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About Global Voices Online:  Saturday Dec.11th · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

“Global Voices Online: Blogging for Independent Journalists, Concerned Citizens and Activists” is part of a larger conference, Internet & Society 2004: Votes, Bits & Bytes, scheduled for December 10 and 11, 2004 at Harvard Law School.  Hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society,  I&S2004 will examine the use of information and communications technologies in the transformation of politics.  The “Global Voices Online” track is made possible with help from the Open Society Institute Information Program and Spirit of America.
The conference's first day on Friday Dec. 10th  will take on a more formal structure, with meetings attended by all participants. (We”ll link to the schedule here as soon as it goes online.)  GVO Saturday participants are also invited to attend all I&S Friday events.
Day two on Saturday will be organized into smaller, more freewheeling workshop and discussion “tracks.” “Global Voices Online” will be one of four tracks. This day-long discussion will focus on the use of weblogs and other new technologies to enhance online global dialogue and political advocacy. Participants will include an international webloggers, journalists and activists with an interest in online communication techniques. A major focus of the meeting will be to develop strategies for spreading the use of online participatory media by civil society, activists, and journalists in places generally ignored by the mainstream international media.  We hope that the meeting will lead to more extensive dialogue and mentoring relationships between international political bloggers and journalists/activists who are considering using weblogs and other new technologies for advocacy in their own regions.
Our discussions will be divided into four sessions.
Please click here to view, discuss and shape the schedule.

source: news-globalvoices

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Rebecca MacKinnon


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Dec. 11 workshop schedule · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Here is our proposed schedule for the day.  It is open for discussion.  Please let us know what you think, what you'd like to change, and what role you'd like to play:
9-10:30:
Intro: Rebecca and Ethan, theory behind the day – more a brainstorm than a show and tell, heading towards a “grand vision” of how peer produced media can change the world, bring about world peace and make everything okay forever.
…leading quickly into the meat of the session:
How to bridge blog: Probably led by Xiao Qiang, possibly featuring Ory Okolloh, Head Heeb. How do you explain what's going on in a different place and culture to an audience that's interested but inexperienced? How do you use digital tools to build links between people in different countries and cultures?
11-12:30:
Building a local blogosphere: Hoder leads, possibly with Krista from politika.lv, and Iraqi blogger TBA.  How did the Iranian and Iraqi blogospheres come about, what are the similarities and differences, and what lessons can people learn for building their own blogospheres?
2-3:30:
Tools: Ethan leads, possibly with help from whoever wins the OSI toolset tender, Shimon Rura, Kwin Kramer or any other toolmakers in the room. An overview of various tools, not just blogs. A discussion about what we need in blogging tools and new uses for the tools we already have.
4-5:30:
Grand vision and Manifesto: Joi Ito leads.  Perhaps with Jim Moore. The goal is to come up with a vision statement/manifesto that unites our efforts, gives some vision and coherence to the individual projects we're all working on…
…then go out to eat, drink, and celebrate…
We're planning on using the Bloggercon model – that is to say, no formal speakers or panels – instead, structured discussions with one or more leaders who've prepared 5-10 minute statements.


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Death threats against Hoder · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan, aka Hoder, is concerned about death threats against him and other Iranian bloggers emanating from a blog called Islamic Army.
Hoder writes:
I never took them seriously before, but this time I'm a bit concerned, because they seem to be a different group who have possibly liked the original blog and have tried to adopt their message and to prepare enough evidence for the original claims, at least about me. (Although I'm the first place in their the original list, there are many other names.)
It seems they have a serious message this time, and when I add this to the recent mentions of my name in the radical Islamic newspapers such as Jomhouri-e Eslami and Kayhan, it doesn't look very good.
So, even though it still may be only a childish game, I guess I have to inform Canadian police and contact Google to see whether they can trace them, especially via their emails in their Gmail account: islamicarmy@gmail.com
Go to Hoder's post for more information, to give him support, and let him know what you think.
(This has been cross-posted on www.Rconversation.com)


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Global Voices Aggregator · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

I have created a special aggregator for GVO.  All confirmed participants with blogs or a site with an RSS feed have been plugged into it.
All confirmed participants are also being given author access to the Bloglines aggregator (you should all receive an email about this).  I've set up different folders for different regions of the world. Please plug in your favorite English-language blogs from around the world.  (Perhaps we can create separate folders for different languages – anybody with author access can do this.)   By aggregate blogs from around the world we hope initially to get a better picture of what an English-reader can learn about the world from reading blogs that he or she cannot learn from just reading mainstream media.  If we're capable, we will also want to build a picture of what the Chinese-reading person gains from reading blogs, or a Portugese-reader, etc.


