· May, 2010

Stories about Technology from May, 2010

Russia: Journalist's Blog Hacked

Both LiveJournal (sina-ja-mina) and Facebook accounts of Andrei Maltsev [RUS], journalist and blogger, were hacked on May 31, Vladimir Pribylovski reported [RUS]. This is the fourth blog hack this year and the third during the previous week (Following hack attacks of Maxim Sviridenkov [EN] and Renata Guseletova (aka demonessa22 [RUS])).

Russia: A Study of Local Discussion Boards

Online forums in Russian cities are in a certain sense a unique phenomenon. It's not blogs that became the major platforms for open discussion in the regions, but discussion boards (called more often forums). Alexey Sidorenko shares some of the results of his study of local forums in Russia.

Georgia: Online local election mapping

Transparency International Georgia, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, the National Democratic Institute and the Caucasus Resource Research Center have set up an online mapping system for monitoring today's local election in the former Soviet republic. The vote is considered particularly important as...

Japan: Monozukuri for the Modern Age

  30 May 2010

The Japanese counterpart of Make Magazine, an American quarterly magazine for DIY enthusiasts, organizes a regular event in Tokyo called Make Tokyo Meeting (MTM). The fifth MTM, held at the Tokyo Institute of Technology on May 22-23, was the largest yet, featuring everything from bicycle wheels with LED lights, to complex wooden ball machines, to mechanical robot birds. Check out reports on the event on blogs, Twitter and YouTube.

Bangladesh: Facebook Temporarily Blocked

  30 May 2010

Bangladesh has become the second country in Asia after Pakistan to block the entire Facebook domain. Bangladeshi bloggers are expressing their astonishment, anger and protest against this ban.

MENA: 15m Facebook Users

As of May 2010, Facebook has 15 million users from the Middle East and North Africa (excluding Iran, Israel and Turkey), reports Spot On. Seventy per cent of the users are in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

[Report] Technology for Transparency

  27 May 2010

This report is the culmination of four months of research examining the objectives, challenges, successes, and effects of online technology projects that aim to promote transparency, political accountability, and civic engagement. It presents case studies, conclusions, and recommendations toward making the grassroots use of technology more effective in improving governance worldwide.

Causes of Hatred in the Russian Blogosphere

Lj-user blondycandy received [RUS] more than 400 comments on the question “Why there's so much hatred in the Russian blogosphere”? Evgeny Gorny summarized [RUS] the most often suggestions: general ‘offline’ unhappiness, inferiority complex, impunity, lack of education, envy, specific ‘Russian mentality’ and so on.