· May, 2007

Stories about Citizen Media from May, 2007

India: Muslims and Political Parties

  31 May 2007

Indian Muslims on the civic elections in Malegaon, which was rocked by bomb blasts last year. “So, does it helps if you are concentrated in a region, play communal politics and still be acceptable to the mainstream? Or can you be a party of only the majority group and still...

Where are the garbage cans?

  28 May 2007

Where are the garbage cans? ‘Bearing my Seoul’ wonders why it is so hard to find garbage cans in Korea and finds some explanation in a recent article about it.

From Hankyoreh to Ohmynews.

  28 May 2007

From Hankyoreh to Ohmynews. After the Blue House in Korea announced it would abolish the pressroom in order to fight problems in the media, major media companies including Ohmynews, which got into citizen journalism early, have aggressively opposed the move. With this scandal, a blogger criticizes citizen journalism for being...

Children’s songs that reflect the times

  28 May 2007

Children’s songs that reflect the times. A blogger shows how lyrics and rhythms of children’s songs demonstrate the mood of the time period. The examples from the 1970s and 1980s when Korea was in its struggle for democracy are especially revealing [ko].

Children’s songs that reflect the times

  28 May 2007

Children’s songs that reflect the times. A blogger shows how lyrics and rhythms of children’s songs demonstrate the mood of the time period. The examples from the 1970s and 1980s when Korea was in its struggle for democracy are especially revealing [ko].

Block of Youtube: the Moroccan blogosphere react

A petition has been launched by Maghrebism to protest the block of the video-sharing site Youtube by Maroc Telecom (Vivendi International). “We demand that Maroc Telecom and Vivendi Universal immediately stop the current online censorship on YouTube and all other services being censored, which is a violation of the right...

What terms for parents are popular in Korea

  27 May 2007

A blogger discovered what terms for parents are popular in Korea through the search engines of several major portal sites. According to the table and graph that he (she) made, father (a-beo-ji) is used more than dad (a-bba) and, on the other hand, mom (eom-ma) is used more than mother...

Whatever Roh Moo-hyun says is unbearable!

  27 May 2007

Whatever Roh Moo-hyun says is unbearable! A blogger criticized how conservative media distort what he says, showing how major media source interpreted his speech comparing the whole speech of his when he attended the launching ceremony of the destroyer ‘se-jong-dae-wang-ham’ on the 25th.

Love for students and rapper trainee teacher.

  27 May 2007

Love for students and rapper trainee teacher. Finishing his practice teaching at a middle school, a trainee teacher expressed his love for students with a rap song which he composed and made it into a video clip on the internet. It was hit more than 65,000 times so far. Students...

The best strategy to lose weight.

  27 May 2007

The best strategy to lose weight. A year ago, a blogger bought a bicycle and commuted to work on it. He shows a graph of his weight for a year, which makes it clear that bicycling caused his weight to drop (and then to rise again when he stopped temporarily)....

Morocco blocks access to YouTube

Yesterday, May 25, 2007, it has been reported by numerous Moroccan blogger that Morocco has blocked access to YouTube video sharing website. There have been many ongoing speculations that the ban followed the broadcasting of material critical of the country's king and pro-Western Sahara. This is the third major sites...

Lebanon: Where's Our Patriotism?

After relegating herself to the status of spectator of the recent violence in Lebanon, Marie-Josee takes up her pen, this time to write about how the country's trivialization of the deaths of Lebanese soldiers shows a “fundamental lack of patriotism” (Fr) on the part of Lebanon's government and its people.

Japan: Listen to the voices of the Tokyo fire bombing victims

  25 May 2007

112 people, including the victims and their families of the 1945 Tokyo fire bombing, are suing the Japanese goverment for an official apology and 1.2 billion yen compensation. On March 24, a trial hearing was held at the Tokyo District Court and blogger tokyodo-2005 urges that more attention should be...

Yemen: Censorship of tow opposition news websites

The Yemen's Ministry of Telecommunications has blocked access to tow opposition news websites (www.al-shoura.net and www.aleshteraki.net) because they are reporting about the humanitarian situation and the fighting in the northern province of Sa'ada between the army and Shia rebels. According to aid workers the clashes “led to the deaths of...

What is your blood type?

  22 May 2007

What is your blood type? That's a big deal in Korea. Why? Your personality can be inferred from your blood type at once. lyh809 is one of the most serious bloggers with cartoons. Look at why blood type A is timid, how each blood type reacts to sadness, seven behaviors...

Anger of residents at I-cheon in South Korea

  22 May 2007

Anger of residents at I-cheon in South Korea. The Ministry of National Defense announced that military units will move to I-cheon from Songpa due to its new-city development plan. About 1,300 local residents at I-cheon got together and held a wild demonstration[ko].

Algeria: Election Results

Algerian blogger Nouri updates us on the results of the Algerian elections here. “As would be expected, voter turn-out was low with only 6.6 million votes cast out of an electorate of some 19-odd million Algerians (36.51%). Of those votes cast, 14.5% were spoiled,” he notes.

Starcraft shook Korea again

  20 May 2007

The computer game, Starcraft, shook Korea again. The CEO and designers of Blizzard Entertainment visited Korea and revealed ‘Starcraft II’ in public. For the first place, they chose Korea and made a special version in Korean for Korean gamers, the biggest contributor to make the game popular for the last...