Tag Archives: Global Censorship Update
Digital Media Mash Up Highlights
Weekly highlights from the world of digital media. Sign up here for the full version of CIMA’s weekly Digital Media Mash Up for a comprehensive list of resources on digital media.
The Open Society Foundations’ Mapping Digital Media project examines the global opportunities and risks created by the transition from traditional to digital media. Covering 60 countries, the project examines how these changes affect the core democratic service that any media system should provide: news about political, economic, and social affairs. The report on Serbia came out in December 2011. Here are some highlights:
Over the past five years, digitization has impacted significantly on the range and consumption of media content in Serbia. An increasing number of Serbians go online, and most media outlets invest in their online presence. Serbia has a strategy for switching over from analog to digital broadcasting, prepared with broad public consultation. Broadband internet has had by far the most significant growth among the available distribution platforms over the past five years. All that said, Serbia remains a television nation, with almost all households owning a TV set and three quarters of the population still using television as their main source of information. But the internet is catching up.
- Internet penetration: 23% of households (2009)
- Broadband: 82% of households with internet (2009)
- Television consumption: (2010) Terrestrial: 50%, Cable: 41%, Satellite: 9%
- Digital broadcasting: (2010) Terrestrial: <1%, Cable: <1%, Satellite: 7.7%
- Social media usage: Facebook: 2.02 accounts (2009)
- Mobile phones: 132% of the population (2010), 3G: 11.5% (2009)
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Journalism in the Digital Age
Should Social Media Be Taught in Journalism or Business School?
Over the last couple years there has been a surge in the number of universities and colleges offering some form of social media marketing classes and/or certificate programs as part of their curriculum. (10,000 Words, 2/6)
Blair Jenkins: Better Journalism in a Digital Age
Journalism is a profession based on trust. The quality of our national debate and discourse is directly related to the integrity and reliability of our news media. Vigilant journalism helps to prevent the erosion of civil liberties and provides significant benefits for wider society. (The Journalism Foundation, 2/8)
The Vital Role of Global Journalism in the Digital Age
A new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists shows the new challenges they face around the world. (The Atlantic, 2/7)
The Role of the Journalist in a Globalized World
VIDEO: Interview with Saskia Sassen, Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University at the PICNIC conference in Amsterdam. (European Journalism Center, January 2012)
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Research
ITU StatShot - Who Can Afford Broadband?
VIDEO: In October 2011, the Broadband Commission for Digital Development set the target that basic broadband service should cost less than 5% of average monthly income in all countries worldwide by 2015. How many countries already make the grade? And what are prices like in the poorest parts of the world, where broadband could be the critical catalyst for meeting the Millennium Development Goals in areas like education and health? (International Telecomms Union, January 2012)
Researchers Reveal What Goes into a Good Tweet
An analysis of 43,738 tweets from 1,443 users offers some valuable insights into emerging communication norms on Twitter. The study (PDF) by researchers Paul André of Carnegie Mellon, Michael Bernstein of MIT, and Kurt Luther of Georgia Tech aimed to uncover what makes for a good message on Twitter. (Reportr.net, 2/6)
The Pulse of News in Social Media: Forecasting Popularity
A new study claims it can predict the popularity of a news story on Twitter with an 84 percent accuracy rate by looking solely at four factors that affect content. The study, led by Bernardo Huberman of the Social Computing Lab Group at the Palo Alto-based HP Labs, examined the content of an article before it was published in determining how popular it would be on Twitter. (Social Computing Lab Group, February 2012)
Mobile Phones Central to Developing Countries’ Economic Success, Quality of Life: Global Poll
BBC World Service, January 2012
CHINA: Internet Companies in China: Dancing between the Party Line and the Bottom Line
The paper starts with an overview of the landscape of the Chinese Internet industry, followed by a review of the developmental trajectories of three important search companies in China – Baidu, Google, and Jike (the national search engine), whose stories are illustrative of the experiences of domestic, foreign and state Internet firms operating in China. The paper then outlines the Chinese government’s regulatory policies towards the Internet industry, which it is argued have undergone three stages: liberalization, regulation, and state capitalism. (IFRI, January 2012)
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Global Censorship Update
View Global Censorship Update – February 2012 in a larger map
Digital Media Mash Up Highlights
Weekly highlights from the world of digital media. Sign up here for the full version of CIMA’s weekly Digital Media Mash Up for a comprehensive list of resources on digital media.