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Updated session plan · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Due to changes and additions in the participant list, here is our updated session plan for Saturday Dec. 11th:
9-10:30:
Intro: Rebecca and Ethan. Why we're doing this. How we'd like to use blogging and blog tools to help people in different countries hold more meaningful and direct conversations with each other. In the past people have depended on their national governments or national/multinational media to communicate with each other in a crude, agenda-distorted, group-to-group manner. Now people who aren't part of the wealthy jet-setting elites have opportunities to converse directly and understand each other better.  We believe this has the potential to be very powerful.
…leading quickly into the meat of the session:
How to “bridge blog:” Led by the blogging brothers of Iraq: The Model.  Also featuring Ory Okolloh and Isaac Mao. How do you explain what’s going on in a different place and culture to an audience that’s interested but inexperienced? How do you use digital tools to build links between people in different countries and cultures?
11-12:30:
Building a blogosphere: Leaders: Hoder, Jeff Ooi, and a “milblogger,” (name TBA soon).  How do you build a blogging community in your country, language group, or other globe-spanning group? What kind of impact does this new kind of outlet for expression and mutual support have on a community of tech-savvy Iranians, Malaysians, or military people who feel disconnected from home and publicly misunderstood? How do you get around challenges like technical hurdles, government censorship, and language problems? What lessons can people learn for building their own blogospheres?
LUNCH.
2-3:30:
Tools: Led by Ethan and Kwin Kramer, with input from any other toolmakers in the room. An overview of various tools, not just blogs. A discussion about what we need in blogging tools and new uses for the tools we already have. UPDATE: We also hope that somebody from Spirit of America and Jeff Jarvis will talk about the new Arabic Blog tool project.
4-5:30:
Grand vision and Manifesto: Led by Joi Ito. Featuring Jim Moore, with heavy participation by everybody. The goal is to come up with a vision statement/manifesto that unites our efforts, gives some vision and coherence to the individual projects we’re all working on, and outlines an action plan for future projects.
EAT, DRINK, AND CELEBRATE…


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Global Voices and Del.icio.us · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

Complementing Rebecca's Global Voices aggregator, I'd like to invite you to share links on sites you think might be useful to our conversation using del.icio.us.  I'm starting a set of bookmarks  and invite you do to the same, using del.icio.us, and tagging the appropriate bookmarks as “globalvoices”.
For those who haven't used it: Del.icio.us is a “social bookmark manager”. It allows you to maintain a set of bookmarks online, and to share these bookmarks with other users. Others can see what sites you've bookmarked and the categories you've classified them in. Once you've created a category – like “globalvoices” – it links to every other collection named “globalvoices” created by other del.icio.us users.
To try it out, go to del.icio.us, and create an account. Follow the instructions to add del.icio.us “bookmarklets” to yoyr web browser. Point your browser to a site germane to the Global Voices discussion. Use the “post to del.icio.us” bookmarklet to add this site to your del.icio.us bookmarks. In the “tags” field, add “globalvoices” so the rest of us will be able to find your bookmarks.
Every URl tagged as “globalvoices” is viewable from a single page – pretty empty right now, but should fill right up if we all participate.

author: Ethan Zuckerman


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Operation “Viral Freedom” · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Spirit of America is funding the development of an Arabic blogging tool.
The vendor is iUpload. Beta testing starts in December.  Here is how they describe the project:
We are funding the development of an Arabic blogging (Web logging) tool and, with donor support, we will host the blogs at no cost to the bloggers. This will allow blogs to be created easily. It will give voice to those working for freedom and democracy in the Arab world. And it will enable them to more easily connect with and share ideas with their peers.
The site is soliciting donations. More about hosting and future plans:
Viral Freedom
Every blog developed using the Arabic blogging tool will include space that is under the control of organizations that we work with, such as Friends of Democracy. This space or “real estate” will be a portion of the blog header (top of the page) and the left column. The organizations will use the space to promote groups, individuals and news that, in the big picture, advance freedom, democracy and peace in the region. Thus, everyone that creates a blog will be promoting moderate and progressive information and viewpoints in the Arab world. Friends of Democracy will use the space to publicize pro-democracy groups, election information and related news. The blogs created under Friends of Democracy will be ambassadors of democracy in the Arab world.
Friends of Democracy
The first group of blogs will be under Friends of Democracy. It will focus on Iraq but anyone, and any group, anywhere that wants to be a “friend of democracy” will be able to create and maintain a Friends of Democracy blog in Arabic at no cost. Friends of Democracy will establish and enforce policies regarding blog use and blog content.
Beyond Iraq
If enough funds are raised, we will seek other moderate organizations to oversee blogs in other Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and Syria. We will also fund the development of the blogging tool in Farsi so it may be used in Iran and in Kurdish.
I wonder what criteria and measures will be used to "establish and enforce policies regarding blog use and blog content."
In December we'll be able to ask participants from Spirit of America how this will work.
(cross posted at RConversation.com)


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Thoughts from Jim Moore · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Jim Moore has passed on the following ideas for “the broadest thinkable agenda for global citizen dialogue…”
“a dialogue that will be net-enabled, plus travel and residency grounded, and that will hopefully generate new forms of individual and collective creativity, and perhaps the formation of new organizations and institutions..
What are the topics that citizens in such a dialogue might address?
Here are some possible brainstorming starting points..Let me know yours..
I.  Some topics are going to be “culture-out”–i.e. “how the world looks from our unique vantage point in, say, Iraq, Iran, Ghana or South Africa or the Congo or Sudan–or the US, UK, France, Japan or China or Malaysia–or Mississippi, Texas and Massachusetts.
For what it's worth, I was at the Kennedy School Arco Forum the other night for the panel on the genocide in Sudan, and a Chinese student sitting next to me said “the moral tone of this discussion seems pretty strange to us Chinese students, because we see the United States as the most genocidal nation of all..based on clearing the continent of indigenous people–so-called “Indians”–with a national economy built on the near-genocidal enslavement of black Africans..”  This student went on to explain that most of the students he knew in China, including foreign students studying in China, saw the US this way–and learned by painful experience to hide these ideas when in the presence of Americans.
II.  Others are topics will reflect mega challenges of critical importance to world society–problems that are not being solved by current governments and international organizations.
E.g. How do we deal with environmental degradation?  I just  heard a stunning talk by Jackman from Scipps on “dead zones” in the oceans.  We are turning vast undersea continents into slime–jellyfish and bacteria–where previously there had been exquisitely complex ecological structure.  Complementing Jackman's talk, E.O. Wilson spoke of the diversity hot zones around the planet–that he claims can be saved for about 29 billion dollars–but that are threatened.  The question for global citizens: What are the “assembly rules” for institutions manifesting global social cognition, global care, and focused action that can proactively and wisely address this crisis?
E.g. 2:  How do we establish sustainable development and sustainable economics as the central principle of globalization capitalism and business creation?
E.g. 3:  How do we establish a world that respects human rights and dignity?”
Reactions? Thoughts? Please let us know what you think.


