Stories about Technology from October, 2011
USA: October 15 on the Streets and Social Networks
It's no secret that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, among other social networks, have played a key role in the recent local and global protests. As was expected, the global protests of October 15 thoroughly used them too.
Brazil: Creating Opportunities for Life After Jail
While serving time in jail, Ronaldo Monteiro kickstarted a project with fellow detainees and turned his life around. Years later, released on parole, Monteiro now coordinates an NGO that offers opportunities of social reintegration for young offenders, detainees and former detainees in Brazil.
Russia: Networked Volunteers Save Lives of Missing Children
In September 2010, 4-year-old Liza and her aunt went missing in the forest and were found dead. Liza's volunteer rescuers decided to establish a network called "Liza Alert" whose members would engage immediately once a child was lost.
Russia: Facebook Bots Massively Vote for Putin
Russian online magazine “Slon” exposes [ru] significant increase in activity of Facebook fake accounts who vote for Putin in online opinion polls. The bots are active not only on Facebook but also on online media websites that allow to use Facebook profiles for voting.
Azerbaijan: Twitter Action for Jabbar Savalan
Following a Twitter campaign by Amnesty International calling for the release of imprisoned journalist Eynulla Fatullayev, the international human rights watchdog has launched another in support of a young Facebook activist in Azerbaijan who was jailed in May. The earlier action was followed by Fatullayev's release just days later and...
Saudi Arabia Blocks Blogging Platform tumblr
Social media researcher Helmi Noman tweets: “#Saudi Arabia blocks blogging platform tumblr.com”
Japan: Campaign to increase inbound tourism
In response to the ministry of tourism's plan to invite 10,000 foreigners to Japan, Danny Choo asks what your travel plans would be. The campaign's aim is to create buzz by leveraging social media to attract tourists to Japan.
Russia: The Future of LiveJournal's Network Effect
A newspaper article titled "A Half-Dead Journal," which analyzed the drop in LiveJournal's traffic within the last nine months, provoked a heated discussion on the structure and the future of the Russian blogosphere.
USA: Legendary Computer Scientist Dennis Ritchie Has Died
Computer science legend Dennis Ritchie died on October 8, 2011, in his home in New Jersey at the age of 70, leaving behind a legacy of enormous impact on global development. Ritchie was the developer of the C programming language, one of the most widely used programming languages of all time.
Russia: Investigative Journalists Expose Security Services Monitoring Internet
Andrey Soldatov and Irina Borogan, famous investigative journalists, describe [ru] software and methods used by Russian security services to monitor the Internet. Journalists argue that while Federal Security Service (FSB) can easily monitor Russian social networks (like Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki and others), it has problems with monitoring foreign platforms (like Facebook and...
Ethiopia: Netizens Take Campaign for Shweya Mullah Online
A social media campaign for justice is raging amongst Ethiopians online after a CNN journalist, Dan Rivers, revealed the horrifying abuse of Shweyga Mullah who was brutally injured after the wife of Gaddafi’s son poured boiled water on her body for allegedly failing to keep a crying child quiet.
Mexico: U.S. Alleges Iranian Assassination Plot Involving Los Zetas
Reports that the U.S. Justice Department charged two men with conspiring with "factions of the Iranian government" to assassinate Saudi Arabia's U.S. ambassador and to bomb the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington - allegedly with assistance from the Los Zetas drug cartel - provoked strong reactions from netizens in Mexico and around the globe.
Macedonia: Comparing Steve Jobs to Tito
“Comrade Apple died” – the anonymous Taen bloger (= Secret Blogger) used the language imitating the original 1980 TV announcement [sr] of the death of the beloved Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito to comment [mk] on the reactions following the death of Steve Jobs.
Chile: Education Reform Triumphs in Unofficial Plebiscite
After five months of protests and school takeovers, Chile’s student movement continues to mobilize for an overhaul of the country’s education system. Over the weekend an overwhelming majority of Chileans voted in favor of education reform in an unofficial and symbolic plebiscite.
Trinidad & Tobago: Understanding Social Media Terminology
A message for mainstream media: not everyone who posts information on the Internet is a blogger. Gerard Best says that “if we’re going to be reporting on the electronic media, we should try to get the lingo right.”
Italy: “Wiretapping Bill” could drastically limit freedom of information
The Italian Parliament is about to vote on a very stringent “wiretapping Bill” [it] aimed at drastically limiting judicial investigations and journalism inquiries, thus blocking free speech about new scandals exposing top-level politicians, as many of such cases keep emerging. After a recent “strike” by Wikipedia Italy [it] and a...
Russia: LiveJournal Loses 23 Percent of the Audience in 2011
Vedomosti analyses [ru] serious drop (23-25 percent in 2011) in LiveJournal traffic. While most analytics agree that the decrease is connected to DDoS attacks on the RuNet's main political platform as well as interface improvements in Facebook and Google+, LiveJournal representative explain the negative dynamics with ‘summer seasonal prevalence.’
Chileans Say Goodbye to Steve Jobs on Twitter
Katie Manning from Mi Voz [es] gathers Twitter reactions to Steve Jobs’ death. She quotes Twitter users from cities like Arica and Antofagasta in the North, and Osorno and Temuco in the South.
Trinidad & Tobago: What Would Steve Jobs Do?
Mark Lyndersay talks about why Steve Jobs mattered so much to the world of technology.
Jamaica, U.S.A.: #OccupyTogether Going Global
Diaspora blogger Labrish Jamaica says of the global spread of the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon: “BRILLIANT! May this be the beginning of the end of the immoral, rapacious greed and criminality that has overrun democracy in favor of the 1% plutocratic overlords…”
Portugal: Lisbon Hosts Citizenship 2.0 Event
On October 13, Lisbon is going to host an event about new platforms that promote dialogue in society, aiming to stimulate the discussion between the Portuguese government, public administration, NGOs and citizens – Cidadania 2.0 (Citizenship 2.0). Some sessions are going to be livestreamed [pt], and the hashtag #cid20 is...
