Stories from 11 October 2008
India: Community Journalism with Video Volunteers
Video Volunteers is an organization of media producers from the villages and slums in India, creating content that is relevant to themselves and screening it inside the communities, reaching thousands of people a month with news and events that affect them and call them into action. Channel 19 is the online video channel where this media, created by and for the communities is showcased for the rest of the population.
Bahrain: Credit crunch explained
Bahraini blogger Evil Odd explains the credit crunch in simple terms: “There are three sheep in the farm. One carries inedible, infected meat. The other carries somewhat edible, but mostly tasteless meat. And the third carries what the rest of us know as good meat. The farmer realises that he...
Bahrain: The pleasures and perils of studying abroad
Although Bahrain has a number of universities, both government and private, many Bahrainis have the opportunity to go abroad to pursue undergraduate and postgraduate studies, often by means of scholarships. One of the first problems they face is that few people know where Bahrain is. In this post we hear about the experiences of three bloggers who have just gone abroad for higher studies, to Japan, Britain and the United States, and a fourth blogger who has been studying in India for some time.
Dominican Republic: 1st twitter meetup
Claudia Chez Abreu [es] writes about the upcoming Twitter.do meet-up. They still haven't decided on a date, but they are working on a spreadsheet to estimate number of participants who would show up and the best date for the event. The plan is to go bowling, so if you are...
El Salvador: Getting a driver's license at 15
Arianna writes at the Dunlaps in San Salvador blog [en] about the process to get a driver's license in El Salvador at 15. In this humorous article in English she mentions the requisites and gives us a tip on what to do if a driver sees a dog on the...
Latin America: More lore, ghosts, demons and frights
On this second installment on the Myths, Lore and Legends of Latin America, we will get to know the Venezuelan Animas and their unfinished business, the Sayona and the Whistler, and Ecuadorian myths such as the foundation myth of Guayas and Kil, Father Almeida, the Headless Priest, the gagones (something similar to familiars) and the Cantuña Cathedral myth.
Armenia: Peace Corps Volunteer Blogs
While the number of blogs on or based in the South Caucasus is often put in the tens of thousands, the actual number of bloggers is significantly lower. Moreover, the vast majority based on the ground are usually situated in the capital cities of the three republics making up the...
Laos: Bike trip
GV author Caroline blogs about her bike trip in Laos
Brunei: Railway line, 1952
The Daily Brunei Resources writes about a 1952 Brunei Darussalam Annual Report which mentioned an old railway line in Brunei.
Brunei: Cell phone cake
A birthday gift for whatiate2day from Brunei: a cell phone birthday cake
Japan: Chart Maniax
Japanese programmer and blogger id:amachang introduces [ja] Chart Maniax [ja], a service they developed for charting when and through which services web pages have been bookmarked. Services included are Hatena Bookmarks [ja], Livedoor Clip [ja], Delicious and Buzzurl [ja]. As an example, have a look at the chart for id:amachang's...
Korea: The Death of an Actress and…
The death of Choi Jin Sil, who has been regarded as a ‘national actress,’ gave a big shock to Korean society. Her image has been like a self-righting toy, from her poverty in childhood to a renowned actress, and from the failure of marriage with a big scandal to the...
Egypt: We are All Laila
We are all Laila, echo Egyptian female bloggers in one voice. Who is Laila and why do Egyptian girls and women associate themselves with her? Read on to learn how Egyptian bloggers are working to break the gender barrier and make their voices heard.
Russia: A Ticketless Passenger
In Moscow, you can buy a bus/trolleybus/tram ticket from the driver and it'll cost you 25 rubles, which is roughly $1. If you buy your tickets at special kiosks, you get a discount. But some people prefer to cheat and ride for free. A ticketless passenger is known as zayats in Russian: a hare. Moscow-based LJ user kozenko described a recent encounter with one representative of this species.
