We are the Intergalactic Interpretation Cooperative, a group of engineers and interpreters based in Philadelphia who believe that communication is key to building strong movements for change. That’s why we want to make interpretation technology more affordable and accessible. The BabelBox is the culmination of years of work for communication and language access in social movements.
Abe Allen doubles as Intergalactic’s presiding Chief Beancounting Officer and Quality Control Guru. A showbiz player since childhood, he has participated creatively, technically, or administratively in countless film, television, music, and print productions. A recovering workaholic, he has dabbled (or drowned) in other fields as eclectic as transportation, fine art trade, electoral politics, fashion photography, investigative journalism, food service, accounting, law, and charity. Abe is a founder of Scranton, PA’s progressive WFTE Community Radio, which is scheduled to burst onto the airwaves in early 2011.
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Katie Jacoby is a longtime comrade of Prometheus Radio Project working to increase access to community radio. Her technical love for micro-radio has taken her on the road building stations across the United States. She holds a B.A. From Bard College in Human Rights and Media Studies. Through her commitment to media activism, she has found communication rights are essential to mobilizing and amplifying movements for social change.
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Milena Velis is a professional Spanish-English interpreter working in immigration and civil courts, and a volunteer interpreter for a variety of community organizations in the Philadelphia region. Milena is also co-producer of Labor Justice Radio and an organizer with the Media Mobilizing Project. Milena was part of the team that designed, built and operated interpretation equipment for the 2007 US Social Forum. She’s excited to be working on a project that combines virtually every one of her interests!
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Pete Tridish is the founder of the Prometheus Radio Project, an organization that wins licensing reform and builds radio stations with social change groups. He spearheaded the development of cheap interpretation systems when he needed a simple way to provide Spanish/English interpretation during workshops leading up to the construction of a radio station for Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, a farmworkers union in Oregon. He has played a supporting role in launching new progressive radio stations in dozens of states and taught radio skills in over ten countries. He holds a BA in Appropriate Technology from Antioch College, and he is an SBE certified Broadcast Radio Engineer. Over the years he has been a carpenter, an environmental educator, a solar energy system installer, a squatter, a homeless shelter volunteer and an activist in many social movements since the age of 16.