Stories from Quick Reads from March, 2013
Why China's Real-Name Microblog Rules Fail
The real-name registration regulation of micro-blogs in China has been implemented for more than a year, but a majority of netizens just ignore the regulation. David Caragliano from Tea Leaf Nation explains why the regulation has failed.
Crowdmapping Ukraine's Snow Volunteers
Watcher.com.ua reports [uk] that Kyiv-based netizens have set up an online volunteer coordination map [uk, ru] and a website [uk, ru] to offer help to those affected by the unprecedented snowfall in Ukraine's capital [see this GV text]. The map indicates the location of volunteers who can offer hot drinks...
24 hours in the Life of a French Newsroom
The Journalism School of Lille [fr], in partnership with Canal France International (CFI), set up a website for online resources on journalism: 24 hours in the life of a newsroom. The objective of the site is that anyone who so wishes can learn through the experience of media professionals. The...
Google's Bangladeshi Independence Doodle
Aminul Islam Sajib reports that Google featured Bangladeshi National Flag as a Doodle on the occasion of the Independence Day of Bangladesh (26th March, 1971) which was a long time demand from Bangladeshi netizens.
The Highest Money Transfer Fees in the World Are in Sub-Saharan Africa
Babylas Serge de Souza wrote [fr] on his blog: Sub-Saharan Africa is the most expensive destination in the world for money transfer: the average cost of transfer from abroad reached 12.4% in 2012. The average cost of money transfers to Africa as a whole is around 12%, which is higher than...
‘Foreign Ideas’ as Extremism in Central Asia
[I]n former Soviet Central Asia there is little debate that the root problem [of extremist beliefs] is “foreign ideas,” defined so broadly as to become a target of opportunity for both every political purpose and every local policeman or official’s ambition. Any sign of dissent from state policies or ideology <...> can be enough to bring the wrath of the state, sometimes with great violence.
24 Steps to Improve Your Reporting
24 hours in the life of a news room shares great ideas and resources with journalists working in print, TV, radio or on the web. It is available in five languages. For online journalism, it covers topics from news monitoring and HTML basics to traffic analysis tools and comments moderation.
Saudi Royal Advisor to Sue Twitter User
On Riyadh Bureau, Ahmed Al Omran writes: A member of the Saudi Shoura Council said today that he is going to sue a conservative writer for attacking him on Twitter. Shoura member Issa al-Ghaith said that “due to the escalation of offenses on Twitter and the necessity of legal action”...
University Builds Internet Red Army in China
Since 2010, Guangdong Baiyun University started running a “Students’ Internet and Social Media Information Monitoring” team to watch students’ online activities. More from Off Beat China.
Trinidad & Tobago: Falling Apart?
The Eternal Pantomime sees disturbing parallels between the late Chinua Achebe's famous novel ‘Things Fall Apart’ and the political and social climate in Trinidad and Tobago.
Central African Republic's Self-Declared President
Following the taking of the presidential palace in Bangui by the Sékéla rebellion, their leader Michel Djotodia has declared that he is now the new president [fr] of the Central African Republic: I do not wish for a witch hunt [..] For now, a curfew is declared in Bangui.
Jamaica: The Female Image in Dancehall
[It] can be seen…as a celebration of full-bodied female sexuality. Especially the substantial structure of the Black working-class woman whose body image is rarely validated… Jamaica Woman Tongue thinks International Women's Month is the perfect time to put forward a different perspective of dancehall culture.
Japan's Prime Minister On Your Smartphone
The Japanese prime minister’s office revealed apps that give smartphone users easy access to official announcements and photos from official events. Masaru Ikeda at StartupDating writes: for the younger generation who don’t subscribe to physical newspapers or watch TV news shows, it could be a good touch point for them to stay up to speed...
Nepal’s Politics in Crisis Once Again
Nepal’s political parties have again failed to respect the people's mandate to elect a prime minister and instead have installed Chief Justice (CJ) Khila Raj Regmi as the head executive (chairman of the interim electoral council of ministers). Shiromani Dhungana at United We Blog! for a Democratic Nepal writes about...
Strike On Facebook Protesting Strikes
In recent months continuous strikes (Hartal) by political parties have paralyzed Bangladesh. A number of Facebook users have had enough and called for a Facebook strike on 23rd of March 2013 from 9:00pm until 10:00pm (UTC+07) protesting the strikes.
Bolivia: Book Bill Excludes Copyleft
Bolivian activists are on alert [es] and writing a collaborative proposal [es] on the new Book and Reading Act [es] in the Plurinational Legislative Asemply (Parliament). The bill seeks to encourage the production and reading of texts of various kinds in the country; however, the bill passed by the Lower...
Shedding Light on Macedonia's “Black Monday”
In order to shed light on the events of Dec. 24, 2012, when journalists and opposition MPs were thrown out of the Macedonian Parliament [en, es, mk], Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia (@fosim) published a study entitled “Black Monday” [.pdf: en, mk, sq], with testimonies of witnesses and participants and...
Vietnam Police Question Activist Over Article
According to a Radio Free Asia report written by Y. Lan and Rachel Vandenbrink, Vietnamese activist Le Cong Cau of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam was accused by the police of spreading subversive propaganda in connection to an article he wrote espousing political pluralism.
Travel Blogging in Vietnam
Pham Hoang Mien is disappointed that only few Vietnamese bloggers are writing about the country's tourism potential. She notes that most of the travel bloggers writing about Vietnam are either expats or international tourists. She wants local netizens to blog more about tourism.
