Creating a movement around digital change in Latin America
Tactical Tech interviewed Soledad Magnone, director of JAAKLAC, who shared insights into the work of the organisation and the collaboration with Tactical Tech. 
Logo courtesy of JAAKLAC
Tactical Tech: How do you imagine a different digital future?
Soledad Magnone: I imagine a future in which the digital ecosystem is framed by human rights and centred on our younger generations, especially from the Majority World. This would be manifested by implementing policies, programmes and practices on critical digital education that foster the protection and active participation of children, adolescents and youth.
TT: What is the JAAKLAC's mission?
SM: JAAKLAC aims at bridging digital divides in learning that are defining our information society and amplifying a social inequality crisis worldwide. To this end, the initiative advocates for a quality education tuned with the challenges and opportunities of the digital age. Through collaborative projects, JAAKLAC designs and researches the possibilities of Critical Digital Education (CDE), which nurtures individuals’ understanding of how technologies affect societies and the environment and promotes collective action to manifest fairer digital societies.
TT: Could you share some insights into the collaboration with Tactical Tech?
SM: Tactical Tech has a wealth of resources on digital security, privacy, misinformation and well-being in accessible formats and various languages. The main strengths of these resources pertain to their design in collaboration with partners of diverse backgrounds from around the world. Resources such as the Data Detox Kit, What the Future Wants and the Glass Room have been instrumental in implementing JAAKLAC’s projects. These have been used to (a) facilitate discussions around the implications of digital technologies, (b) present practical solutions accessible to broader audiences, and (c) inspire communities to build upon Tactical Tech’s materials and start alternative initiatives.
TT: What essential collaboration results would you like to highlight?
SM: In recent years, we have collaborated with Tactical Tech to implement social media campaigns and ideate plans for community exhibitions in Latin America with and for youth. We have raised awareness and facilitated educational resources on various pressing issues in the region stemming from the intersections between human rights and digital technologies. Secondly, the projects enabled a platform for Latin American digital rights organisations to co-create with schools and youth groups. Finally, the projects have encouraged young people and civil society organisations to reimagine and better tailor Tactical Tech’s resources towards the region’s values, wants and needs.
About the Saga Detox de Datos Online
Saga Detox de Datos Latine is a continuation of the work that began with Detox de Datos Latinx in the previous year. This time, JAAKLAC invited digital rights and cybersecurity activists from across the region to work with youth and educational organizations to develop the resource. They ran workshops focusing on co-creation. The results are creative and mesmerizing visuals and stories that engage readers in privacy, security, and well-being in unique and memorable ways.
Overview of Saga Detox de Datos Latine, courtesy of JAAKLAC
You can read more about the campaign at this link. Watch explanatory videos in their YouTube playlist.
TT: How did your project and the partnership make a difference?
SM: JAAKLAC’s strategy and activities are aimed at elaborating CDE practices and showcasing pathways to inspire policymakers, technologists, researchers and activists to collaborate with children and youth. For this, JAAKLC’s projects comprised a roadmap of activities for youth and organisations to Share, Learn and Do It Together. These entailed a series of online workshops (Oficinas) and other hands-on activities that were dedicated to recognising participants’ lived experiences and diverse viewpoints around the harms and benefits emerging from the digital ecosystem. The Oficinas are spaces for horizontal dialogue that prototype multi-stakeholder digital governance centred on children, adolescents and youth. In this sense, Tactical Tech’s partnerships have supported advancement in the co-design and outreach of this approach and activities in Latin America.
TT: Why is it essential to continue these collaborations and partnerships?
SM: Tactical Tech’s partnerships support effectively tailoring and disseminating educational resources dedicated to issues and groups consistently overlooked in global digital agendas. These cooperations have been fundamental to nurturing synergies between the knowledge and projects of Tactical Tech and organisations from different geographies and backgrounds. The collaborations have represented significant contributions to Tactical Tech’s initiatives beyond efforts to translate resources. These have opened up opportunities to repurpose the resources and bring about creative ideas that boost global movements by and for those most acutely affected by the shortcomings of digital solutions and manifest a material change.
Find out more about JAAKLAC Iniciativa and Causas Digitales.