The Open Society Media Program has commissioned background papers on a range of topics that are important for understanding the effects of new technology on media and journalism. The papers accompany a series of reports, “Mapping Digital Media,” on the impact of digitization on democracy in 60 countries around the world. This week, the program published “Social Media and News.”
The incredible growth of social media has dominated the Web 2.0 decade. With research showing that most internet users stumble across news online while looking for something else, news organizations can no more ignore social media than they can ignore the communities they seek to serve (and the markets which its advertisers seek to reach).
News organizations are being sidestepped by newsmakers that use social media to communicate directly with audiences; news products are being unbundled across multiple platforms; and production processes are becoming more networked.
New devices—mobile and tablets—are shifting consumption further into public and private work and leisure spaces, and there is still an enormous amount of innovation to come. Yet social media have not (yet) replaced other media. Television remains the most consumed and trusted news medium.
In this paper, Paul Bradshaw surveys the ways that news occurs in social media, and examines the implications for media-related values. It will, he concludes, become more important than ever to identify what exactly the role of journalists—and the news they report—should be, regardless of platform. Is it to hold power to account, give a voice to the voiceless and a platform for national, international, and local conversations? Or separate rumour from truth, or create well-informed citizens? New technologies provide new dangers along with new possibilities, and it will take governments, media and citizens some time to address them.
Research
The Numbers Just Keep On Getting Bigger: Social Media And The Internet 2011 [STATISTICS]
Did you know that there are now more than a billion social media profiles, representing around half of all internet users worldwide? Or that 44 percent of all online users are in Asia, and that China accounts for 485 million people, even with a countywide internet penetration of just 36.3 percent? (All Twitter, 1/23)
Report from the Internet Privacy Workshop
It’s been a long time coming, but last week saw the publication of RFC 6462, the Report from the Internet Privacy Workshop. The workshop, which was jointly hosted by the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) and others in December 2010, brought together experts from industry and the Internet standards community to better understand the role of privacy in Internet standardization work. (Center for Democracy and Technology, 1/23)
MENA: From Media Revolution to Street Revolution Twenty Years of Arab Commercial Satellite Television
These proceedings are the result of a symposium titled “From Media Revolution to Street Revolution: Twenty Years of Arab Commercial Satellite Television” hosted by Northwestern University in Qatar. The aim of the symposium was to bring together media scholars and professionals to develop a framework for teaching and researching media in the Arab world. (Northwestern University, January 2012)
BAHRAIN: Justice Denied in Bahrain: Freedom of Expression and Assembly Curtailed
This report documents the findings of a delegation comprised of representatives from six international rights groups (three members and three partners of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, IFEX), which carried out a fact-finding mission between 20-30 November, 2011, in order to gain an understanding of the state of free expression and the status of human rights defenders in Bahrain.1 The 11 recommendations made in this report include calls to end the harassment, imprisonment and prosecution of Bahraini citizens for what essentially amount to persecution of free expression and legitimate human rights work. The mission team was composed of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), Front Line Defenders, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), Index on Censorship, International Media Support (IMS) and the Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International.(International Mission to Bahrain Report, January 2012)
ECUADOR: WAN-IFRA Denounces Ecuador Government’s Authoritarian Turn
The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) published a report that illustrates how the government of Ecuador is carrying out “a sophisticated strategy of marginalising all voices independent of state power.” (WAN-IFRA, 1/23)
Global Censorship Update
View Global Censorship Update – January 2012 in a larger map
CIMA Weekly Digital Roundup
Highlights from the world of digital media. Sign up here for the full version of CIMA’s weekly Digital Media Mash Up.