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Echo chamber, sensorium, reflection, and action · Global Voices
Jim Moore

On Tuesday, December 7, 2004, at 05:17  PM, Joichi Ito wrote:
One thing that I've been noodling on is the attention issue. How do we get
people to care? It seems to me that video is able to capture attention
better than text. Human voices help. Music is good. One of the problems is
really to get enough attention from people to walk them through an issue.
It's like the elevator pitch. Most people have the attention span of a busy
executive in an elevator. I think it's important to write about all this
stuff, but to a certain extent, it's an echo chamber. That's how the
election in the US was lost. The echo chamber was pretty fired up, but not
very many people on the other side listened. As the issues become more
complex or more remote, there is even less attention available. Can blogs
really help?
– Joi
Here are some thoughts in response to Joi's stimulus:
Of course we in the blog world need to do a better job of communicating–with “elevator pitches” and video and compelling writing–and we need to work together to expand what you, Joi, have called the “economy of caring.” That said, I'm not sure we can supplant the role of television, and the role of conventional organizations, in the world.  Nor do I think we necessarily want to.
Consider the world as a kind of big mind.  This is the noosphere concept, originally and creatively developed by Teilhard de Chardin.  http://www.gaiamind.com/Teilhard.html
To this end, he suggested that the Earth in its evolutionary unfolding, was growing a new organ of consciousness, called the noosphere. The noosphere is analogous on a planetary level to the evolution of the cerebral cortex in humans. The noosphere is a “planetary thinking network” — an interlinked system of consciousness and information, a global net of self-awareness, instantaneous feedback, and planetary communication. At the time of his writing, computers of any merit were the size of a city block, and the Internet was, if anything, an element of speculative science fiction. Yet this evolution is indeed coming to pass, and with a rapidity, that in Gaia time, is but a mere passage of seconds. In these precious moments, the planet is developing her cerebral cortex, and emerging into self-conscious awakening. We are indeed approaching the Omega point that Teilhard de Chardin was so excited about.
This convergence however, though it was predicted to occur through a global information network, was not a convergence of merely minds or bodies — but of heart, a point that he made most fervently.
“It is not our heads or our bodies which we must bring together, but our hearts. . . . Humanity. . . is building its composite brain beneath our eyes. May it not be that tomorrow, through the logical and biological deepening of the movement drawing it together, it will find its heart, without which the ultimate wholeness of its power of unification can never be achieved?”
The noosphere might be thought of as having three parts: A “sensorium” or collective image of the world, a center of reflection, and a center of action.
In the emerging noosphere, as I see it, TV still defines the sensorium of global consciousness..and in the US TV is slowly working its way from a few network news organizations, to cable news, to, perhaps, pod-cast and other forms of narrowcast news..
Blogs collectively seem to be a center of collective reflection and discussion, not so much an echo chamber–after all, there is lots of diversity of opinion  on blogs–but rather a “reflection center”.  Blogs and the blogospere don't compete with CNN and the New York Times. Blogs and blog networks compete with syndicated columnists, and, over time, might compete with think tanks such as Brookings or the Council on Foreign Relations or CATO.
And then there is the action side of the global mind, and for better or worse, this is done by real flesh and blood organizations.   Unless one can engage them, permeate them with reflection, and/or involve their leaders in reflection, one cannot act.
I don't think the Dean campaign was an echo chamber. What it was was a reflection network that was not connected to any organization that could act effectively. It was blocked out of access to the traditional Democratic organization, and the Kerry campaign and especially Kerry field director Michael H. made sure of that.  The national labor organizations, especially the SEIU, had sympathetic leaders but they themselves are increasingly estranged from their own grassroots.  And finally, the official field organization (in contrast to the extraordinary blog-base grassroots field network) of the Dean campaign was incompetent.  The Iowa director was a party hack with no sense of how to manage the organization, the governor kept Joe Trippi from firing her and taking over until too late.  New Hampshire was quite effective, but could not hold after Iowa.
Blogs cannot at this time be a sensorium (“that is how it is, today, December….). The owners of the sensorium–Rupert Murdock, etc. are not going to let their hold go away easily.  Blog and web-based news organizations may be able to approach sensorium status in some socieities, for example Ohmynews in South Korea, where broadband access is nearly universal, and where traditional news outlets are weak and illegitimate. But becoming the sensorium in the United States?  Hmmm.
Blogs are not the action arm of global society, either.  While there are grassroots action networks, such as that constructed for ACT by Zephyr Teachout for the 2004 election, or by those associated with the Dean campaign in conjuction with MeetUp and other platforms, these organizations, while impressive, pale when confronted by more established groups.  And those who control large organizations, like the Democratic party, continually seek to strengthen themselves.  While I am all for online-based grassroots groups, I think that real action, whether to elect a president or stop a genocide, takes flesh and blood on the ground.
On the other  hand, BLOGGERS are becoming smarter, more reflective, and more strategic.
My prediction?  Blogs will not take over the world.  But people trained in the blog world, supported in it, and empowered by it may become the next generation of leaders of the media as well as the action organizations of the world…
Blogs will be blogs, but bloggers may become the most effective transformational leaders, and may take over the world…
best,  jim

