Heather Ford
Encyclopedia
Heather Ford is a South African researcher, blogger, journalist, social entrepreneur and open source
activist who has worked in the field of Internet policy, law and management in South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. She is the founder of Creative Commons South Africa. She currently works as a digital ethnographer at Ushahidi
.
Ford was born in Pietermaritzburg
in the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa
on the 6th of January, 1978. She was Head Girl at Carter High School in Pietermaritzburg and won awards for debating, drama, music and academics. In 1996, she went to Rhodes University
to study a four-year Bachelor of Journalism degree majoring in communication design. During her time at Rhodes, Ford was Arts and Culture Editor for the Rhodes student newspaper, Activate, and performed in numerous plays and dance dramas. She co-wrote and starred in the National Arts Festival
Fringe Festival play: ‘Sincerely, Colour’ in 1997 and was considering a career as a dance choreographer before she decided to find work in the media sector.
After working as Digital Information Manager for Johannesburg-based non-profit, the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa from 2000 to 2002, she went to the United Kingdom
to work with the Association for Progressive Communications
, GreenNet and Privacy International on Internet rights advocacy in Europe.
In 2003, she received a scholarship from Benetech
to attend Stanford University
as a fellow in the Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship Program. Volunteering for Creative Commons
while she was at Stanford, she decided to go back to South Africa at the end of her studies to start Creative Commons South Africa and a program entitled "Commons-sense: Towards an African Digital Information Commons" at the Wits University Link Centre. She has a postgraduate certificate in telecomms policy from the University of the Witwatersrand
. During 2006 Heather co-founded The African Commons Project, a South African non-profit organisation working on the commons in Africa.
In 2006, Ford was appointed Executive Director of iCommons, a UK private charitable corporation. Working with Creative Commons, iCommons collaborates with communities interested in open education, access to knowledge, free software, open access publishing and free culture. After iCommons, in 2009 Ford founded the GeekRetreat, an event aiming to bring together technologists from around South Africa to discuss improving the local Internet. She said in 2010 that Creative Commons and Wikipedia are not inclusive enough for the developing world.
Ford was previously a member of the Advisory Board of the Wikimedia Foundation
and earned a Masters degree at the University of California, Berkeley School of Information. She has blogged at Thoughtleader and Global Voices, and has been a guest on Reuben Goldberg's 'The Internet Economy'. In 2011, IT News Africa named Ford one of Africa's 10 most influential women in science and tech.
Boards
Honors and awards
Publications
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
activist who has worked in the field of Internet policy, law and management in South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. She is the founder of Creative Commons South Africa. She currently works as a digital ethnographer at Ushahidi
Ushahidi
Ushahidi, Inc. is a non-profit software company that develops free and open source software for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping....
.
Ford was born in Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg is the capital and second largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838, and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its "purist" Zulu name is umGungundlovu, and this is the name used for the district municipality...
in the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
on the 6th of January, 1978. She was Head Girl at Carter High School in Pietermaritzburg and won awards for debating, drama, music and academics. In 1996, she went to Rhodes University
Rhodes University
Rhodes University is a public research university located in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, established in 1904. It is the province’s oldest university, and is one of the four universities in the province...
to study a four-year Bachelor of Journalism degree majoring in communication design. During her time at Rhodes, Ford was Arts and Culture Editor for the Rhodes student newspaper, Activate, and performed in numerous plays and dance dramas. She co-wrote and starred in the National Arts Festival
National Arts Festival
The National Arts Festival is one of the most important events on the South African cultural calendar, and the biggest annual celebration of the arts on the African continent....
Fringe Festival play: ‘Sincerely, Colour’ in 1997 and was considering a career as a dance choreographer before she decided to find work in the media sector.
After working as Digital Information Manager for Johannesburg-based non-profit, the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa from 2000 to 2002, she went to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
to work with the Association for Progressive Communications
Association for Progressive Communications
The Association for Progressive Communications is an international network of organizations that was founded in 1990 to provide communication infrastructure, including Internet-based applications, to groups and individuals who work for peace, human rights, protection of the environment, and...
, GreenNet and Privacy International on Internet rights advocacy in Europe.
In 2003, she received a scholarship from Benetech
Benetech
Benetech was founded in 1989 by high technology entrepreneur Jim Fruchterman in Palo Alto, California. Benetech is a not-for-profit social enterprise organization: it creates technology social ventures, such as Bookshare , the Route 66 Literacy Project, the Miradi environmental project management...
to attend Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
as a fellow in the Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship Program. Volunteering for Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
while she was at Stanford, she decided to go back to South Africa at the end of her studies to start Creative Commons South Africa and a program entitled "Commons-sense: Towards an African Digital Information Commons" at the Wits University Link Centre. She has a postgraduate certificate in telecomms policy from the University of the Witwatersrand
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University...
. During 2006 Heather co-founded The African Commons Project, a South African non-profit organisation working on the commons in Africa.
In 2006, Ford was appointed Executive Director of iCommons, a UK private charitable corporation. Working with Creative Commons, iCommons collaborates with communities interested in open education, access to knowledge, free software, open access publishing and free culture. After iCommons, in 2009 Ford founded the GeekRetreat, an event aiming to bring together technologists from around South Africa to discuss improving the local Internet. She said in 2010 that Creative Commons and Wikipedia are not inclusive enough for the developing world.
Ford was previously a member of the Advisory Board of the Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is an American non-profit charitable organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States, and organized under the laws of the state of Florida, where it was initially based...
and earned a Masters degree at the University of California, Berkeley School of Information. She has blogged at Thoughtleader and Global Voices, and has been a guest on Reuben Goldberg's 'The Internet Economy'. In 2011, IT News Africa named Ford one of Africa's 10 most influential women in science and tech.
Boards
- The African Commons Project Board: 2006-current
- The Wikimedia Foundation Advisory Board: 2007-2009
- iCommons Board: 2005-2006
Honors and awards
- 2009 UC Berkeley School of Information Fellowship
- 2009 Book of South African Women - An annual register of South Africa’s top women in business, technology
- 2004 Stanford BASES social entreprenership award for ‘Bookbox’ a web-based jukebox of digital books in languages from around the world
- 2003 Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship Program Scholarship awarded by Benetech
- 2003 British Chevening Scholarship awarded by the British government
- 2000 Rhodes University Academic Colours and Distinction
Publications
- 2009 ‘Open Culture’ in Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) 2009
External links
- iCommons "People"
- Heather Ford's Blog
- "Africa and the Digital Information Commons: An Overview", with Chris Armstrong
- Commons-sense: Towards an African Digital Information Commons
- Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship
- Creative Commons South Africa
- University of the Witwatersrand Link Centre
- Heather Ford's Interview Video