Stories from 15 July 2013
Data Visualization: Electric Japan
Electrical Japan [ja], a website by researcher Asanobu Kitamoto [ja] lets you explore electric power plants and energy consumption in Japan through data-visualization. The color of the dots represents the type of power plant, for example fossil-fuel plants are red and hydroelectric plants are blue. The size of the dot represents the amount of power generated....
Snowden Airport Saga Polarizes Russian Human Rights Community
Are some of Russia's human right defenders guilty of letting the Kremlin score a few PR points?
Puerto Rican Artist Shares Her Passion for Paper
Aydasara Ortega's Facebook wall has been transformed into an exhibit space, where she and others, "reclaim their physical and mental space" by making hand-crafted paper.
Caribbean: We Are Trayvon Martin
“Not guilty”. With those two words, a firestorm of discussion broke out among Caribbean netizens over the acquittal of George Zimmerman in Trayvon Martin‘s death.
Mexico Becomes Destination for Migrants
Rudi Solaris left his native Honduras because his fellow cops tried to kill him. Levi Bridges tell his story in our series on Migrant Journeys in Latin America.
Multiple Resignations at the Media Association of Trinidad & Tobago
Netizens following developments in the Trinidad Guardian newsroom controversy were looking forward to new information that should have been revealed at a Media Association press conference today.
Snowden, the NSA, and Latin America: Beyond the Headlines
While the U.S. media has focused on the response of Latin American leaders to the incident involving Evo Morales' plane being rerouted in Europe, the debate in the region on the US mass surveillance program goes far beyond the headlines.
Puerto Rico a Hub for Spying on Latin America
The Center of Investigative Journalism of Puerto Rico reported that in a series of classified documents leaked by Edward Snowden, it appears that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were using a naval base on the island as the center of operations to spy...
Riau, Indonesia: ‘Ground Zero’ of Southeast Asia Haze
The deadly haze which swept Singapore and some parts of Malaysia this year was caused by the forest fires in Riau, Indonesia. Naturally, it attracted significant mainstream media attention but there was scant reporting on the situation of Riau citizens who have tremendously suffered and are still suffering from the impact of both the haze and forest fires.
‘Gender-Based Violence’ Mapping in Cambodia
The Open Institute NGO has launched a crowdsourced gender-based violence mapping tool in Cambodia to promote and protect women rights. The project echoes the need for public awareness about the issue of violence against women and how new technologies and the Internet can be tapped to address the problem.
Punish the Unmarried in China?
Starting from July 1, 2013 China put into effect a new filial piety law, requiring grown children to visit their parents “frequently”. In reaction to the law, an elderly suggested to punish the unmarried one: My kids shouldn't be treated as a violator of any law if they don’t visit...
Web Popularity of Japan's Candidates Ranked
In the midst of Japan's first election campaign where politicians are officially allowed to use social media, freelance engineer Masahide Mori [ja] has compiled a ranking [ja] based on the number of likes and the number of subscribers on the Facebook pages of candidates. Users can view increase and decrease of Facebook...
Will the New President's Key Unlock Any of Iran's Problems?
The campaign symbol of president-elect Hassan Rouhani was a key. Now, Iranian netizens are discussing whether Rouhani will actually be able to open any locks.