author: Jim Moore


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Ory on Kenyan blogs · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Ory Okolloh has written a briefing paper on Kenyan blogs as part of the I&S conference materials here (PDF file).
She says that blogging has been a life-changing experience for her, and presents the results of interviews with three other Kenyan bloggers.  In the concluding section of her paper Ory raises a series of questions:
So how does one get more people from Kenya and other parts of the world blogging? Do diaspora-based individuals who are writing about their country of origin still retain a sense of authenticity? What about the fact that being in the business of maintaining a blog seems to appeal to people who have less qualms about being “out there” so-to-speak? How do you meet the challenge presented by cultures that are typically reticent about public expression? Does the key to meeting this challenge lie among the “evangelists” who turned people like Mshairi and myself onto blogging? Would a build-it-and they-will-come approach be a better way to increase participation? Do we just need more “Alpha” Kenyan and other global bloggers to spread the interest? If so, how can one equip them to do this job? Is the explosion of blogs in countries like the United States, Iran and China somehow tied to government restrictions or the lack of opportunity to communicate and share ideas freely? Or is it due to the fast-paced lifestyle that makes it difficult to chat and share ideas face to face in ways that are still possible in places like Kenya? Finally, can blogs really achieve greater purposes such as advocacy on a particular issue, effecting change in society? If so, how does one best measure the results? Or, further still, how does one define “change” and “politics?” Should we be focusing instead on how blogs can work to build communities, rather than on whether they can affect political outcomes or change society?


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Rashmi Sinha: some thoughts and introduction · Global Voices
Rashmi Sinha

Among other issues, I am interested in understanding how to support real dialog – not just people talking, but also  listening to each other. Current tools support self-expression quite well. They could be better at supporting dialog. What I worry about is that we will have more and more voices online, with everyone in their entrenched positions, and no real effort to understand another point of view.
While this is inevitable to some degree (online voices are a reflection of entrenched positions in the offline world), but tools have a role to play here. Tools used for online expression also support a particular method of social interaction. They offer opportunities for interaction, conversation, and persuasion. There is a social structure enabled by every tool even if it is primarily used for individual expression. For example, the social structure enabled by trackback, wikis, a message board and a commenting system is different. It leads to different types of interaction.  I believe that by thinking in a deliberate fashion about the social structure afforded by tools, one can support real dialog better.
This is Rashmi from DialogNow (DialogNow is a community weblog supporting conversation about India and Pakistan)

author: Rashmi Sinha


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Andrea: Roundup on blogosphere development in China and Hong Kong · Global Voices
Isaac Mao

Rational blogger Andrea wrapped up recent resonates about China and Hongkong's blogosphere in her T-Salon blog:
Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Project at UC Berkeley, has put the two year old Chinese blogosphere into perspective in “The ‘blog’ revolution sweeps across China”.
“In the current Chinese cyberspace, bloggers may not be as loud as their American counterparts. But they are potentially certainly no less subversive to the dominant paradigm. Hope will be born from their whispers,” Xiao wrote on a seperate post in China Digital News.
“Communication is changing from a lecture into a conversation,” Fons noted, paraphrasing the words of Dan Gillmor.
Everytime when a piece on China blogs and its relevance in democractic development comes out in anglo-media, there bounds to be objections coming from some Chinese bloggers.
Topku from Guangzhou has once again reiterated his objection that China's blogsosphere is assessed based on its impact on political freedom and state censorship.
He points to The Voice of Chinese Bloggers, where Chiu Yung, another Guangzhou blogger wrote that there are many things other than politics that Chinese bloggers want to express.
Many blogs that run on individual websites are not censored or regulated. Business scandals as reported in individual blogs; residents affected by urban development who blogged their objections to state imposed relocation; and live blog coverage on a murder case on Wangfujing district in Beijing are some examples he cited.
Chiu Yung also noted that blogs also served as a watchdog on Chinese portal sites (note: a major form of media in China that are agenda and trend setter on news, business, IT and various industry). They are also changing Chinese netizens’ on-line habits and way of thinking.
Over at Slashdot, on the very same topic, the discussion were mainly on politics and censorship.
As I wrote before, there is a huge gap of perceptions between the “West” and China in what the internet has accomplished in China and more fundamentally, what really matters to people of a different society.
Good news is there are signs in the comment section of Chiu Yung post indicating that Dan Gillmor may write a follow-up piece on the same topic – with more views from the Chinese included.
It would be interesting to hear from more ordinary Chinese bloggers who have no vested commercial interests in the technology or media; or involved in any kind of political struggle with the regime on what they have to say.
Meanwhile in Hong Kong, there is now a conscious effort by various citizens and academics in using blog as a platform for citizen journalism and a new space for civic discourse, as mainstream media become increasingly politically one-sided (leaning towards Beijing's taste) in their agenda and reporting.
Citizen Reporter blog is one of them. It was born out of a cultural studies course and has spurred a number of new blogs in the city since then, including the Civic Writing Machine (民間寫作機器) whose blog's name is the opposite of the “national propaganda machine” that, some local activists said, has penerated into many aspects of life in Hong Kong.
Perhaps the more interesting set of blog posts surfacing in Hong Kong nowadays are those that are written by mainland-China immigrants on their collective memories of living and growing up in Hong Kong. (See: 像我這樣的一個新移民, 我們這些七字頭, 那些逝去的情感.)
They illicited the cultural shocks they had, the economic hardships and discrimination they faced while growing up in Hong Kong, the struggles they had in becoming a Hong Konger, etc. — these are often stories that are not widely known in Hong Kong's mainstream society.
As a reader pointed out, these are collective memory that would not surface in public space as they were very private memories of individuals.
Thanks to blogs, we can now know about these experiences. They may even serve as teaching materials on tolerance of new immigrants from China and ethnic diversity that have yet to become widespread practice in Hong Kong.
What I have listed here are just a small sample of the seemingly growing blogosphere in Hong Kong that I found interesting. There are lots more out there waiting to be discovered. However, the growth of blogs, especially the citizen journalism genre may be slow because the city's youth have difficulties articulating themselves, as an instructor of citizen journalism noted.
Again, I'd like to see diversified opinions in Chinese blogosphere. The problem in this yet-to-be-mature blogosphere is that power-law still plays important role, thus people's independant thoughts and insight are not evenly distributed enough. The problem can't be ultimately resolved since  there are three barriers: censorhip, Great Firewall, and Language. All those factors prevent it from aligning with global blogosphere's development.

