Notes from the Field: CCLP Researcher Shares Trafficking Update from Vietnam

Researcher Zhaleh Boyd is conducting a fact-finding mission in Vietnam in conjunction with the CCLP Technology and Trafficking in Persons initiative. Boyd, a 2010 Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellow, reports in from the mid-way point of her trip on her latest findings on human trafficking in Asia and the Pacific Rim. —————————————————————————————— I have just completed the first week of my 16-day research trip to Vietnam. This week was spent in the Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam's boomtown. L-R: Mark Preston, Candace Burnham, Jerry Edling, and Zhaleh Boyd standing at the entrance to the US Consulate in……

Tech@State

The Center on Communication Leadership & Policy's Research Director, Mark Latonero, along with senior fellows, Jeremy Curtin and Adam Clayton Powell III, participated in the Tech@State Conference on Civil Society 2.0, which took place from November 4-5, 2010, at the US Department of State and World Bank in Washington, D.C. The conference was organized around several themes: transparency and engagement, economic opportunity, the position of science, technology, and the environment, risk management in disaster zones, and the structure and status of civil society in frail states. Several notable speakers highlighted the conference. Alec Ross, Senior Advisor for Innovation, Office of……

Communication technology serves as a rare bright spot in Haitian recovery, CCLP research trip finds

The Republic of Haiti continues to struggle in its recovery efforts following the devastating January 2010 earthquake, but information and communication technologies are among the few infrastructure bright spots in the country, based on the observations from a recent fact-finding trip, in which the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) participated. CCLP Research Director Mark Latonero, who was selected for the week-long research project because of his work in communication technology and emergency management, found that cell phones and text messages were critical tools for sharing information about recovery efforts in the earthquake ravaged country. "Port-au-Prince still……

Anti-Trafficking Forum Highlights Need for Global Information Sharing Platform

International nonprofit organizations are gaining ground in the fight against human trafficking, but would be better served with the development of an information sharing platform, a team of researchers from the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy confirmed after a two day conference in Yorba Linda, Calif. Led by CCLP Research Director Mark Latonero, the team participated in the Global Forum on Human Trafficking, an international symposium hosted by a San Francisco based anti-trafficking non-profit. "This conference reinforced the findings from our August fact-finding mission to the Mekong sub-region," explained Latonero, who led the research initiative in Cambodia and Thailand…….