Stories about Technology from May, 2011
Russia Opens Its First “Creative Commons” Portal
Russian Institute of the Information Society created “Creative Commons Russia,” the first Internet portal in the country working under Creative Commons licenses, Russian collaborative blog Habrahabr.ru reported.
China: Ai Weiwei's Chat with Public Opinion Channeler
China Media Project has translated a portion of Ai Weiwei's interview with a public opinion channeler or the so-called member of 50 Cent Party which was conducted back in March 22 2011.
Cuba: Role of Police in Dissident's Death
Generation Y says of the death of dissident Juan Wilfredo Soto: “I don’t know how the authorities of my country are going to explain it, but I doubt, this time, they will manage to persuade us it wasn’t the fault of the police”; Along the Malecon adds a few more...
Russia: ‘Online Superman’ Navalny Has Bloggers Divided
Alexey Navalny is much more than a blogger. He exploded onto the Russian Internet with scandalous revelations, often against political figures, and quickly grew into the country's "online Superman," fighting what seems to be an unwinnable war against corruption and an army of human bots. Not all bloggers are diehard fans though; many still deeply distrust Navalny.
India: E-Governance Initiative Using LED Screen Shows
Badhri Jagannathan at Think Change India informs that Gujarat government has launched an e-governance pilot initiative called ‘Gujarat Swarnim Gram E-Broadcast Project’ in the villages of Amreli which will disseminate information useful to rural livelihood by erecting large LED screens in public places.
Nepal: Facebook Movement Demanding Constitution
Pradeep Kumar Singh informs that frustrated by the inability of the incumbent government to enact the new constitution of Nepal on time, some Nepali youth started a Facebook group to create a movement to pressurize the government.
Syria: Reports of Telecom Disruptions as Protests Rage
Twitter users in Syria are reporting that mobile internet telecommunications have been disrupted today, as protests continued across the country. Some also report that landlines and electricity have been disconnected in different areas.
Sub-Saharan Africa: Surge in Use of Mobile Phones
André-Michel Essoungou writes the following on the site reseautelecom.com: “According to the ITU [International Telecommunication Union], investments in the African mobile phone sector, the prime mover of information and communication technologies, went from US$8.1 billion in 2005 to nearly US$70 billion today. These technologies are about to become the driving...
Algeria: Rachad Movement Website No Longer Censored; Radio Kalima Still Is
Blocked by the Algerian government on January 1, 2010, without motive or prior notice, the website of the Rachad Movement rachad.org [fr] is once again accessible in Algeria. Now, only the Radio Kalima site kalimadz.com [fr] continues to be censored. The Rachad Movement filed a complaint on May 11, 2010, with the...
Lebanon: Perceptions on Lebanon’s recent protests
Lebanese media outlet Hibr posted the results of a survey taken by 185 people online about the different perspectives that people in Lebanon have about the recent protests which took place in the country.
Azerbaijan: Facebook activist sentenced
Jabbar Savalan, a 20-year-old opposition youth activist arrested in Azerbaijan on 5 February, has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison on drug possession charges. Amnesty International says that the case was politically motivated and was linked to Savalan's political activities which included making calls for post-MENA...
Haiti, U.S.A.: Communication & Power
Throwing Down the Water wonders about the meaning behind the fact that Osama bin Laden’s capture was tweeted, saying: “It is still a victor-led world. History is still being written by those in power. The difference is that the victor knows it and so must…be ever so slightly more accountable...
Greece: Arab Cyberactivists To Speak About Networked Uprisings
Global Voices authors Tarek Amr and Lina Ben Mhenni, as well as the administrator of Tunisian group blog Nawaat, Malek Khadraoui, will be speaking in Athens on May 7, 2011 about the Arab revolutions and online censorship, in an event [el] organized by Greek political zines re-public and konteiner. Nawaat is the...
Pakistan: Probing Questions After Bin Laden
Three days after the assassination of Osama Bin Laden in a compound less than 2 kilometers away from the country's premier military academy, a lot of questions remain unanswered. As the world media continues to criticize and demand answers from Pakistani authorities, Pakistanis have also raised similar questions and continue to discuss possible scenarios.
Nigeria: Social Media and the 2011 Elections
Pharmacist, journalist, photographer, social networker, poet and fiction writer. Meet Nigerian journalist Tolu Ogunlesi and find out his opinion on social media and his country's recent elections.
Russia: Anti-Corruption Donor Details Leaked
In the middle of April 2011, donors to the Russian anti-corruption, whistle-blowing website Rospil.info [ru] began to report that they had received strange calls and emails from unknown people, some claiming to be journalists, asking about their donations to Rospil and why they support the website’s founder, popular Russian blogger Alexey Navalny.
Russia: E-Gov Blogger Discusses Technology and Transparency (Video)
Yekaterina Aksyonova, creator of gov-gov.ru, one of the most informative blogs about e-government in Russia, met with Global Voices at Central Asian BarCamp recently and answered several questions on the role of technology and transparency.
South Korea: Police Raids Google Korea Over Location Data Collection
Google's Seoul office was raided on May 3 on suspicion that it had illegally collected location data without consent. Thom Craver summarized a series of conflicts Google had with Korean government in the Search Engine Watch blog.
Russia: Who is Restricting the Russian Internet?
Russia's position in American non-profit organisation Freedom House's report "Freedom on the Net 2011" ratings has dropped from the previous findings in 2009. The report analyses freedom of access to the Internet in 2009-2010 in 37 countries. According to author Marina Litvinovich, to "liberate" the Internet and raise Russia's position in Freedom House's ratings, the Russian community must turn its attention to Article 282 and start a campaign to have it repealed.
India: Bangalore Police Has A Facebook Page
Anupam Saxena at Medianama reports that the Bangalore Traffic police has launched a Facebook page, for connecting with citizens as a department.
Pakistan: Osama’s Death – Different Perspectives
The news of the death of Osama Bin Laden is still creating commotion in world media and especially in social media. Aamir Raz Soomro from Karachi brings to us some different perspectives on how Pakistanis on social media reacted to this eventful news.