author: Isaac Mao


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Academic paper on Persian blogging · Global Voices
Hossein Derakhshan

Alireza Doostdar, an Iranian Harvard gruadute student, has published his interesting paper in American Anthropologist, entitled “ “The Vulgar Spirit of Blogging”: On Language, Culture, and Power in Persian Weblogestan.” It's one of the few academic papers on blogs in Iran.

author: Hossein Derakhshan


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Wiki for participants · Global Voices
Hossein Derakhshan

You can now use Global Voices wiki page to register your name and blog, so we all can keep in touch after the conference.


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Grateful thanks, and some next steps · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

Alex Steffen, the Velveteen Rabbi and I are sitting in my living room, watching football and trying to digest yesterday's remarkable Global Voices discussion. I suspect it's going to take more than just this afternoon to come up with a proper summary of all the remarkable ideas flying around Harvard's Pound Hall yesterday.
It was amazing and inspiring to watch participants from Iran, Iraq, South Korea, Latvia, Malaysia, China, Kenya, Poland, Canada and both the blue and red states of the US find common ground. Whatever differences we have, we are united by the belief we all benefit from hearing more voices online from all around the globe. And we're remarkably diverse, creative and free with ideas for how we might make that happen.
Rather than attempt to summarize, let me instead offer thanks:
Thanks to HLS, the Berkman Center and the sponsors of the Votes, Bits and Bytes conference for making it possible for us to hold our meeting. Special thanks to Open Society Institute for their help bringing in bringing some of our global guests to the conversation. Thanks to Wendy Koslow and the rest of the remarkable Berkman staff for handling the thousands of details that allowed the meeting to go so well.
Thanks to Mohammed and Omar for a provocative and encouraging view from Iraq, and to our friends at Spirit of America for making their presence possible. Thanks to Blackfive for a view from the Milbloggers and to Jeff Ooi for the perspective from Malaysia. Thanks to Hoder, Ory Okolloh and Isaac Mao for sharing lessons from Iran, Kenya and China.
Thanks to Joi Ito and Jim Moore for taking on the herculean task of summarizing our goals while broadening our scope and worldview… all while striving to accomodate my demands for concrete next steps. Thank you guys for your patience and wisdom.
Thanks to everyone who joined the discussion, whether they came from across the globe or across the Charles… or whether they participated online, like Jon Lebkowsky. And many, many thanks to my wonderful co-conspirator Rebecca Mackinnon, who deserves most of the credit for the success of this gathering.
For those who missed all or part of our day-long conversation – or, like me, just needs a refresher on what transpired, there are a number of good records online. Sam Klein did a superhuman job of transcribing the majority of our sessions – his near-literal transcripts are available on his weblog. David Weinberger, Jeff Jarvis and J all have excellent notes as well. And an early technorati search has turned up blogosphere coverage of the event in Spanish and Chinese… and we're waiting for Hoder's posts in Persian.
So what's next? Well, that's up to all of us. But here are some steps people are already promising to take:
- We'll bring up a mailing list in the next couple of days. If you were on the planning list for Global Voices (i.e., if you've gotten frequent emails from Rebecca in the recent past), you'll be on this list unless you tell me otherwise. If you've put your blog on the participant wiki page, I'll attempt to track down your email and get you on the list, unless you tell me otherwise. If you'd like to be included and aren't going to get included via other methods, email me at ethanz AT gmail.com and I'll get you on the list.
- The Berkman Center will adopt Hoder's wiki pages for Global Voices in the next couple of days. Once we get our mediawiki instance up, we'll post the address here. (Does anyone know how mediawiki deals with wiki spam? We're a big wikispam target at Berkman and it's likely to be a problem with these wikis.) Once that wiki is up, we'd like to start pages for projects people would like to collaborate on, and a page where people can list skills they're willing to share.
- For the IRC folks out there, I'm hanging out in #globalvoices on irc.freenode.net whenever I'm online – that won't be often the next few days, but feel free to open the room and invite in other people who'd like to continue our discussions.
- Joi has agreed to take the lead on editing our IRC discussion into a manifesto – he's a brave man. In the meantime, Alex and I will take a crack at a “mission statement” later this evening.
- Don't forget to use the globalvoices tag on del.icio.us, to send inclusions for the Global Voices aggregator to Rebecca and to post to this blog. Rebecca can help you get an author account if you need one.
We're all in this together, and something big is happening. Thanks for being a part of it.


