· October, 2011

Stories about Technology from October, 2011

Tunisia: Let's Invade Social Networks!

  31 October 2011

A crazy wave of posts hit the world of social networks when Tunisian netizens decided to invade Facebook and Twitter with their comments. First came the official Facebook page of US President Barack Obama. Soon other world leaders got a taste of this spam-attack.

Russia: Alternative Voting Portal Launched

RuNet Echo  31 October 2011

Habrahabr-user uhaby writes [ru] about otdamgolos.ru, a web-portal that offers users to propose alternative parliamentary and presidential candidates as well as to vote for them. The author claims that within 10 days his website attended 137,500+ visitors. In the virtual parliamentary election three parties received most votes: 1. The Pirate Party,...

Japan’s IT Exodus: A Personal Perspective (Part 1)

  30 October 2011

37-year-old software architect Ryo Asai writes at his blog “Becoming a Master Programmer” about his reasons for leaving his previous job, a Japanese system integration company, to work at Amazon Japan. In explaining his reasons for the move, Asai provides a unique perspective on the underlying roots of Japan's failure to keep up in the new digital economy.

Trinidad & Tobago: Celebrating Anya's Project Runway Win

  29 October 2011

The Trinidad and Tobago blogosphere has been extremely active over the past week as Season 9 of Lifetime's hit reality show, Project Runway, drew to a close. Home-grown design hopeful, Anya Ayoung-Chee eventually walked away with the coveted title of Season 9 designer.

Malawi: New Blog for Free and Open Source Software

  29 October 2011

The Blantyre Free and Open Source Software Users Group has a new blog: “Welcome to the blog of Blantyre Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Users group. Blantyre Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Users Group is a grouping of individuals that use free and open source software but are...

Open Access Africa: Spreading Knowledge, Increasing Collaboration

  28 October 2011

We celebrate Open Access Week with a special focus on Open Access Africa. As the internet lowers the bar for publishing and disseminating information, print-era publishing models still keep African researchers and students separated from colleagues in different countries and their ideas. How has Open Access changed scholarship in Africa?

Cuba: Internet & Human Rights

  28 October 2011

“2011 will hopefully be looked back as the year when both the right to internet access and the threat to internet freedom were both recognized and tech companies collaborating with human rights organizations set out standards to address the problem and uphold a fundamental right”: Notes from the Cuban Exile...

Russia: Fake ‘Crowd Sourced’ Election Monitoring Portal Launched by the Ruling Party

RuNet Echo  28 October 2011

Gazeta.ru writes [ru] about government-sponsored NGOs that help simulate legitimacy of the election process. Among others authors mention ktonarushil.ru, a fake crowdsourcing monitoring portal launched by “United Russia” party. Not only it reminds kartanarusheniy.ru [an authentic monitoring website run by independent election monitor “Golos.org”] but it also doesn't allow to file...

Russia: Crowd-Sourced Citizen Lawmaking Platform

RuNet Echo  28 October 2011

The Economist writes about WikiVote (e.g. see projects dedicated to the laws on education, Sberbank, state-owned bank), Russian croudsourcing platform to comment and contribute to the creation of the laws. Pavel Burov, creator of the platform, claims his project can ‘prevent idiocy [in lawmaking] from happening.’

Tanzania: Who Killed Zinjanthropus?

  27 October 2011

TEDxDar 2011 asks, “Who Killed Zinjanthropus?”: “This year’s TED theme is “storytelling” and from this we have created our central theme for TEDxDar 2011: “Who Killed Zinjanthropus?” With Tanzania approaching its 50 years jubilee of independence, we are using Zinjanthropus – a fossil of early man discovered in Tanzania –...

Trinidad & Tobago: Divali Delicacies

  25 October 2011

“The cross-section of families and individuals from all walks of life always brings a smile to my face and reminds me of the Divali celebrations of my childhood”: TriniGourmet.com posts her mouth-watering menu for this year's Divali celebrations, which take place tomorrow.