· October, 2012

Stories about Technology from October, 2012

What Exactly is a Hackathon? And What is Open Data?

We previously announced the next hackathon for Latin America: Developing Latin America 2012. But it's likely that some readers are not sure what a hackathon is or above all, what it's for. Here we try to answer those questions with definitions, examples, and two video interviews with Argentinian hacker Mariano Crowe.

30 October 2012

Philippines: Online Shame Campaign Against “Epal” Politicians

With less than a few months before the 2013 national elections, various groups have launched an online shame campaign against the common practice of Filipino politicians to attach their names to government projects that are funded or assisted by their office. These politicians are labelled “epal,” a Filipino slang term meaning “attention grabber”

30 October 2012

Ukraine: Technology for Transparent Elections

Amidst mounting allegations of the ruling party's use of administrative resource during election campaign, the government has pledged to keep the Oct. 28 free and fair. Local election monitoring groups, however, have been utilizing new technology to ensure electoral transparency and to check governmental pledges for themselves.

27 October 2012

Madagascar: A Case Study for Small Scale Mining

The Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) in Protected Areas and critical ecosystems (“PACE”) programme (ASM-PACE) has released a case study on how Madagascar can “ensure continued socioeconomic development without undermining ecological...

25 October 2012

Cuba: Cell Phone Use on the Rise

Puertasabiertas [es] reports that thousands of Cubans are purchasing cell phone service for the first time because of a new plan offered by Cuba's cell phone company, Cubacel, that began...

24 October 2012

New Realities of the India-Russia Defence Partnership

India has traditionally enjoyed warm defense ties with Russia. However, New Delhi’s recent tilt towards Washington has prompted Moscow to enhance its defense and diplomatic states with other South Asian countries, most notably Pakistan.

24 October 2012

FIFA Approves Use of Goal-Line Technology

Yesterday, 23 October, international football association FIFA announced that Hawk-Eye and GoalRef goal-line technology can be used, starting with the Club World Cup championship in December. Read blogger responses to the news.

24 October 2012

Madagascar: Preserving National Heritage with Video Archiving

A Civil Society Initiative has been set up to preserve the 'collective memory' of Madagascar by digitally archiving videos detailing its, often controversial, history. The Fl@H Association was set up to preserve Madagascar’s audiovideo heritage and aims to be a force for the preservation of the country’s history. Members can already point to several achievements.

23 October 2012

North Korea's Software and IT Exhibition

The NK Leadership Watch posted photos of North Korea's 23rd National Software Contest and Exhibition held in Pyongyang. North Korean state media reported 1,300 computer programs developed by North Korean engineers...

22 October 2012

Bangladesh: The Perils of The YouTube Ban

The Bangladesh government banned YouTube and its many IPs were also banned which are also used by other Google Services. Many from Bangladesh are unable to access a number of...

21 October 2012