Around the World
This Spring Breeze Did Not Arise in the West
So here I am, an Arab journalist in Silicon Valley, where four out of every four people I meet believe Facebook invented the Arab Spring. Three more weeks here and I may start to hallucinate that Mark Zuckerberg was a Cairo-slums native named Hassouna El-Fatatri, who rotted in a Mubarak prison for advocating personal privacy rights. (IPS, 12/23)
EGYPT: Egyptian Veteran Blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah Released
Egyptian veteran blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah has finally been released pending investigation from the Cairo Criminal Court yesterday after being detained for 56 days. (Global Voices Advocacy, 12/27)
EGYPT: Eyewitness Accounts of Raid on Civil Society Group in Cairo Posted on Twitter
As my colleagues David D. Kirkpatrick and J. David Goodman report, “Egyptian security forces stormed the offices of 17 nonprofit groups around the country on Thursday, including at least three democracy-promotion groups financed by the United States, as part of what Egypt’s military-led government has said is an investigation into ‘foreign hands’ in the recent outbreak of protests.” (New York Times, 12/29)
RUSSIA: Social Network In-Between Security Services and Free Market
As social networks in Russia like Vkontakte play an ever increasing role in communication between post-election protesters, so too grows the interest of the security services to limit them. This conflict leads to a hard choice: whether Vkontakte should respond to security service requests, or allow its users uncontrolled protest activity. (Global Voices, 12/28)
UNITED STATES: SOPA Is the End of Us, Say Bloggers
The conservative and liberal blogospheres are unifying behind opposition to Congress’s Stop Online Piracy Act, with right-leaning bloggers arguing their very existence could be wiped out if the anti-piracy bill passes. (Politico, 12/28)
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Issues for the New Year
TWITTER: A Dispute Over Who Owns a Twitter Account Goes to Court
How much is a tweet worth? And how much does a Twitter follower cost? (New York Times, 12/25)
AFRICA: 12 predictions for Africa Tech Scene in 2012
It has been a banner year for the Africa technology scene as the world begins to turn to the continent – the Economist Africa rising cover story article was for many, a big validation in the future opportunities as well as challenges for Africa. The best follow up post worth reading is by Professor Juma of the Harvard Kennedy School in the UK Guardian blog, both recognize the importance of the technology scene in supporting Africa’s prosperity. (Afrinnovator, 12/28)
Will 2012 Be the Year of Hypermedia?
Andy Carvin became synonymous with a new form of media curation in 2011, retweeting first-hand accounts of the revolutions in Egypt and its surrounding countries to his tens of thousands of followers. A small group of media visionaries is now working to ensure that the next Andy Carvin won’t be restricted to 140 characters. (GigaOM, 12/28)
How Online Audio Tools Can Help Journalists
First blogs, then Flickr, then YouTube, then Facebook, then Twitter, then Tumblr… If you were told there’s one more thing that you have to be using to survive in journalism, you’d be forgiven for lashing out. But that’s exactly what I’m going to do. (Poynter, 12/29)
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Digital Philosophy
Infinite Stupidity
A tiny number of ideas can go a long way, as we’ve seen. And the Internet makes that more and more likely. What’s happening is that we might, in fact, be at a time in our history where we’re being domesticated by these great big societal things, such as Facebook and the Internet. We’re being domesticated by them, because fewer and fewer and fewer of us have to be innovators to get by. And so, in the cold calculus of evolution by natural selection, at no greater time in history than ever before, copiers are probably doing better than innovators. Because innovation is extraordinarily hard. My worry is that we could be moving in that direction, towards becoming more and more sort of docile copiers. (Edge, 12/15)
Does the Journal Really Matter Anymore?