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Manifesto session next steps · Global Voices
Joi Ito

I just uploaded the log of the IRC session for the Global Voice manifesto session. It definitely needs to be edited. I'll try to do it soon, but if someone else wants to take a shot, be my guest. If you're going to work on it please comment here so we don't double our efforts. If I don't see any volunteers, I will give it a try soon. I think the first pass is to filter out the noise and try to pick up any interesting thoughts and maybe organize them into groups.
I'm hoping Alex and Ethan have an interesting conversation on their long drive and write up some of the points for the vision and focus. I received this in email from Alex which I think is a good start:
1) we believe in free speech — and act to defend it and extend it
2) we believe in direct connection between people in ways which allow us to consider ourselves part of a bigger here and wider us — and we act to bring flows of tools, money and attention to bear on creating channels for those connections to develop
3) we believe in planetary citizenship along international norms — and we act to empower campaigns to make the world fairer, freer, more prosperous and more sustainable.
I think we discussed the name and the focus a bit. I personally think that not focusing on blogs, but on providing voice/voices generally is important. I think we need to bridge not only languages and regions, but medium types/vectors. I think that the diversity of the group geographically as well as in terms of medium types was very important and maybe this group can bridge bridge groups? We talked about names a bit. The name that I liked best was “Global Voices”.
SJ suggested that his experience with Wikipedia translations could help put translation as a focus for one of the efforts. There was another issues of more simple tools, and I think Rebecca pointed out that we need to understand the user's needs before we design the tools. What other tasks can we focus on? Who are the champions of these tasks? Ethan, am I getting ahead of myself?
UPDATE: I've just uploaded a cleaned up and html version of the IRC log. I tried to convert as many of the nicknames to full names and links as possible. If you know the identity/URL for any of the participants who are not converted, can you please provide it?

author: Joi Ito


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Virality · Global Voices
Joi Ito

A lot of the virality stuff I talked about yesterday came from discussions with Jonah Peretti who did ForwardTrack and Reid Hoffman, the former SVP of PayPal, Francesco Cara and Marko Ahtisaari. If anyone is interested in going down this rat hole any further, I will try to put a wiki page together with more links once we have a permanent place for it.


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Digital Divide Network Launches New Online Community · Global Voices
Andy Carvin

As I announced today on my blog, Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth, the new Digital Divide Network website is now open for business:
http://www.digitaldivide.net
The site is a free online community for activists around the world interested in bridging the digital divide. Among its new features are free blogs for all DDN members, bulletin board discussions, topical communities on different digital divide issues, and an array of RSS feeds that allow you to access the site's content by type (feature articles, event listings, blog postings, news, etc) and by topical community (literacy, community technology, e-gov, citizen journalists, etc).
The blogging tool is rather rudimentary, but it's designed for community activists who have never tried blogging before and are interested in exploring the medium. In some ways I hope the site will be an incubator for budding civic journalists.
DDN is free and open to anyone interested in bridging the digital divide. Please join today!

author: Andy Carvin


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WSISblogs.org: An Idea Worth Developing? · Global Voices
Andy Carvin

Last night on a whim, I went online and bought the domain names  and .
As many of you know, we're less than a year away from the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Organized by the United Nations and the ITU, WSIS will try to wrap up the work of the first WSIS summit in December 2003. During that summit in Geneva, world leaders gathered to tackle bridging the digital divide, Internet governance, online freedom and other important issues. There was a small contingent of bloggers in Geneva, including myself and the amazing folks at DailySummit.net.
Undoubtedly there will be many more at the next summit, including  delegates, professional journalists, civic journalists and others. Additionally, there will be two major planning meetings, or prepcoms, between now and then; these meetings are the places where the bulk of the summit's policy outcomes will probably be decided. Should we expect much of media presence? Precedence suggests otherwise. At the last prepcom meeting in Tunisia last June, I was one of three or four bloggers present, all of whom represented civil society; there was practically no mainstream media present, nor any noticeable media coverage after the fact.
Just 10 days ago, Rebecca MacKinnon lamented in her blog on the lack of mainstream media coverage regarding Internet governance, which was discussed at a recent ICANN meeting in Capetown. The event was covered by numerous bloggers, she noted, “But no meaningful mainstream media coverage so far. Maybe it's not as easy to understand or as exciting as the FCC, but isn't it just as important (if not more so) for our global communication future?”
So all of this got me wondering about WSIS, the upcoming prepcoms and other WSIS thematic meetings, and the dearth of quality media coverage. From my perspective, it's incumbent upon civil society — including civic bloggers — to embrace a bigger leadership role in publicizing the policy outcomes that are currently at stake, and mobilize the online public to take interest in the issue.
With all of this swirling through my head last night, I purchased the domain names WSISblogs.org and WSISblogs.com. I haven't thought through what should be done with it, but I can envision something like Dave Winer's ConventionBloggers.com, which aggregated all the bloggers covering the Democratic and Republican National Conventions this past summer. In other words, a site where you could find all the latest posts from all the bloggers participating and/or observing the WSIS process. The site could be organized by major policy outcomes and related WSIS topics, so users could explore the latest blogs on Internet governance, the digital divide, protest activities, human rights issues, etc, as they occur. It would also be great to allow bloggers to add their RSS feeds to the site, since it's not always possible to get an authoritative list of who'll be blogging prior to WSIS-related events.
Even if we do nothing, chances are there will be bloggers galore at WSIS: dozens of bloggers, blogging on a variety of issues, in a variety of styles and languages, giving the public unfettered, unfiltered access to the WSIS process. Imagine if we could organize them all in one place.
Anyway, it's just an idea. Would love to hear what others think. -andy


