Glitch and Tech Pushing Forward
Nobody can miss the new forms of activism and organizing that are taking shape around the world, especially in the wake of the immigration ban recently enacted in the United States.
We’re heartened to see that activists have begun to embrace Glitch as an easy, lightweight way to collaborate around making tools that can make a difference. Case in point: Tech Forward.
Tech Forward, built on Glitch, is an app that lists forward-thinking organizations, tools, and resources. Created by Matt Stauffer, a self-proclaimed ‘race/ethnicity/justice nerd’, Tech Forward’s aim is to help connect those motivated to help work for social progress, with tools and the organizations already doing it.
“You’ve probably said it,” says Stauffer. “I’m a technologist. I know I can work for change the same as everyone — call my senator, donate to the causes that matter, protest. But what can I uniquely do?” Well, “there are dozens of ways you can get involved; organizations to join, tools to contribute to, and resources to take advantage of” and Tech Forward can help you discover them.
But Tech Forward isn’t the only activism app created on Glitch. Just this weekend, Ben Salinas, disappointed by Senator John Cornyn’s inaction on the immigration ban, created an app to raise that issue: https://cornynstatement.glitch.me
Meanwhile, Joe Larson made a project to help tweet the latest changes from StayWoke’s Resistance Manual: https://resistance-manual-tweeter.glitch.me
And Roland Crosby has created both https://nominations.glitch.me and https://bernie.glitch.me. The latter went viral, and was picked up by reporters at MSNBC, Washington Post, as well as blogs like BoingBoing.
Gomix’ collaborative features have come into play as well. We don’t make you develop alone, it’s easy to come together and create apps with others. The result of which, are apps like https://action-inbox.glitch.me.
An idea from Ann Friedman was jumped on by like-minded folks who quickly began creating an app in real-time, with people contributing ideas, code and designs.
It’s a great example of how technology can help us come together. So while turbulent political times continue to test our resolve, we’re excited that Glitch can in some small way help people find their voice and encourage action on causes they believe in.
Glitch provides working example apps to remix, a code editor to modify them, instant hosting and deployment, so anybody can build a web app for a cause they’re passionate about.
What are you going to build?