Following on my previous post, another thought that springs from personal experience and its convergence with someone’s research. If you look at my Google Scholar profile, you will note that in 2011 my citation counts exploded (by social science standards, mind you – in the qualitative social sciences an article with 50 citations or more is pretty huge). Now, part of this is probably a product of my academic maturation – a number of articles now getting attention have been around for 3-4 years, which is about how long it takes for things to work their way into the literature. However, I’ve also seen a surge in a few older pieces that had previously plateaued in terms of citations. This can’t be attributed to a new surge in interest in a particular topic, as these articles cross a range of development issues. However, they all seem to be surging since I got on Twitter and joined the blogosphere. (12/27)
Of Surrogate Futures and Scattered Temporalities
There can be no refuting Michael Edwards’ claim that the world we live in is not only thick with problems, but that the problems that we are collectively trying to address are ‘thick…complex, politicized and unpredictable…complicated and contested’. It is also difficult to disagree with the fact that the solutions we work with, are often too thin, fetishising enumeration of impact more than actual systemic change in areas of intervention. This is what he calls the ‘magic bullet’ approach to accounting for the work we do in a language and framework shaped by neo-liberal and corporate productivity in the age of late-capitalism. (Center for Internet and Society, 12/29)
On Nostalgia
Just last week I was discussing the terrifically interesting work of Michael Sacasas who pens The Frailest Thing, a poetic blog about technology and culture. [see: "Information Revolutions & Cultural / Economic Tradeoffs"] I highly recommend you follow his blog even if you struggle to keep up with his brilliance, as I often do. He posted another great essay today entitled, “Nostalgia: The Third Wave,” in which he discusses the work of the late social critic Christopher Lasch and his work on memory and nostalgia. Go read the entire thing since I cannot possible do it justice here. Anyway, I posted a short comment over there that I thought I would just republish here in case others are interested. I find the issue of nostalgia to be quite interesting. (Technology Liberation Front, 12/29)
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Research
Twitter Beats Facebook (And Everyone Else) As The Most Popular Social Network Of 2011
Twitter received more media coverage than any other social network in 2011, earning around half of all press reportage, beating Facebook into second place, says a new study. (MediaBistro, 12/27)
Broadcasting Board of Governors Fiscal Year 2011 Performance and Accountability Report
Arab Social Media Report
The societal and political transformations sweeping the Arab region have empowered large segments of the region’s population. Many stereotypes have been shattered, with Arab youth, “netizens” and women becoming the main drivers for regional change. Arab women in particular have become more engaged in political and civic actions, playing a critical leading role in the rapid and historic changes that have swept the region. Meanwhile, the debate about the role of social media in these transformations has reached policy making circles at the regional and global levels. (Dubai School of Government, December 2011)
It’s a Social World: Social Networking Leads as Top Online Activity Globally, Accounting for 1 in Every 5 Online Minutes
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the report It’s a Social World: Top 10 Need-to-Knows About Social Networking and Where It’s Headed. The report analyzes the current state of social networking activity around the globe, providing key insights into how social networking has influenced the digital landscape and implications for marketers operating in this social world. (comScore, 12/21)
CHINA: Presentation on Mapping Chinese Censorship
I recently presented my work on censorship mapping to my colleagues at the OII, including a couple of maps with early analysis of DNS manipulation in Chinese cities. The analysis is very preliminary, and there are a huge number of caveats even for the early results, but here’s the presentation. (Pseudonymity, 12/29)
The New Landscape for Civics and Politics (Especially in Mobile)
SLIDESHOW: Voting Information Technology Summit-GeekNetNYC (Pew Internet, 12/1)
Culturnomics 2.0: Forecasting Large-Scale Human Behavior Using Global News Media Tone in Time and Space
News is increasingly being produced and consumed online, supplanting print and broadcast to represent nearly half of the news monitored across the world today by Western intelligence agencies. Recent literature has suggested that computational analysis of large text archives can yield novel insights to the functioning of society, including predicting future economic events. Applying tone and geographic analysis to a 30–year worldwide news archive, global news tone is found to have forecasted the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, including the removal of Egyptian President Mubarak, predicted the stability of Saudi Arabia (at least through May 2011), estimated Osama Bin Laden’s likely hiding place as a 200–kilometer radius in Northern Pakistan that includes Abbotabad, and offered a new look at the world’s cultural affiliations. Along the way, common assertions about the news, such as “news is becoming more negative” and “American news portrays a U.S.–centric view of the world” are found to have merit. (First Monday, 9/5)
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Global Censorship Update
View Global Censorship Update – December 2011 in a larger map
CIMA Weekly Digital Roundup
Highlights from the world of digital media. Sign up here for the full version of CIMA’s weekly Digital Media Mash Up.