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BloggerCon IV · Global Voices
David Sasaki

I just finished listening to a podcast of the closing session at BloggerCon III, titled The Fat Man Sings. In it, Jay Rosen made an interesting observation:
I was at the first BloggerCon and when I came back I thought, “wow, this is really cool, this cult of bloggers.” Then I was at the second BloggerCon and I came back and said, “that was really cool, a community of bloggers.” And after this one, I'm gonna go home and I'm gonna say … I just know it … “a nation of bloggers.” And I think for the fourth one, you've gotta go global, a globe of bloggers.
Dave Winer then suggests Europe and more specifically, London. While it's crucial to take BloggerCon to the international stage in order to emphasize the global community of bloggers, I think it would be a mistake to move the (un)conference from wealthy, white, Western universities in the US to a wealthy, white, and Western city in Europe.
BloggerCon is surely the most important forum of ideas, strategies, and experiences amongst bloggers and podcasters and it is important to not further enforce a Western hegemony which already exists in the blogosphere. Ed Cone is right: as blogging and podcasting grows, we're going to need to start holding local BloggerCons. I think this is a good thing which will help get bloggers more active in their community offline. But the original BloggerCon will always be necessary to discuss issues on an international scale.
So for BlogerCon IV I suggest holding the conference not in London or anywhere else in Europe, but rather in a technological center of what is otherwise a developing country. Three cities come to mind:
Seoul, South Korea would be another promising site in a non-developing country. Hosting BloggerCon in a non-Western country would present its share of difficulties including, perhaps, the need for some multilingual sessions. I don't think this is a bad thing. If we're going to seriously try to bridge the divide online, then we must also face the challenge offline.
Furthermore, if the struggle for control between users and vendors persists into the next BloggerCon, at least it will hopefully be with vendors from developing countries whom usually are not paid their fair share of attention.
I'd be curious to hear any comments or other suggestions to non-Western sites to host BloggerCon IV.

author: David Sasaki


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The working draft · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

I've posted a draft of the Global Voices Mission Statement/Manifesto to Hossein's wiki. (We're trying to get a mediawiki up at Berkman so we can stop abusing Hossein's server, but a recent virus outbreak has put Berkman tech folks a bit behind…) Alex and I drafted the statement on Sunday, and Joi, Rebecca and Jim Moore have chipped in comments and substantial changes.
At this point, we're looking for constructive input as well as feedback on whether people would be willing to sign onto such a manifesto. Debates about wording are probably more helpful at this point than debates about the general purpose of the document. I recognize that the document is going to be too vague for some, but I'd ask that people understand that we're looking for a broad, general document that reflects the breadth of the people involved with the movement while allowing each of us to pursue our own interests.
The text I posted follows below – given the nature of wiki, this may resemble the current version on the wiki quite closely, or not at all… :-)
By the way, is this a manifesto, or a mission statement? Is Joi still working to turn Saturday's IRC discussion into a manifesto? Is that connected to, or independent from this document?
Posted to http://www.hoder.com/wiki/index.php/Global_Voices_Draft_Manifesto, 18:15 EDT:
We believe in free speech, both in protecting the right to speak and extending access to the tools of speech. The right of free speech has always extended primarily to those who owned a press. It is now possible for everyone to own a press, and it is our goal that everyone who wants speak can be heard.
We believe in the power of direct connection. The bond between individuals from different worlds is personal, political and powerful.
We seek to create bridges that cross the gulfs that have traditionally divided us. When we cross these gulfs, we understand each other more fully, work together more effectively, and act more powerfully. With these bridges, we can do together what we could only dream of alone.
Direct connection is its own reward. In a world full of challenges, it is also the best path to building a future that is freer, fairer, more sustainable and more prosperous.
While we're all committed to our own work, we also recognize our common interest and goals. We each speak for ourselves, but we're all in this together. We pledge to respect, listen to, assist, and learn from one other. We are Global Voices.


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Manifesto · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Thanks to the many who have proposed changes and edits, here is the latest version of our Manifesto.  Please suggest any further changes on the Wiki, but we hope that we can finalize it by Monday at the latest.
We believe in free speech, both in protecting the right to speak and extending access to the tools of speech. We define speech broadly to include many media that facilitate expression.
The broadest right of free speech has always extended primarily to those who owned technology for publishing and distribution, beginning with the printing press. It is now possible for anyone to publish, broadcast and have access to a distribution channel via the Internet. It is our goal that everyone who wants to speak can be heard.
We believe in the power of direct connection and the freedom to connect. The bond between individuals from different worlds is personal, political and powerful.
We seek to create bridges that cross the gulfs that have traditionally divided us. When we cross these gulfs, we understand each other more fully, work together more effectively, and act more powerfully. With these bridges, we can do together what we could only dream of doing alone.
Direct connection is its own reward. However, in a world full of challenges, it is also the best path to building a future that is freer, fairer, more sustainable and more prosperous.
While we're all committed to our own work as individuals, we also recognize our common interest and goals. We each speak for ourselves, but we're all in this together. We pledge to respect, listen to, assist, and learn from one other. We are Global Voices.


