Between the Bars
Between the Bars is a blogging platform for one out of every 142 Americans---prisoners---that makes it easy to blog on paper, using standard postal mail. It consists of software tools to make it easy to upload PDF scans of letters, crowd-sourced transcriptions of the scanned images, and the usual full-featured blogging tools including comments, tagging, RSS feeds, and notifications for friends and family when new posts are available.
We are designing this system for prisoners in the US, a growing population that is routinely denied access to broadcast media. We hope that prisoners will be able to use this platform to tell their stories, to maintain social connections to the outside world, and to retain a sense of identity and humanity through the process of their incarceration.
Source code will be freely available in a public repository, as well as documentation on how to use the code.
Comments
Wow! That's a novel idea. You will get to hear from the other side of the bar. Will it have options to send the feedback/comments back to the author through a paper copy or as an audio version?
I see the potential of this project. You could use this in poor countries where many people cannot blog in their local languages due to browser language support and other technical limitations. You could use this system to get the word out. I am interested is exploring further when the all the features of the software are made public.
Shampion
I wish it would be a lot of people involved in this kind of projects.. behind the bars..
Good luck!
Maria
How can I get involved? Do you need people from afar (Philadelphia area) to help in any way? Please write sblack@asc.upenn.edu
I just came across your post on PTO, and thought it was interesting, because I am publishing a blog for an inmate who was recently incarcerated. We both thought it would be a good idea to allow people on the outside to be able to read about what his experience is like, as well as allow his friends and family to keep updated on how he is doing. If you'd like to follow the blog, or perhaps even refer to it or use it in your project, you can find it at http://andysprisontime.blogspot.com/ or email me at andysprison@yahoo.com
I have some valuable info that could be helpful on this project. You can email me at bwgood87@yahoo.com
Wondering if there's an application for rural, aging and native populations who also lack online access...