Hungary Media Law Update
Some updates after last week’s post on Media Law on Hungary:
Media Council Deals Serious Blow to Broadcasting Pluralism
Reporters Without Borders strongly condemns yesterday’s decision by Hungary’s Media Council to strip Klubradio, the country’s only national opposition radio station, of its broadcast frequency within a couple of months. (Reporters Without Borders, 12/21)
Hungary Court Rules Media, Criminal Law Violate Basic Rights
Hungary’s Constitutional Court vetoed parts of the media and criminal codes that were internationally criticized for curbing press freedom and the judiciary’s independence. The court also annulled a new law regulating religious organizations on procedural grounds, the court in Budapest said in three separate rulings that were e-mailed today. (Bloomberg, 12/19)
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Good Reads
How Luther Went Viral
Five centuries before Facebook and the Arab spring, social media helped bring about the Reformation. (The Economist, 12/17)
News as a Process: How Journalism Works in the Age of Twitter
We’ve written many times about how journalism is changing in the age of social media, thanks to what Om has called the “democracy of distribution” provided by tools like Twitter — and how everyone now has the opportunity to function as a journalist, even for a short time, during news events like the attack on Osama bin Laden’s compound. A new study of the way information flowed during the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year paints a fascinating picture of how what some call “news as a process” works, and the roles bloggers, mainstream media and other actors play during a breaking news event. More than anything, it’s a portrait of what the news looks like now. (GigaOM, 12/21)
Design Your Own Profession
The world is coming apart in many interesting ways. I recently bought an iPad. After using it for a few days I bought a wireless keyboard. A week later I bought a case that puts the iPad in one half and the keyboard in the other. Presto! A disaggregated laptop that is lighter and more versatile, since I can use the screen by itself as an e-reader and the keyboard with other devices. (Harvard Business Review, 12/22)
Like Democracies, Internet Freedom Cannot Be Taken For Granted
If there had been any doubt before, events over the past year have underscored just how important the Internet has become for activists fighting for human rights and democracy around the world. However, 2011 also highlighted how censorship, surveillance, and the shutdown of Internet and wireless services can impact digital activism. (New America Foundation, 12/22)
After Chinese Hacks, How Do We Secure the Internet of Things?
Reading about the Chinese hackers hitting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. I was struck by the last two paragraphs, which detailed how the hackers accessed the IP address of a thermostat — as well as the overall tone of resignation around preventing such attacks — and I wondered, how will we secure the web of things? (GigaOM, 12/21)
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Twitter Terrorism
AFGHANISTAN: Afghan War’s New Weapon: 140-Character Twitter Salvo
Afghanistan’s Twitter war began in earnest Sept. 14, during a sustained attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and the adjacent headquarters of the U.S.-led international military force. Until then, NATO officials had kept close tabs on the messages posted on two accounts linked to the Taliban’s media arm — but had refrained from engaging or acknowledging them. (Seattle Times, 12/20)
SOMALIA: U.S. Considers Combating Somali Militants’ Twitter Use
The United States government is increasingly concerned about the Twitter account of the Shabab militant group of Somalia, with American officials saying Monday that they were “looking closely” at the militants’ use of Twitter and the possible measures to take in response. (New York Times, 12/20)
Can the U.S. Government Close Social Media Accounts?
The Obama administration and The New York Times are teaming up to expose and combat the grave threat posed by a Twitter account, purportedly operated by the Somali group Shabab, and in doing so, are highlighting the simultaneous absurdity and perniciousness of the War on Terror. (Salon, 12/20)
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Research
CHINA: Weibo and “Iron Curtain 2.0” in China: Who Is Winning the Cat-and-Mouse Game?
