Introducing myself and my journal: Acceso Libre

About Me:
Hi! I'm Marianne Diaz, a lawyer, writer and activist with a strong focus on the issues of online freedom of speech, net neutrality and access to culture and information. As a lawyer, I have a background on gender issues and I have been always deeply concerned with the equality of opportunities for women; I even wanted to devote my career to the issue but alas, one only gets a life to live. However, my work as an advocate for digital rights, free and open culture has led me to be concerned with the specific issue of women in technology. I myself am not a programmer, but I'm trying to learn how to code, and it strikes me as offensive and worrying that even while we might be passionated and deeply involved with something as abstract as programming, we are often seen as intruders or phoney only because we are not men. I'd like, from my field of work, help changing that.
I'm currently working with my NGO, AccesoLibre, on building an open online academy for teaching tools and tips on digital security, aimed primarily to activists and lawyers in my country -Venezuela- which is going through difficult times on the matter of freedom of speech, and also for everyone who has access to the Web, so they can help to protect themselves while online: I think this will be a tool for empowerment and freedom, and I am very excited about this project.

My Passions:
literature, culture, technology, freedom, learning new things

My Challenges:
building our open online academy and getting it ready to work!

My Vision for the Future:
open, free and multicultural

My Areas of Expertise:
law, copyright, freedom of speech, editing and publishing