions, we assist the government in educating those living in low income and rural areas to take full advantage of state-sponsored universal services (such as China’s From Village to Village Project).

We work with domestic and transnational corporations to raise their consciousness of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and to help advance their commitment to social giving.

We work with higher education institutions in the countries of the developing world, especially university ICT labs, to design tools and software applications to serve the specific needs of targeted disenfranchised communities.

NMAL emphasize the necessity of integrating academic theories into social practice and uphold the importance of on-the-ground implementation.

In spring 2009, a new page of this research initiative was turned. During her sabbatical leave in Beijing, Professor Jing Wang, the founder and organizer of MIT Critical Policy Studies of China (CPSC), launched an NGO 2.0 Project (“Chinese NGOs in the Web 2.0 Environment”) in collaboration with Professor Zhou Rongting at the University of Science and Technology of China, Ogilvy & Mather in Beijing, and three Chinese NGOs (e.g., NGO Communication Net, Friends of Nature, and Center of Citizen and Social Development at Sun Yat-sen University). The previously named “MIT International Committee of Critical Policy Studies of China” was changed to New Media Action Lab (NMAL) to indicate this new research direction.

The NGO 2.0 Project (公益组织2.0) was funded by Ford Foundation Beijing and launched on May 25, 2009. It marked the beginning of NMAL’s engagement in integrating academic theories, social practice, and technological experiments. We prioritize practice over theory and are committed to serving social and educational communities in China through innovative ICT (Information and Communication Technology).

NGO 2.0 Project (“Chinese NGOs in the Web 2.0 Environment”): 2009-2011

The overall goal of the NGO project is to introduce Web 2.0 tools and at the same time improve the ICT literacy of NGOs in rural China. Second, this project will build a social networking platform through which a scalable communication infrastructure for NGOs in Western and central regions of China will be established. This platform can be eventually repurposed to serve other socially marginalized groups in the country. Simultaneously, Web 2.0 training workshops are held in four different sites in Western and central parts of China.

Why Web 2.0? -- Why are digital media and Web 2.0 vital to the NGOs in underdeveloped regions of China? China's NGOs have developed rapidly in the past ten years across thematic fields. However, under the current political and socio-economic climate, small, mid-sized, and emerging NGOs encountered a bottleneck of growth for a number of reasons. First, Chinese government showed little interest in encouraging non-governmental led civic media participation. Second, most of those NGOs are not registered although the local government is aware of their existence. They are not illegal but are constrained in acquiring resources and in having their voices heard by the rest of Chinese society. They rely heavily on alternative media to recruit new members, organize their activities, and increase the social awareness of the cause they are promoting.

Driven by open source software and network effects, Web 2.0 can serve as a perfect alternative medium through which NGOs can reach out to old and potential new constituents at little cost. Our project is aimed at building the technological capacity of targeted NGOs. ICT and new media technology, particularly 2.0, constitutes the focus of this project.

Targets -- During the first phase of this project, our targets are small and mid-sized NGOs in West China. During the second phase, our project will expand to include NGOs in central China.