Stories about Ideas from February, 2008
Barbados: Traffic Solutions
“I do not believe that a country the size of Barbados, even with its high rate of car ownership, needs flyovers to deal with road congestion”: Living in Barbados has a few alternative suggestions.
Dubai: Act of Kindness
Seabee from Dubai writes about an act of kindness he has come across – “At Umm Suqeim beach an injured or sick gull had been carefully placed in the shade, some corn placed beside it and a plastic bag of water above it.”
Japan: Coming-Out Letters
The Japanese LGBT community has come a long way to claim its position in society today. However, aside from those flamboyant celebrities on TV who satisfy viewers’ appetite for entertainment, the voices of sexual minorities are still rarely heard or amplified – perhaps more so in the case of those...
Portnoy Zheng: The blogger who inspired the world to talk together
While people around the world have been celebrating Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year, we welcome the Year of the Rat with an interview with Taiwanese blogger and the inspiration behind the GVO Lingua project, Portnoy Zheng.
Angola: Luanda's anniversary
The Angolan capital celebrates its 432 anniversary. Manuel Vieira [pt] invites readers to a “serious serious thought about its existence, the official speeches and popular voices”.
Mozambique: Don't we have anything?
“The companies belong to them, the shops belong to them, the bakeries belong to them, it is all theirs. And us, don't we have anything?”. Carlos Serra [pt] heard this phrase from a lady from Inhagóia and wrote an interesting analyses following up the incidents in Maputo, Mozambique, last Monday....
Brazil: Getting ready for the Campus Party 2008
The first Campus Party ever to be hosted in Brazil starts next Monday, February 11. Marcelo Tas [pt], winner of the BOBs prize for blogs in Portuguese, will be there. “I'll show up on Wednesday at 19:00, for the panel “Blogosphere and the future of media,” together with Luisa (MTV)...
Barbados: Arguing about Blogs
Following the publication of a Letter to the Editor in one of the Barbadian dailies, Living in Barbados is “in danger of getting angry. I do not want what I write and what I have seen most of the Barbadian blogs writing described as ‘putrid effluent’. That is an insult,...
Jamaica: Marley's Birthday
Jamaican Geoffrey Philp realised early on that “good writing, like a good life, cannot be built solely on negation” – and credits that awareness to Bob Marley's “ability to transform through word-power the consciousness of a generation and to show how life-affirming values could be transmitted in poetry through rhythm...
Barbados: CSME
Barbados Underground‘s “commenter analyst” examines the pros and cons of the Caribbean Free Market and Economy (CSME).
China: Comparing Chinese and Western Culture
Designer Yang Liu used simple graphic to compare Chinese and Western Culture. Onemanbandwidth captured some of the comparisons.
Colombia: United in a March Against the FARC
For the first time in Colombia´s history, an initiative which began on the internet managed to become a massive, worldwide event in just one month. The February 4th demonstration against the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) , began as an idea on a FaceBook group "A Million Voices Against the FARC" and then it snowballed into a worldwide event with marches in 133 different cities around the world.
Juliana Rincón: A multi-tasking blogger
Meet Juliana Ricón Parra, a multi-tasking blogger from Peru, now living in Colombia. She has been a Global Voices Author for two years and has just started a new role as Video Editor. Juliana talks about blogging, her participation in the citizen media project HiperBarrio, the new challenges in her professional life and the lovely South American food.
Japan: How many Japanese blogs are there?
On January 22, blogger smashmedia asked readers of his blog to answer a questionnaire [ja] on the topic of: “How many blogs are there in Japan?” [ja] In another post [ja], smashmedia reports that respondents on average estimated the number of Japanese blogs at 2.44 million. Other results: 23% answered...
Japan: Newspapers launch news portal “Aratanisu”, bloggers respond
Three of Japan's largest newspapers, Nikkei Inc., Asahi Shimbun Co. and Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings on Thursday together launched a new online news portal referred to as "Aratanisu", aiming to provide side-by-side coverage of news stories from each newspaper to allow readers to easily draw comparisons. Bloggers in Japan have reacted with skepticism to the new service, however, pointing to issues like the absence of RSS feeds and a general lack of understanding among traditional media of the value of content presentation.
Saudi Arabia: Stop Organised Religion
“Organized religion is what takes the soul out of believers. Let's just put a stop to it,” writes Ubergirl87, who is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Jamaica: Staring at strangers
Does it seem that Jamaicans like to stare at strangers? Moving Back to Jamaica explains why that might be.
Japan: Snow Creatures
Edo posts some photos of snow creatures with Japanese characteristic.
Young citizen journalists getting into the act in Kolkata
Last time we featured the Neighborhood Diaries project, participants from Kolkata’s slums were learning more about their neighborhood. In this week's feature we read their profiles of local characters and find out more about their daily lives. The weekly workshop also got more interesting with enactments of skits regarding their neighborhood's problems and the brainstorming of solutions.
