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.
India: First photographs of Mumbai blasts on flickr
The first photographs from Mumbai on flickr are coming up. Vinu from Vinu's Online Cloud has uploaded a lot of photographs from the streets of Mumbai. MumbaiHelp is back online and offering to make call for anyone who can't get through to their families and friends. Leave a message if...
India: Blasts, Gunfire and Terror in Mumbai
In a series of blasts and shoot outs, the city of Mumbai appears to have come under attack. According to the news, there appear to be at least seven different locations in the city that have been attacked. In an unprecedented sort of terror, a combination of gun fire, blasts,...
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.
Jamaica, Barbados, T&T: Bolt is Athlete of the Year
Jamaican Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt has been chosen as the International Athletic Foundation's ‘Athlete of the Year'; regional bloggers congratulate him.
The Yellow Humvee Saga – A conclusion.
Nick Wadhams was able to categorically identify the owner of the yellow hummer mentioned by GV in the post on yellow humvees and the UN procurement scandal. He posts a conclusion to the BYH saga on his blog.
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.
China: Citizen reporter Zuola becomes a potential threat to state security?!
Three days ago, on Nov 20th, Zuola sent out a twitter message reporting that he could not get through the Customs from Shenzhen to Hong Kong: I can't get in Hongkong, not allow me leave from China, I don't konw why. And I call somebody for ask help. May be...
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.
Trinidad & Tobago: Belt-Tightening
About seven months after the global food crisis was showing up on people's radar and two months after the global financial crisis made headlines, Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister decided that the time was right to address the nation regarding the state of the economy. The money quote of the speech was "Tighten your belts" - and bloggers have had a lot to say about the subject.
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.
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.
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.
Japan: Suginami Ward proposes removal of Street View images
Following on a request by the Machida city council for regulation of Google's Street View service, recently introduced in Japan, Asiajin reports that the ward of Suginami in central Tokyo has advised its residents on how to submit [ja] takedown requests to Google. An article at Asahi reports that Suginami...
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 also reported to have the knowledge of these.The service is called page-rank bid and accounts for more than 80% of...
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.
Japan: Revision of the Nationality Law
On the 4th of June, on the occasion of cases filed in 2003 [en] and in 2005 whose protagonists were 10 children born out of wedlock to Japanese fathers and Filipino mothers, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional an article of the Nationality Law[en] because it infringes on Article 14 of...
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.
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.
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.
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 because the café owner has refused to sign a new contract that allows the company to evict its tenant after...
