· January, 2013

Stories about Technology from January, 2013

Google Maps of North Korea Has Caught World's Attention

  31 January 2013

Within less than few days since its release, Google's new, crowd-sourced map of North Korea is gaining traction worldwide. There are even fake reviews of North Korean gulags and many bloggers, such as One Free Korea, posted satellite images of the regime's iconic landmarks.

Zambia: Interview with BongoHive Co-Founder

  31 January 2013

BongoHive, a Zambian-based innovation hub, has captured the attention of computer and internet technology enthusiasts in the country. Global Voices recently caught up with Simunza Muyangana, one of the four co-founders, who explained what BongoHive is all about.

Japan Gears Up for the Open Data Revolution

  31 January 2013

Following the death of Aaron Swartz, an open data activist, the issues around open access and data ownership have been reignited around the world. But for Japan, the seeds of open data just started being planted in the beginning of 2013.

Google Maps Targets Hermit Kingdom, North Korea

  29 January 2013

Google debuted its Google Maps program for one of the world's most secretive countries, North Korea, as part of its crowd sourcing map initiative. North Korea Tech blog posted several pictures of it with some background information.

Where Russia's Honest Ones Go to Die: Dolmatov's Suicide

RuNet Echo  27 January 2013

On the morning of January 17, Russian political refugee Alexander Dolmatov was found having hanged himself in a solitary cell of a Dutch deportation center. Dolmatov left Russia last summer, believing himself to be under observation by Russian security forces and in danger of arrest for participation in a May 6, 2012, Moscow rally that turned violent.

Bangladesh: Missed Call – A Tool For Protest?

  25 January 2013

An intentional missed call is a widely used method in developing countries to save money or mobile minutes. In Bangladesh this is being proposed as a way to protest and reduce the price of mobile internet. A Facebook event of a proposed protest by using "miss call" has gone viral.

Cuba: Internet Change Coming?

  24 January 2013

If you took a poll in our streets about Cubans’ most serious problems, the youngest…would list…lack of access to the Internet. They want to dive into that sea of kilobytes! Translating Cuba explains that “this situation of disconnect could be about to change…the great World Wide Web may be closer...

France: NGOs Condemn Privatisation of Public Domain

  24 January 2013

Seven European free culture associations issued a statement [fr] protesting against a public-private partnership between the French National Library BNF and Proquest database [fr], whose aim is to digitize a large amount of Public Domain works and privatize them with an exclusivity period of commercialization of ten years. Activist Philippe...

Free and Open Source Software

  24 January 2013

We received an email from Richard M. Stallman (RMS), after publishing the article about the Egyptian demonstration calling for the government to adopt Free Software. Tarek Amr digs deeper into open source software and arguments in its favour in this first post of a two-part series

Jamaica: Hitting the Paywall

  24 January 2013

I hear Swartz and others who maintain that information can and must be free. But to simply equate academic articles with useful information is misleading…these are issues we need to have more nuanced discussions about. Active Voice blogs about the late Aaron Swartz, JSTOR and academic paywalls…

Peru: Government Renews Concession Agreement with Telephone Operator

  22 January 2013

The blog Globalizado [es], by Global Voices in Spanish editor Juan Arellano, collects different reactions following the announcement of the renewal of the concession agreement with Telefónica for an additional period of 18 years and 10 months. The government highlights [es] that “they have managed to triple the benefits of...

Cuban Filmmakers Take Over Digital Technologies

  22 January 2013

In Cuba, filmmakers and new directors have started to take over new technologies to keep down the costs of production of audiovisual effects, and to tell stories that would otherwise not have seen the light of day.

Google CEO's Trip to North Korea, From Schmidt's Daughter's Blog

  21 January 2013

Google CEO Eric Schmidt visited North Korea last month and his daughter shared in her blog what the delegation saw in the hermit kingdom. Some of highlights from the blog: [describing the nation's top internet facility] Looks great, right? All this activity, all those monitors. […] One problem: No one was actually...

An African Platform for Open Access Academic Articles

  19 January 2013

On January 24, the official launch of Hadithi, a platform for hosting open access academic content will take place in Nairobi, Kenya. Various scholars and digital players will get together to discuss digital open access in higher education in Kenya. Hadithi will search, view and download articles from research institutions around the world. To register...