At the 2008 Chinese Internet Research Conference, Lokman Tsui, in his paper titled “The Great Firewall as Iron Curtain 2.0,” argued that the Great Firewall metaphor obscures and limits our understanding of Internet censorship in China. The term, combining “great wall” and “firewall,” is used to describe the Chinese government’s efforts to control the Internet while at the same time drawing on the Cold War term “iron curtain.” Yet the phrase “Great Firewall of China” gives outsiders the wrong impression, suggesting that in order to bring freedom of speech to the Chinese people, the wall should be pulled down to enable all good things, such as democracy, from the outside to get in. The reality, however, is much more complicated. (East Asia Institute, 12/20)
PAKISTAN: InterMedia and PEPL Strengthen Capacity and Assess Needs in Pakistan’s FATA
InterMedia recently partnered with the Popular Engagement Policy Lab (PEPL) to conduct research in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan in support of radio programming produced by Raabta Consultants. Their radio shows aim to provide citizens with solutions to problems faced by them, their families and their communities, particularly problems that contribute to increased violence in society. (Intermedia, December 2011)
Arabic Highest Growth on Twitter, English Expression Stabilizes below 40%
The analysis, carried out by Semiocast, is an update of the study on language shares on Twitter published in February 2010. In October 2011, the top 5 languages used on Twitter were: English, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Malay. The survey was conducted on 5.6 billion public messages gathered between July, 1st 2010 and October, 31st 2011, to establish the evolution of most used languages on Twitter. (Semiocast, November 2011)
Global Digital Communication: Texting, Social Networking Popular Worldwide
Cell phones are owned by overwhelmingly large majorities of people in most major countries around the world, and they are used for much more than just phone calls. In particular, text messaging is a global phenomenon – across the 21 countries surveyed, a median of 75% of cell phone owners say they text. (Pew Research Center, December 2011)
43 Journalists Killed in 2011/Motive Confirmed
Committee to Protect Journalists 2011 Annual Report
The 10 Most Dangerous Places for Journalists
Reporters Without Borders has this year, for the first time, compiled a list of the world’s 10 most dangerous places for the media – the 10 cities, districts, squares, provinces or regions where journalists and netizens were particularly exposed to violence and where freedom of information was flouted. (Reporters Without Borders, 12/21)
The World Is Getting Unhappier, According to Twitter
‘Tis the season to be jolly. And a lot of us are during the holidays, if statistical analyses of our tweets provide sufficient measure. (CNet, 12/20)
MIDDLE EAST: The Revolutions Were Tweeted: Information Flows during the 2011 Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions
This article details the networked production and dissemination of news on Twitter during snapshots of the 2011 Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions as seen through information flows—sets of near duplicate tweets—across activists, bloggers, journalists, mainstream media outlets, and other engaged participants. (International Journal of Communication, December 2011)
(alternative link: http://www.danah.org/papers/2011/IJOC.html)
EFF’s Reading List from 2011
We’ve compiled a list of notable books from the past year that stuck out to us. Even if we don’t necessarily endorse the arguments being made in them, we’ve included them for adding some valuable insight on conversations surrounding our issues and the work that we do. (EFF, 12/21)
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Global Censorship Update – December 2011
View Global Censorship Update – December 2011 in a larger map
CIMA Weekly Digital Roundup
Highlights from the world of digital media. Sign up here for the full version of CIMA’s weekly Digital Media Mash Up.
China Cracks Down on Social Media Use
China has been in the news for its refocused efforts at censoring its citizens. Last week, Chinese authorities shut down 200 microblogs, claiming they contained porn or vulgar content. This week began with the arrest of a pair of citizens who were accused of spreading rumors online. This came as a top Chinese government official urged authorities to be more forceful in the way they manage the Web and the city of Beijing government said that users have three months to register with their real names or face legal consequences.
It’s working. The Financial Times reported that heavy users of Sina Weibo felt that the microblogs had become less vibrant because of new controls over the site. Perhaps the state will pick up the slack, however. Government-related microblogs increased threefold over 2011.
Other China-related digital news:
China Protest in Guangdong’s Wukan ‘Vanishes from Web’
China Needs Common Ground Online
Chinese Cyber-Attacks ‘Pinned to Users’
INFOGRAPHIC: How Big is China’s Social Media and Digital Market?
