· November, 2008

Stories about Citizen Media from November, 2008

Congratulations Pour in on Queen Rania's Youtube Award

Bloggers from across the Middle East and North Africa are tipping their hats to Jordan's Queen Rania, and her visionary initiative on YouTube, after she was awarded YouTube's first-ever Visionary Award for launching an interactive online channel to combat stereotypes and misconceptions associated with Arabs and Muslims.

26 November 2008

Egypt: 89% of Youth Support Internet Censorship Law

Eighty-nine per cent of Egyptian young men and women surveyed recently stated that they are in favour of an Internet censorship law. Bloggers Times shares the most recent statistics on Egyptian internet users in this post, translated by Marwa Rakha from Arabic.

26 November 2008

Latin American Bloggers jump into Reality Television

Chevrolet and NatGeo have launched a reality show that mixes driving, tourism, gadgets and blogging throughout South America. On The Road Again follows 6 bloggers in 6 different countries, driving around, taking tours and documenting their experiences through streaming video, blog posts and pictures, and it will later on be featured on a NatGeo channel show.

24 November 2008

Jordan: The Queen's Vlog, Internet Socio-Economics and More

In today's review of the Jordanian blogosphere, Mohammad Azraq links to posts celebrating Queen Rania's latest Vlog, the socio-economic implications of a faster Internet, a new idea for social networking, and a competition open for Jordanians to vote for their favourite city logos and icons.

24 November 2008

Egypt: First Human Rights Film Festival

Seven films about human rights are being showcased at the first Cairo Human Rights Film Festival, which continues until Thursday (November 27). Marwa Rakha previews blogger reactions on the event.

24 November 2008

Egypt: Uproar as Lawyer Suggests Raping Israeli Women

Voice of Egypt is ashamed of Egyptian Lawyer Nagla Al Imam, the same lawyer who made Egyptians angry, for encouraging Arab men to sexually harass Israeli women during her interview on Al Arabia TV (Ar). Marwa Rakha translates from Arabic.

23 November 2008

Venezuela: Following the Local Elections Online

Today Venezuela is taking part in elections for mayors and governors., which will paint the political map between States and Municipalities aligned with President Hugo Chávez or not. Venezuelan bloggers and twitter users are covering the election with the tag #23N and a campaign was launched to encourage people to vote and discuss the elections among their friends and family.

23 November 2008

China: Baidu's new scandal.

CCTV reported that Baidu, referred to as China's Google, had accepted money from illegal medical companies and placed their Web links on top of search results. Baidu’s marketing employees were...

22 November 2008

Hungary, Slovakia: Tense Relationship

On Nov. 15, Slovak prime minister Robert Fico and his Hungarian counterpart, Ferenc Gyurcsány, met in the border town of Komárno, Slovakia, in an attempt to ease nationalist tensions that have escalated due to Nov. 1 football game violence in Dunajská Streda, Slovakia. Eva S. Balogh of Hungarian Spectrum has been blogging a lot recently about the Slovak-Hungarian relations, and here are some of the highlights.

22 November 2008

Egypt: No More Natural Gas to Israel

An Egyptian court has banned the export of natural gas to Israel. Marwa Rakha briefs us about the deal, and what an Egyptian blogger is writing about the court order in this post.

20 November 2008

Rain in the Middle East

It's raining in the Middle East and bloggers are taking to their keyboards to register their thoughts about the change in climate. Here's review of what some bloggers in Saudi Arabia, Libya, Kuwait, the UAE and Israel had to say about the rain.

20 November 2008

Egypt: Convicted for being a Blogger

Is blogging a serious crime? And is speaking up for others something which warrants punishment? Egyptian Marwa Rakha translates a post from Arabic which discusses bloggers and blogging in Egypt.

20 November 2008

Japan: 10,000 signatures to support a café

A small independent café, Berg, is facing possible eviction from a shopping complex in Shinjuku, adjacent to the world's busiest train station. The building owner wants the 50-square-metre café out...

20 November 2008