Sue Braiden:
CLASS OF 1981
Wallaceburg District Secondary SchoolClass of 1981
Wallaceburg, ON
Sue's Story
Life
I'm a computer columnist for CBC Radio, Better World Scout & community and educational technologies keynote speaker.
As a community technology strategist I help people & organizations collaborate through technology to solve tough issues. I'm a champion of community capacity building both online & off. I currently streamline many of my activities through omidyar.net, working with Pierre and Pam Omidyar (founders of eBay) and other "better world scouts" to tackle global poverty, genocide, HIV/AIDS and microfinance programs in Africa.
There are two significant projects that I devote a great deal of time to. One is supporting the Grassroot Soccer program that Ethan Zohn, co-founded after winning "Surivor: Africa". I work with Ethan, Kirk Friedrich, and Dr. Tommy Clark to help build the capacity of this program to reach out to more kids at risk in Africa as a tool for HIV/AIDS education and awareness. Much of the work I do centres around Africa since having my life transformed by a woman named Millie Akinsulure from Sierra Leone some ten years ago.
My second significant investment is in working as technical advisor for my friend Sister Helen Prejean, author of "Dead Man Walking", to help broaden the discourse around the death penalty in the U.S.. I'm also working with Helen to assist Tim Robbins, who wrote the "Dead Man Walking" screenplay, to launch the play version in colleges and Universities across America during the next 3 years.
Much of what I do focuses on kids at risk. In 1999 was appointed Canadian Chair & North-American Vice-Chair to an international UNESCO (United Nations Education Science & Cultural Organization) init...Expand for more
iative for keeping kids safer on the net. I also launched an online mentoring program, partnering kids with positive role models for experiential learning. Our mentors include folks like my friend David Rosenberg (writer for kids shows including the Rugrats, Rocketpower and the Wild Thornberrys), Billy Zane (the Titanic) through to NHL hockey players like Shane Doan (captain of the Phoenix Coyotes and scorer of the winning goal on Team Canada).
I've served on the Board of Directors for various community organizations, including the "Council for the Prevention of Child Abuse" and "Little League Baseball".
My "right brain" endeavors include journalism, painting, photography & songwriting. I try where possible to use these talents to raise money for non-profit programs for kids at risk. I coordinate the Adored Foundation, a collaborative effort with other musicians around the world to raise money for various children's programs. I launched the project after producing a number of benefit CDs with Lilith Fair/ Grammy/ Academy Award winning artists in support of kids with cancer and kids at risk.
On the left brain side of things, I've run a Developers' WorkBench online (codehead / programming) since 1996. I've also got an insatiable appetite for new media research, particularly in areas the lend themselves to empowering disenfranchised individuals & communities. Favourite topics include artificial lifeforms, intelligent agents, human-computer interaction, cognitive processing & recognition, voice synthesis & recognition, facial animation, immersible online environments, & a host of other geeky pursuits that keep my brain happy & well-fed ;)
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