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Digital Media in the Middle East
The Role Of New Media And Communication Technologies In Arab Transitions – Analysis
The pace of events in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya in early 2011 led analysts to identify Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as an important catalyst of the Arab spring. Looking at the role of these tools in processes of political change, we distinguish two phases: firstly, their role in bringing down old regimes, and secondly, their significance in consolidating transitions to democracy once the revolutionary dust has settled. Whilst it is clear that ICTs made an essential contribution to the overthrow of Mubarak and Ben Ali, experiences from other parts of the world show that their role in sustaining the democratic transition process in the longer run is less certain. (Eurasia Review, 12/10)
How the Arab Spring Moved Citizen Journalists to Use Maps, HTML5 Instead of Text
Covering countries in political turmoil has opened the door to innovation: activists and citizen journalists are using maps, HTML5 and video to report the events of the Arab Spring instead of relying only on text. (Mashable, 12/13)
SYRIA: Syria’s Information Revolution Brings News Out of the Dark
Fadi Aho describes his childhood in northeast Syria in the 1980s as “living in a fortress within a fortress.” In Qamishle, near the borders of Turkey and Iraq, he was separated not only by the 650 kilometers between him and the political and cultural capital Damascus, but also by the tightly controlled police state, which he said had prevented him from knowing much about either home or abroad. “There was no real source of news,” he recalls. “No one talked about anything or knew anything.” (The Daily Star, 12/15)
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Digital Africa
AFRICA: Mobile Technology in Africa: A Comparative View between Kenya and South Africa
A recent GSMA report stated that Africa is currently the second biggest market for mobile in the world. This means that there is huge innovation potential in terms of mobile technology application development, as well as creating solutions (think access to information, ability to transfer money, creating jobs) for the more than 649 million handset owners on the continent. (MIH Media Lab, 12/12)
LIBERIA: AFP Features Ushahidi Liberia
VIDEO: Agence France-Presse visited Ushahidi Liberia’s office during the recent presidential elections to learn how the electoral process, and conflict across the country, was being mapped by partner organizations on the ground. (Ushahidi, 12/12)
SOMALIA: Somalia’s Insurgents Embrace Twitter as a Weapon
Somalia’s powerful Islamist insurgents, the Shabab, best known for chopping off hands and starving their own people, just opened a Twitter account, and in the past week they have been writing up a storm, bragging about recent attacks and taunting their enemies. (New York Times, 12/14)
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Digital Eurasia
ARMENIA: More Online Diplomacy
Following the recent Question & Answer session on Twitter with the UK’s new Ambassador to Azerbaijan, his outgoing counterpart in neighboring Armenia, Charles Lonsdale, is due to answer questions on Facebook on Friday 16th December. (Global Voices, 12/14)
KYRGYZSTAN: Crowdsourcing Tapped in Initiative to Add Kyrgyz to Google Translate
Kyrgyz speakers recruited on Facebook and other social networking sites have submitted nearly 30,000 pairs of texts in Kyrgyz and English in an effort aimed at getting Google to add Kyrgyz to the list of languages available on its automatic translation site. (Net Prophet, 12/14)
RUSSIA: After Mass Protests In Russia, Is The Kremlin Using Facebook To Ease The Pressure?
After posting a message on Facebook ordering officials to look into reports of possible violations at polling stations during the December 4 vote, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s page has been overwhelmed by negative comments. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 12/12)
UZBEKISTAN: An Uzbek PM on Facebook; A Funny Fantasy or for Real?
Have you gotten a “Friend Request” from O’zbekiston Respublikasi Bosh vaziri, Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Facebook yet? His personal page has 1,818 Friends, explains him to be a 100% Conservative believer in Islam, interested in Women and Married, inspired by various Westerners politicians and so on. There are even some professional photos, both uploaded and tagged, on his profile. But is this all real? (NewEurasia, 12/7)
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Research
SERBIA: Mapping Digital Media: Serbia
The Mapping Digital Media project examines the global opportunities and risks created by the transition from traditional to digital media. Covering 60 countries, the project examines how these changes affect the core democratic service that any media system should provide: news about political, economic, and social affairs. (Open Society Foundations, December 2011)
Towards a Cyber Security Strategy for Global Civil Society?
Cyberspace is at a watershed moment. Technological transformations have brought about an architectonic change in the communications ecosystem. Cyber crime has exploded to the point of becoming more than a nuisance, but a national security concern. There is a seriously escalating arms race in cyberspace as governments scale up capabilities in their armed forces to fight and win wars in this domain. Telecommunication companies, internet service providers (ISPs), and other private sector actors now actively police the internet. Pressures to regulate the global network of information and communications have never been greater. (Global Information Society Watch, December 2011)
mHealth: New Horizons for Health through Mobile Technologies
Based on the findings of the second global survey on eHealth, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched this report on the state of mobile technology usage in the field of health. It was written with support from the mHealth Alliance, the United Nations Foundation, and the Vodafone Foundation. The survey enquired about national trends in the adoption of mHealth in 14 specific areas ranging from the use of mobile technologies for health call centres and treatment compliance to mobile telemedicine and community mobilisation for health promotion. Member States were also asked to assess the most significant barriers to mHealth adoption for their country situation, as well as the practice of evaluating existing programmes. (Communication Initiative Network, 12/15)
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Global Censorship Update
View Global Censorship Update – December 2011 in a larger map
