Stories about Technology from November, 2011
Syria: Reports of Slow Internet
On Twitter, Syrian blogger Anas reports [ar]: “The Internet has been unbeliveably slow for a few days in Syria. I think it is something done on purpose and not just a technical issue.”
Italy: End of the Road for Berlusconi
Amidst scandals and controversies, the Italian Prime Minister resigned on Saturday, after losing his parliamentary majority during a crucial budget vote. As the technocrat Mario Monti is appointed as head of the new government, many Italians celebrate (on the streets and online) this historic event.
Russia: Interview With LJ User Politrash-ru
A Good Treaty interviews [ru, en] “the author behind one of LiveJournal’s most popular anonymous blogs” – Politrash_ru.
Armenia-Azerbaijan: Facebook Diplomacy
In an attempt to initiate a mature discussion on resolution of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, The South Caucasus Diary asks a Facebook Question to solicit responses on possible solutions and explains why. In a separate post, Global Voices’ Caucasus Editor comments...
UAE: Telecom Regulator in Talks on Banning iPhone Messaging Features
From the UAE, Tom Gara tweets: “Interesting to see UAE telco[m] regulator in talks on banning messaging features on new iPhone. To protect consumers, of course.”
Italy: Huge celebrations for Berlusconi's resignation
Millions of Italians (worldwide) are celebrating an historic moment: the official resignation of PM Silvio Berlusconi, now on his way to the Presidential Palace. Huge celebrations are also being planned online, with live video streaming from downtown Rome, Facebook pages, YouTube videos, on-going tweets and so on.
Italy/Tunisia: Migrants’ Opinions of the Arab Spring
A documentary film, #Revolution, featuring the voices of some African immigrants living in Italy will be part of "Immaginafrica", a festival dedicated to African film-making organised by the University of Padua, Italy.
Trinidad & Tobago: Parental Disconnect?
West Indian Mother wonders if “by being so connected – so technologically available – [parents are] potentially losing touch with the little people who should be their priority.”
Cuba: The Democracy of Twitter
Generation Y is shocked at the “arrogance” with which Mariela Castro responded to a question she posed on Twitter, but still believes that “verbal attack is a habit that can be cured. The voice can be trained, tolerance acquired, the ear opened to listening to others. Twitter is a magnificent...
Haiti: “Abandoned Population”
Dying in Haiti republishes the desperate pleas of a Catholic priest in Robillard, who says that “several of the family members of the cholera inpatients of [the area] have TB symptoms. The situation of Robilllard is definitely becoming chaotic. We cannot expose an entire population to some TB people.”
Cuba: “Antunez” Reportedly Critical
Pedazos de La Isla reports that “Yris Tamara Aguilera, wife of Jorge Luis Garcia ‘Antunez’ and active resistance member herself, has made declarations in regards to the health of her husband who was jailed two days ago during a non-violent sit-in.”
Cuba: “Antunez” Under Investigation
Cuban bloggers report on the re-arrest of the dissident “Antunez”, here and here.
Latin America: New Online Learning Platform Oja.la
The Next Web highlights new online leaning platform Oja.la [es], which plans to offer IT courses in Spanish starting with “How to find investors for an online project” with entrepreneur Wenceslao Casares. However, as TNW explains, students have to pre-register through Facebook because Oja.la wants to “makes sure enough people...
Poland: Open Government Data Camp 2011 and the Future of Open Data
At this year's Open Government Data Camp in Warsaw, "you could talk to techies, members of transparency-oriented NGOs, journalists, social activists, government officials, EU Commission representatives and so on." Jakub Górnicki reports.
Czech Republic: Open Source Initiative to Visualize State Budget
KohoVolit‘s Michal Škop and Centrum Cyfrowe [pl] from Poland announced that the open source application Raw Salad [pl] used to hack the Polish state budget will also be used in the Czech Republic. Besides publishing the budget data using this new way, Czechs will also create a dedicated portal with...
Grenada: On Self-Publishing
Tobias Buckell is “seriously getting tired of prominent self publishers” and explains why, here.
Report on North Korea's Digital Revolution
Martyn Williams of the North Korea Tech blog wrote about the Nautilus Institute's new report on North Korea. According to the report, North Korea's mobile communications industry has grown so rapidly and widely that even the regime can no longer has absolute control over it.
Trinidad & Tobago: Controversial Show Suspended
Plain Talk “congratulate[s]…the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad & Tobago for their intervention in the issue surrounding the continuous breaches of the law, the Broadcast Code and common decency that has become the hallmark of the Crime Watch show and its subsequent suspension from broadcast”, while Facebook comments left by the...
Hong Kong: Barcamp 2011
The 2011 Barcamp (Hong Kong) will be taken place in the City University of Hong Kong this Saturday.
Brunika: Brunei's Instagramers Community
Brunika is Brunei's official instagramers network whose vision is for each members to “Share, Good Communication and Own Creativity”
Trinidad and Tobago: animated voices
ban-d-wagonist posts a video clip in which Trinidadian artist James Hackett interviews participants in the just-concluded Anime Caribe animation festival in Port of Spain.