As the executive director of Project Over Zero and former CEO of Sisi ni Amani, Rachel Brown has extensively examined the effects of mobile phones and related technologies on political violence. Rachel moved to Kenya in 2010 to research the causes of the country's frequently violent election process, revealing the extent to which cell phones were changing how violence was organized and how misinformation was spread. Local peacebuilders themselves were struggling to keep up, and needed their own tools to counteract the intensity and scope of these waves of violence that were being facilitated by technology. Sisi ni Amani was born as a result.

The organization approached the issues at hand with a ’10 steps ahead’ approach, owing to the speed at which misinformation, rumours and fear could circulate among communities. The initiatives used by Sisi ni Amani included: subscribing community members to messaging programs that could correct false information quickly; civic education programs over text message; invites to political debates and community meetings; and the promotion of radio programming that hosted civic engagement projects. These tools were designed to inhibit the potential for violence in the upcoming 2013 elections in Kenya.

Rachel remains ambivalent as to whether mobile phones and related technologies can themselves be blamed for the violence. Ultimately, she points out, human impulses will find a way to exercise themselves with or without cell phones. However she still emphasizes the ability these devices have to change how fast (mis)information can be spread, a new phenomenon that is changing how peacebuilders can effectively address the potential for political violence. Social media is certainly comparable in how it has transformed the information environment enough that peacebuilding efforts are required to adapt.

Project Over Zero, Rachel’s new organization, is particularly interested in addressing the issue of ‘dangerous speech’. The term ‘hate speech’ she likes to avoid, describing its implications of intent as limiting. These forms of speech are ones that police norms within communities; offer coded meanings that foreign observers can often fail to pick up on; and are capable of organizing groups of people with relative ease. The dehumanization of certain groups is the most prominent form of dangerous speech that Rachel emphasizes.

These forms of speech look different from community to community, but often share general themes that make the study of dangerous speech applicable here in the US. The importance of identity in both exacerbating and inhibiting violent action is a common thread among many communities, and this observation can be used by peacebuilders as well – both at home and abroad.