A Few Things About CDI

That’s my office on the right, where it says CDI.

It’s time I told everyone a little something about where I work. I’m interning for a Brazilian non-profit non-governmental organization called The Committee for Democracy in Information Technology (CDI). Well, that’s how they’ve translated it on their institutional information page. A more direct translation of the name could be The Committee for Democratization of Information Technology. Unfortunately (surreally), I think the word democratization has come to carry some violent connotation in the english speaking world but I’d like to reclaim its peaceful meanings because working for CDI lets me spend my days in a real “positive energy vibe zone.”

Here’s the idea though, information technology is a powerful thing. We always learn about the advent of the printing press as a watershed moment in history, but we don’t always remember that the printing press was the hottest piece of information technology developed at the time. Papyrus was information technology. The chisel used to etch a petroglyph was a piece of information technology. These are the things that allow people to describe what we see, what we think, what we feel, and what we hope.

Now, the computer systems, networks and software that we commonly refer to as IT today allow us to express ourselves in ways we could not have dreamed before. We can say things and broadcast them over the internet, we can draw things and print them in high resolution color, we can write songs and email them to people who will get goosebumps listening, we can find people who are like us, and we can learn about people who are not like us. To me, it’s a beautiful thing. It’s moving. To others it might seem like a waste of time, but I don’t. Because information technology helps bring ideas to life, and as Rodrigo Baggio, the founder of CDI said:

WE STARTED WITH AN IDEA
—Rodrigo Baggio

In 1993, Baggio—then a businessman and computer science instructor in Rio de Janeiro’s private schools—envisioned the use of computers over the Internet as a means of bridging the chasm between Brazil’s rich and poor through communication. After several projects, including Brazil’s first initiative to collect computers for young people living in poor communities, Rodrigo created CDI.

Since then, CDI has implemented educational programs in Brazil and abroad through its Information Technology and Citizens Rights Schools (ITCRSs). Unlike other programs, CDI only implement the ITCRSs with the agreement and in partnership with low-income community centers or indigenous communities. While CDI helps gather computers and train teachers, CDI doesn’t fund the schools, we demand that they sustain themselves and even encourage that they charge their students a nominal fee to ensure that they feel like they own part of the school (a remarkable idea). In addition, CDI works with those with special needs such as the visually impaired, psychiatric patients, homeless children, and prisoners.

Presently, there are 965 autonomous ITCRSs using CDI’s methodology and model concept in Brazil and 8 other countries. As a result of the organization’s work, more than 500,000 children and young people have been trained in information technology and introduced to citizens rights.

I’ve got to go to the mall now to help with the MEGA AJUDA (MEGA HELP!) and encourage people to donate used computers to our cause. I’ll take pictures of the shoppers!