Stories about Technology from April, 2009
Liberians Are Talking, Are You Listening?
"Liberia's national image has been defined by parachute foreign correspondents for nearly its entire history, since it was first founded as an independent republic by freed Black slaves from the United States in 1847. Today, Liberians are able to tell their own stories to an international audience by taking advantage of participatory media tools like blogs and photo-sharing sites," writes David Sasaki following a blogging workshop he ran last year at the American Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia.
Kazakhstan: Internet Regulation Amendments
Adam analyzes possible outcomes of the law on internet regulation, which is currently passed through the lower chamber of Kazakh Parliament.
Kazakhstan: Internet Regulation Amendments Adopted in First Reading
Yesterday the Kazakh Parliament's lower chamber has approved the first reading of the draft law on online regulation, which is meant to equate all websites (including blogs, social networks, chatrooms, forums and even online shops) with mass media. On the other hand of this law, the authorities will be granted...
China: Mash-ups in history
With ‘Socialism with Chinese Characteristics’ as one of the more prominent examples, Jeff Wasserstrom at The China Beat delineates mash-up culture in China, and don't miss out on the Confucian Blues.
Pakistan: Pak Voices
Pak Voices is a crisis reporting tool for Pakistan based on the Ushahidi engine. The website is mapping the recent unrest in Karachi city. “Submitted incidents will appear online [pending approval]” reports Dr. Awab in his twitter account.
Cuba: Path to the Future
“This little accessory hanging from the hip could well come to be all the newspapers we lack at the kiosks”: Cuba's Generation Y has faith in the potential of SMS to be a reliable source of information.
Guyana: e-Waste
“The mo’ they fall, the mo’ they break, the mo’ they break, the mo’ you buy. Slick, smart cell-phone makers and sellers”: Guyana-Gyal considers where all the e-waste goes.
United Kingdom: Barcamp Transparency to discuss Internet monitoring by government
A new U.K. government plan to monitor all email, phone calls, and internet use as part of a counter-terrorism initiative has already sparked lots of negative commentary in forums and blogs. It makes even more timely an upcoming Barcamp Transparency meeting in Oxford on 26 July, 2009.
“Cashing In On Swine Flu: How Ethical Is That?”
Svetlana Gladkova of Profy shares her “doubts about people shamelessly cashing in on the hysteria surrounding the latest threat to the human race – the swine flu.”
Egypt: Wandering Internet Trolls
Wandering Scarab posted an interesting note on the four types of Internet trolls: “creatures that wander into forums and blogs, with malicious intent to generally interrupt online discussions by flinging their excrement everywhere, and inciting others into responding emotionally.”
China: Tracking swine flu on Twitter
Swine flu for China so far is a chance to reflect [zh] on how SARS was prevented from becoming a pandemic, and the steps being taken now in Mexico and elsewhere. Wang Jiadong has a post [zh] looking at how social media have been used to track the spread of...
China: Why people don't use voicemail
Instant talking, with interruption, anytime, anywhere. Jian Shuo Wang looks back at why voicemail failed to take off in China and remains unpopular today.
Mapping the Arab Blogopshere
Meedan announces that data expert Will Ward is “heading to Copenhagen’s New Islamic Public Sphere programme for a couple of weeks as a Meedan representative. The idea is to share ideas about our attempts to map the Arab blogosphere and get input on our growing Arab Media Index, which will...
Trinidad & Tobago: Re-engineering
“In Trinidad and Tobago engineers and scientist are not encouraged to build and innovate”: This Beach Called Life explains.
Africa: Africa's Best Blog Design
What is Africa's best blog design?: Africa is online. The number of bloggers continues to grow daily, inspiring readers all over Africa and all over the world. We are looking for the best blog designs from the continent.
Thailand: Anti-censorship Site Got Blocked
The website of anti-censorship movement in Thailand, Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT), got blocked by several University connections and ISPs on 25 of April. At the time of writing, it has still been blocked. The first report came from Thai Netizen mailing list. Blogger Arthit Suriyawongkul wrote in his blog...
Palestine: Blog About Palestine Day on May 15
Palestinian blogger Za3tar invites bloggers to the second annual “Blog About Palestine Day” on May 15, which marks the 61st anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba – the beginning of the Palestinian plight and suffering.
Russia: Baymurat (aka Jimmy) Singing Bollywood Song
Videos of a rendition of a Bollywood song by Baymurat (aka Jimmy) – an ethnic Uzbek from Tajikistan, a gastarbeiter in a town near Moscow, and a YouTube celebrity: one of the earlier versions is here, and the performance at Asian Dub Foundation's April 4 gig in St. Petersburg, Russia...
Japan: 50 Japanese Twitter Bots to Follow
From the weather in Tokyo to updates on what manga was published that day, Ascii.jp has posted a list of 50 Japanese Twitter bots to follow.
Kyrgyzstan: Disputes on .kg domain continue
Elena tells about the disputes around the regulation of the domain names and Internet in Kyrgyzstan.
Russia: New Blog
Siberian Light reviews a new Russia blog: Viewpoint Russia.