Hello! My name is Pia and I’m a graduate student in the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University. The image above is a visualization of the possibilities of Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) for emergency communications, which, is the subject of my thesis.

The theme of this class is especially interesting to me because of my work with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Though my work with UAVs is in the humanitarian context, conversations always come up regarding surveillance and privacy. I am excited to work on a project that can empower targeted communities and underrepresented demographics.

What will be interesting to see is the impact of the online and offline efforts of The Day We Fight Back campaign. The scorecard blog post was interesting because it defined some metrics as to what success would look like.

It was amusing to see the DIY project tutorials inspired by the campaign on the Make website. I thought it was one of the more unique ways of participating.