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Red Team Lab

Learning Lab

The Lab helps technology-focused internet freedom projects effectively communicate updates and findings, educate users, and tell their stories. We also share the knowledge created through projects so others can learn from their work and help advance internet freedom.

What we do

We offer free communications support services to help technology-focused internet freedom projects effectively communicate updates and findings, educate users, tell their stories, and reach core audiences.

Do you need help communicating about your work with at-risk users, researchers, and/or other communities who could benefit from your project? Whether it’s an important update, a final research report, or a new user guide—Learning Lab matches you with experts to help you tell your story in a compelling and accessible way that reaches your desired audiences. Our partners can help you identify communications goals for your project and the most appropriate communications outputs to achieve them. 

If you’re strapped for time, or communications isn’t your strong suit, the Learning Lab can help!

We offer the following services:

Strategic Communications to Help You Effectively Communicate Targeted Messages to Your Audiences

Services include (but are not limited to):

  • Identifying high-level objectives for communications
  • Identifying and understanding target audience(s)
  • Message development & audience feedback loop to refine messages
  • Brand strategy and development
  • Identifying appropriate communication channels 
  • Creating actionable steps to executive the communications strategy

    Communications Coaching to Help You Improve Your Skills

    Services include (but are not limited to):

    • Public speaking coaching (e.g., project pitches, presentations)
    • Guidance on best practices for written and visual content (e.g., social media campaigns, press releases, blog posts, reports, user guides, in-app messages)

      Design Services to Tell Your Story, Explain Your Project, and/or Communicate Findings Visually

      Services include (but are not limited to):

      • Branding and visual identity (can include rebranding support)
      • Data visualization 
      • Graphic design and visual content creation, such as instructive illustrations and infographics

      Editorial Services (Editing & Writing) to Tell Your Story, Explain Your Project, and/or Communicate Findings

      Services include (but are not limited to):

      • Written content such as blog posts, reports, social media messages, website copy, user guides, and other documentation

      Our Work

      We help technology-focused internet freedom projects tell powerful, impactful stories so they can reach potential beneficiaries and share lessons learned with the wider community. We believe the greatest ideas are iterative innovations supported by a healthy internet freedom ecosystem that shares, uses, and builds openly and collaboratively. The Learning Lab facilitates this essential knowledge sharing and collaboration.

      Design Service Examples

      Visual design and data visualization for reports:

      Website illustrations to communicate use cases:

       Branding guidelines:

      Editorial Service Examples

      Blog posts:

      Helping internet freedom projects effectively communicate about their work

      How to Apply

      If you’re an OTF-supported project or fellow, please reach out to your project manager at any time to get connected to the Lab—even if your project or fellowship just started and/or you need support refining your communications goals. You can also complete the short, online form linked below in the Process section.

      You don’t need to be an OTF-supported project to take advantage of the Lab’s services – as long as you can demonstrate that your technology-focused project is aligned with OTF’s mission to advance internet freedom, then it will be eligible for support and you’ll complete the short, online form linked in the following section. For a more detailed overview of OTF’s mission and our funding remit, please check out the OTF Applicant Guidebook.

      Process

      • If you’re interested in receiving Learning Lab support, complete this short form.
      • The Learning Lab manager will contact you to learn more about your goals and needs (this can be via email or video chat—whatever you prefer)
      • Depending on your needs, the Lab manager will connect you with one of our Lab partners who will collaborate with you to achieve your goals.
      • You’ll then work with the partner to develop a scope of work for the engagement. Once that has been approved by OTF, the Lab partner will guide you through the engagement process.

      Am I eligible for support?

      If you’re a current or recent OTF project, or your project falls within our funding remit, then we’d love to hear from you. OTF supports technology-focused projects that advance internet freedom, and counteract repressive online censorship and state surveillance. Such projects include circumvention and anti-censorship tools, privacy-enhancing technologies, and internet shutdown resilience tools, among others.

      Apply now

      Our Partners

      3 Bridges

      3 Bridges works with technologists and advocates to tell compelling stories and strengthen the links between technology and accountability. Founder Jed Miller is a writer and strategist with over 20 years of experience leading digital transformation with human rights, policy advocacy, and donor organizations. Miller is working with OTF projects as a writer, editor, and communications strategist, to help groups illustrate the impact of their work and the high stakes of internet freedom tools and policies. 

      Jed Miller has worked as a non-profit leader and advisor to U.S. and international organizations including the Open Society Foundations, Greenpeace, and Global Witness. He is the former internet director of the American Civil Liberties Union and previously served as interactive editor moderating all online dialogue at The New York Times. He has written for the Ford Foundation, the Guardian, and the World Economic Forum, among others, and taught advocacy communications at the Columbia University School for International Public Affairs.

      Services include:

      • Editorial services
      • Strategic communications

      Sample Learning Lab projects:

      Blog posts

      Supported languages:

      • English
      • French (written)

      Superbloom

      Superbloom leverages design as a transformative practice to shift power in the tech ecosystem. It applies a holistic approach and views design as an intervention opportunity to center people and their needs. Its vision is a world where everyone has the knowledge, network, and digital tools needed to enrich their lives. As experienced design professionals, it supports projects around developing their brand materials, and applying their brand to communications tools (e.g., infographics, visualizations, and other materials, such as presentations, online presence, and document templates).

      Superbloom frequently works with project teams around their communications and content strategy, and supports them to better articulate their goals. For example, how to frame the information they need to communicate to different audiences in different contexts. They have significant experience working with high-risk individuals by developing secure research and communications protocols, and has shared resources for the community on how to learn from their methods.

      Services include:

      • Design services

      • Stategic communications and coaching

      Sample Learning Lab projects:

      Supported languages:

      • English
      • French (intermediate)
      • German
      • Hungarian
      • Spanish

      The Moontide Collective

      The Moontide Collective is a fluid global South ecosystem of feminist consultants bringing knowledge and expertise from local social justice movements to current organizational challenges and projects. The Collective comprises writers, researchers, strategists, illustrators, campaigners, movers, embodied practitioners, and facilitators who are diverse in locality, perspective and professional strengths, and who share a common work ethic and enthusiasm for visualizing and manifesting social justice realities.

      The Collective is managed by Christy Alves Nascimento, a South African feminist with eight years’ experience supporting justice-driven organizations, funders, socially conscious companies, academic research departments, media houses and feminist collectives and consortia to deepen their impact and engagement with the audience they serve.

      Services include:

      • Editorial services
      • Strategic communications

      Sample Learning Lab projects:

      Supported languages:

      • English

      Ura Design

      Ura Design is a design collective based in Germany and Albania, focused on open source, secure, and privacy-preserving internet freedom projects. Since its inception in 2016, Ura has supported various organizations and software tools with accessibility support, UX design, user research and visual design services. Unlike a traditional design agency, they operate as a collective, with a shared workload transparent processes including various pro-bono projects. Some of Ura Design’s past partners include Mozilla, Tor Browser, Thunderbird, The Eclipse Foundation, University of Michigan, Georgia Tech University and the Technical University of Darmstadt.

      Services include:

      • Design services
      • Communications coaching

      Sample Learning Lab projects:

      Supported languages:

      • Albanian
      • English
      • German

      * An additional vendor is available to offer editorial services, but prefers not be to publicly listed.