Stories about Citizen Media from October, 2009
Uruguay: Two Plebiscites Fail to Pass
On the same day as the Presidential elections in Uruguay, voters did not pass two plebiscites that would have given Uruguayans abroad the right to vote and the annulment of the Law of Expiration.
Mozambique: Expectations toward the '09 elections
For the first time, Mozambique simultaneously hosts presidential, legislative and provincial parliament elections, the latter are the first in the history of the country.
China's Dark Satanic Mills
On Oct. 14th, Chinese photographer Lu Guang won this year's $30,000 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography for his photos on China’s environment. The Fund’s website posts the following paragraph describing Lu Guang’s project: Lu Guang has been documenting the ecological disasters in China resulting from the rapid growth...
Disaster Management and the role of ICTs
In a first post of the series, we explore the role of ICTs in Disaster Management and the paradigm shift in Disaster Management strategies that came about post the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004.
Azerbaijan: Video blogger trial postponed… again (updated)
In what many consider to be a politically motivated trial to stifle dissent in Azerbaijan, video blogging youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli once again appeared in court in Baku today.
Nepal's Dalit Women: Fighting For Dignity
The constitution of Nepal guarantees equality for the dalits or the 'untouchables'. But in the real world, outside long winding provisions of the constitution and legalese, the dalits are still openly treated as less than human.
Pregnancy and Prisons: Women's Health and Rights Behind Bars
It is still a struggle to ensure human rights for pregnant women worldwide, and it seems that in the process, pregnant women in prison are many times overlooked. What have been some of the steps made to ensure that they are also treated humanely, with respect to the life they carry?
Colombia: Solidarity With Hiperbarrio After Library Robbery
After a robbery of the La Loma Library in Medellín, Colombia, the home of the Hiperbarrio citizen media project, an outpouring of support and solidarity was sent from around the world.
Georgia: New Media Forum assessed, bloggers interviewed
Following the recent New Media Forum, an event staged in Tbilisi, Georgia, comes coverage in the local press. Although lagging behind its neighbors in the South Caucasus, interest in the online world is increasing and there are signs that new media will develop considerably in 2010.
Africa: Predators of Art, Entrepreneurship and Poet Ramblings
There are predators and there are art predators and Gwendolyn Alley is one such predator. It is not often that you hear that one is an art predator, an enthusiast or aficionado maybe but not predator and this is what made me become very curious about Alley’s blog where she confesses her love for art.
Adoption: Securing the Rights of Mothers and Children
Women speak out from all sides of the issue: adoptees, natural mothers and adoptive mothers try to make sense of the legal, reproductive and human rights issues behind adoptions.
Brazil: The challenge of hosting a worthwhile Olympic Games
Brazilians highlight the problems that the country will have to deal with before the 2016 Olympic Games with wry humor, hoping that organizers will learn from the mistakes made during the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio.
Inheritance tax and children in limbo: adoption in Japan.
Adoption in Japan is a statistically under-represented, multi-dimensional issue. Young families seeking children, inheritance tax-evading grandchild adoptions, conservative opposition to confusing family blood-lines, and loosely regulated groups illegally netting profit from international adoptions out of Japan.
ICT4D: When mobile phones link with computers
In the second of three posts, we ask: How are new technologies changing the field of ICT4D? Will linking computers to portable phones benefit human development in the developing world?
Uganda: Bloggers discuss anti-gay bill
A Ugandan bill that would make homosexuality officially illegal and punishable with death sentence or life in prison has been tabled in parliament and now only awaits president Yoweri Museveni's signature. Gay bloggers in Uganda discuss.
Armenia: Oligarch's staff allegedly implicated in animal cruelty scandal
Facebook users today posted links to a video shot at what is alleged to be the private zoo of a local oligarch and MP. No stranger to controversy, the latest scandal reportedly linked to members of his entourage saw the light of day via Twitter.
Africa discusses Climate Change
Blog Action Day 2009 was an online event organized by Change.org. It was a virtual gathering of voices discussing climate change. Bloggers from a sampling of countries in Sub Saharan Africa were among those who posted their thoughts, and in this post, we get to listen to their voices. Kenya...
Azerbaijan: Happy Birthday, Emin Milli
Wednesday saw the 30th birthday of detained youth activist and video blogger Emin Milli. Friends and other bloggers marked the event worldwide.
Botswana: Monitoring Elections Using Blogs, SMS and Twitter
Parliamentary and council representative elections are taking place in Botswana today, October 16, 2009. A number of journalists are using new media tools to report and monitor the elections.
Reading the world on Blog Action Day
More than 9000 bloggers are devoting a post to climate change today as part of Blog Action Day, an annual initiative started by Change.org to unite the world's bloggers in reaching their millions of readers.
Dominican Republic: Restricted Access to the Beaches?
Many beachgoers in the Dominican Republic are worried that the new Constitutional Article will restrict public access to beaches by giving more rights to private owners.
