· October, 2011

Stories about Technology from October, 2011

Egypt: Catch the Former Regime Remnants

  24 October 2011

Last April, an Egyptian court ordered the dissolution of the political organization that ruled the nation for decades. Its members are however reinventing themselves, joining the lists of candidates vying for November's parliamentary elections. See how netizens have joined hands to expose them.

Cuba: Recounting Repression

  24 October 2011

Pedazos de La Isla posts two accounts of Cuban dissidents being beaten and detained, allegedly “just for trying to travel within their own country” and “for demonstrating peacefully”.

Trinidad & Tobago: Making Anya the Fan Favourite

  24 October 2011

The deadline for voting for the Project Runway Fan Favourite is this Wednesday, October 26, at midnight – and Trinidad Carnival Diary is drumming up support for local designer Anya Ayoung-Chee in this post, complete with instructions as to how to upload tweets in bulk.

Russia: Government to Launch Content Monitoring in December 2011

RuNet Echo  24 October 2011

Roskomnadzor, Russian telecommunications control body, will launch content monitoring system in December 2011, Kommersant.ru reports [ru]. The system ordered in March, 2011 (see GV analysis here) is now in pre-release condition. Its documented abilities allow the monitoring of up to 5 mln keywords published at the websites registered as online mass media...

Russia: Cursing Policeman Fired After YouTube Video Leak

RuNet Echo  24 October 2011

Russian policeman who has been caught on camera [ru] cursing at his colleagues was fired after the video became public, corrupcia.net reported [ru]. Company commander of Omsk traffic police was accusing other policemen of producing not enough violation protocols. The case highlighted the so-called “sticks” system, in which police evaluation is based...

Tunisia: A Crowdmap to Monitor the Elections

  23 October 2011

The Independent Tunisian electoral commission has set up a crowdmap to monitor the voting process in Tunisia, in French and Arabic. Citizens are encouraged to report irregularities they may witness during the October 23 constituent elections. The crowdmap is also accessible from the official homepage of the electoral commission.

Tanzania: Priorities for Open Government in Tanzania

  20 October 2011

Daraja discusses the decision by the Tanzanian government to joining the Open Government Partnership: “So, an open-data platform for Tanzanian government data is option 1. But with only around 2% of Tanzanians online, this option could be described as elitist. It would help researchers, academics, journalists, students and activists, but...

Trinidad & Tobago: Project Runway’s Social Media Queen

  19 October 2011

The season finale for Lifetime network's hit reality show, Project Runway, is almost here and Trinidad and Tobago’s Anya Ayoung-Chee, a designer who has made it into the top five, has a shot at winning this season's coveted prize. Caribbean netizens rally around her.

Italy: October 15 Protest Turns Violent in Rome

  19 October 2011

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide. Inspired by the “Occupy Wall Street” movement in New York and by the Spanish “Indignados”, citizens in 951 cities and 82 countries across the world took to the streets on October 15, 2011, to protest against the stranglehold on the...

Japan: We're Losing to Apple, and Here's Why

  18 October 2011

Blogger Isseki Nagae considers the sorry state of the Japanese personal electronics industry in light of the recent success of Apple in Japan. Through the words of Steve Jobs, Nagae argues that Japanese manufacturers pay too much attention to the views of the average user rather than developing new ideas.

Trinidad & Tobago: Children & the Internet

  18 October 2011

In the wake of a controversy in which a teacher was allegedly involved in a sexual relationship with a student [the situation came to light because of photos he posted online], blogger Mark Lyndersay posts an interview in which he discusses ways in which parents can help manage children's use...

Russia: Photoblogger Launches New Citizen Media Agency

RuNet Echo  18 October 2011

Ilya Varlamov, popular photoblogger, officially launches [ru] Ridus.ru, news agency dedicated to the citizen media in Russia. Its ‘special projects’ section [ru] tells about new and already existing civil society movements that deal with environmental issues, traffic violations, illegal development in the historic parts of the cities, freedom of photography...