Stories about Technology from December, 2012
Bolivian Cyber Activists Uncover Potential QR Code Patent
Can the use of QR codes be patented in Bolivia? Cyber activists worked collectively to uncover a potential unlawful patent over the use of QR codes in the country.
Radio Okapi Interfered with by Authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo
The website journaldekin.com, commenting on the interference on the national Radio Okapi, a station which has been sponsored by the UN in the Democratic Republic of Congo since December 1, recalls [fr] that: Radio Okapi, which this year celebrates its tenth anniversary, is born from a partnership between the Swiss...
Does Peru have Internet Freedom?
It is increasingly common to hear that a particular country is considering or actually enacting some type of law that would affect Internet freedom. Peru is not immune to this. We discussed the topic with Miguel Morachimo of Blawyer (a law and technology blog in Peru), and we reviewed what some other bloggers have said about Internet freedom.
Venezuela and the WCIT-12
Who will govern the Internet and how? What is Venezuela's position in this debate? These are two questions that Luis Carlos Díaz tries to tackle in a post for Prodavinci [es] where he looks at the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) and Venezuela's position regarding these issues.
A Festival to Celebrate Free Software in Nicaragua
Talks, workshops, and exhibitions are all part of the schedule for the National Free Software Festival to be held in Managua, Nicaragua on December 12, 2012. There will also be a celebration of Creative Commons’ 10th Anniversary with a featured round-table discussion about free licenses and copyright issues.
Online Tools for People with Disabilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina
UNDP's Voices From Eurasia writes about the new web-based tools aimed at promoting the rights of people with disabilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina:
Independent French Data Journalism Website OWNI Under Threat of Closure
News of the imminent demise of OWNI (OWNI.fr), an independent French data journalism media outlet, surfaced last week. Famous for its close collaboration with WikiLeaks, OWNI developed the WarLogs application and conducted a great deal of analyses on the SpyFiles among others, and has been consistently reporting on surveillance, internet governance and freedom online.
A Research On Gender Sensitive Speech Online
The Internet Democracy project in India is conducting a research project that looks at how women in India, who are social media users, deal with speech addressed to them online that makes them feel uncomfortable as women. You can also participate – details are here. Deadline 15 December, 2012.
What is Web Mapping?
In this post we learn more about web mapping with MapBox's Ian Ward, as he explains some of the organization's recent projects and how these visualization tools are improving communication locally and globally.
Access Innovation Prize 2012 Recognizes Costa Rican Facebook App
Access.org announced the winners of the 1st Annual Access Tech Innovation Prize Awards, a new initiative that awards ideas that use information technology to promote human rights and address issues that are important to communities from across the world. Costa Rican Facebook-integrated app FueraJustoOrozco.com ("out Justo Orozco") was announced as one of the winners.
Lao Startup Wins ASEAN Award
Lao IT Dev, a startup based in Laos, has won the 1st Asean ICT Award in the Digital Content category. It publishes the e-corner magazine which is the major source of IT-related news in Laos.
Kallxo.com: Crowdmapping Corruption in Kosovo
Responding to this discussion on the impact of crowdsourced anti-corruption initiatives, Alexis Franke of UNDP's Voices From Eurasia writes about Kallxo.com, “a project that encourages citizens to report cases of corruption in Kosovo via a Ushahidi-based platform.”
Colombia: Cali Organises Its Third Barcamp
On Monday, December 17, the third edition of Barcamp Cali -a Free Culture event organised in the city of Cali, Colombia- will take place. The event has created a buzz among netizens in Cali, who have been tweeting about it under the hashtag #barcampcali3.
Regional Bloggers Attend Blogomanija Conference in Serbia
Dozens of bloggers [sr] from Serbia, as well as from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia, attended Blogomanija [sr], a regional blogging conference that was held in Serbia on Dec. 7-9. Among other things, they discussed [sr] the impact of blogs and social networks on social and political...
Slovak Government Keeps Paying Millions for Microsoft Products
Every year, the Slovak state pays about 200 Euros per computer for a license allowing the use of the newest Microsoft products and services. Activist Štefan Szilva has collected information [pdf, sk] about 30 percent of the 82,000 ‘state-owned computers’. From it, the IT website dsl.sk has computed this statistics...
Sri Lanka: The Rise Of The Classified Portals
Nandasiri Wanninayaka sold his Motorbike through a free online classified portal in Sri Lanka and writes about his experience and the potentials of such platforms.
Journalism and Technology Scholarships for U.S. Students
The Online News Association is accepting applications for the AP-Google Journalism and Technology Scholarship, which awards six $20,000 scholarships for the 2013-14 academic year to undergrad and grad students doing great work in digital news. Deadline to apply is February 8, 2013.
New Technologies Monitor Ghana Elections 2012
As Ghanaians get ready to go to the polls that will be held on 7 December 2012, we would like to point out local initiatives using new technologies to ensure free and fair elections. One such initiative is Ghana Votes 2012, which uses a Ushahidi-based map to display election related reports.
Russian LiveJournal Announces Grant Program
LiveJournal, owned and managed by Russian company SUP Media, just announced [ru] a grant program that will target the development of “interesting, but less well known blogs.” The grant funds could be used by a starting blogger to promote their blog through various paid “promo” services run by the company.
Portugal: Digital TV Controversy
A PhD thesis on the process of implementing Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) in Portugal presented evidence that the National Communications Authority, ANACOM, favoured private company Portugal Telecom (PT) in the tender. In response, PT and ANACOM have announced that they will take the researcher to court for defamation.
North Korea Announces Next Satellite Launch
North Korea’s state media announced that the country's 2nd satellite launch is planned around December 10-22. North Korea Tech wrote a post about it with links to related stories.