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Yet more next steps… · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

Ben Walker and Rebecca Mackinnon have proved that my running around the room with microphones was worthwhile. They've done an amazing job of editing our conversations and debates into a brief audio story for future broadcast or podcast. If you we're able to attend the Global Voices gathering in person, this broadcast is probably the single best quick introduction to what we're doing. (If you did attend the conference, listen to it anyway and marvel at how Rebecca and Ben managed to summarize the day.) And please blog it – it would be great to get this file into wide circulation. Rebecca's also written an excellent conference report for Personal Democracy Forum, which complements the radio story nicely.
There's a good conversation taking place on the comments of the previous “manifesto” post. Two questions I find particularly interesting: is this statement we've drafted a manifesto, or more of a “covenant”? And when do we decide we're done drafting it? Do we expand and polish until we have something like the Cluetrain Manifesto, or do we move forward with a rough and ready document we're all comfortable signing onto? Please join in and tell us what you think.
The wiki has migrated from Hoder's site to a Harvard site – please check it out. I've just added a section, inviting people to talk about projects they're working on connected to Global Voices, or to propose new projects they see as fitting within the Global Voices ethos. It's a great place to try out some new ideas and to solicit help from others in our movement. Please pitch in when you have a chance.


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Conference Raw Audio Posted · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Below is the raw audio for all Global Voices sessions. Please note that not everybody spoke clearly into the mike, so some people are more audible than others.  For the most complete experience you may want to follow along with SJ's transcripts (session 2 onward).
Thanks again to Benjamen Walker for helping with this.
1. Bridge Blogging: The Global Conversation
2. How to Build A Blogosphere
3. Tools: what we need and want
4. Manifesto for a Better Global Conversation


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Whither BloggerCorps? · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

BloggerCorps has had its first success story in Kentucky: Bob Cornett reports that his education-focused grassroots group has found a local blogger to help them build a blogging strategy, thanks to our site. Unfortunately the other two organizations – in England and the Middle East – have not been so lucky. I think the main reason for this is that nobody is pointing to these announcements on their blogs.
BloggerCorps is an experiment in the un-organization. It has no physical presence. It's a blog. It is  about matching up non-profits and activist organizations with bloggers living in their areas who are willing to volunteer time to help them blog.
So in order to succeed, Bloggercorps needs the help of bloggers everywhere to do what they do best: blog about it and link to it. That's the most important way you can help make a difference. We also need a sizable group of people with ties to nonprofits and activists, with guest author privileges on the Bloggercorps blog, who will post new announcements about people seeking help.
With nobody else posting (and nobody else requesting author privileges), Bloggercorps has gone dormant for the last month.  I got swamped with several conferences and writing deadlines. I had hoped that other people would sign up for authorship and post stuff but nobody did. I'm thinking we should maybe migrate it from Typepad to WordPress – or maybe Civicspace? – in order to make that process easier. I am open to suggestions.
A bit of history: After I first blogged the idea a huge meta-discussion ensued about tools and structures, and it seemed like we'd get so bogged down in that, nothing would ever move forward.  And since John Stanforth had kindly seized the bull by the horns, gotten the domain name and set up the BloggerCorps blog on Typepad, it made sense to just proceed with that structure and see what came of it. I still don't think it's a failed experiment… it just needs a lot of people actively posting on it, linking to it, and blogging about it so that other bloggers can find out about worthy organizations in their local areas who could use their help… if they could only find each other.
I'm open to suggestions and would very much like people to let me know if they'd like author privileges on BloggerCorps. We'll get you set up. Meanwhile, I hope all you fellow bloggers out  there will put it in your aggregators and link to the posts whenever you see an appeal by an organization you think is worthy of help.


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Global Voices Covenant 0.2 · Global Voices
jonl

SJ has posted a frozen version of the Global Voices Manifesto, renamed the Global Voices Covenant (version 0.2).   The current version:
We believe in free speech: in protecting the right to speak — and the right to listen. We believe in universal access to the tools of speech.
To that end, we want to enable everyone who wants to speak to have the means to speak — and everyone who wants to hear that speech, the means to listen to it.
Thanks to new tools, speech need no longer be controlled by those who own the means of publishing and distribution, or by governments that would restrict thought and communication. Now, anyone can wield the power of the press. Everyone can tell their stories to the world.
We want to build bridges across the gulfs of culture and language that divide people, so as to understand each other more fully. We want to work together more effectively, and act more powerfully.
We believe in the power of direct connection. The bond between individuals from different worlds is personal, political and powerful. We believe conversation across boundaries is essential to a future that is free, fair, prosperous and sustainable – for all citizens of this planet.
While we continue to work and speak as individuals, we also want to identify and promote our shared interests and goals. We pledge to respect, assist, teach, learn from, and listen to one other.
We are Global Voices.

author: jonl


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Making Podcasting Accessible for All · Global Voices
Andy Carvin

Hi everyone… I've just posted my first  podcast. The topic of this five-minute audio is the growth of podcasting and the subsequent accessibility challenges faced by the hearing impaired.  I'm hoping it's the first in a series of podcasts from me on a variety of issues related to the Internet, the media and the digital divide, among other topics.
If you have a good Internet connection you can download the podcast; it's just over five megabytes in size. Otherwise, a transcript of the podcast can be found on my blog.
For those of you who want to subscribe to my future podcasts using software like iPodderX, please use my blog's RSS feed.
-ac


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GV Covenant: Spanish version · Global Voices
jonl

The Global Voices covenant in Spanish, thanks to Ricardo Bello:
Creemos en la libertad de expresión: en proteger el derecho a hablar – y el derecho a escuchar. Creemos en el acceso universal a las herramientas de expresión.
Con ese fin, queremos empoderar a todos los que deseen expresarse para que tengas los medios de hacerlo – y para aquellos que quieren escucharlos, los medios para oírlos.
Gracias a las nuevas herramientas, la expresión no necesita ser controlada por aquellos que poseen los medios de publicación y distribución, o por gobierno que pudieran restringir el pensamiento y la comunicación. Ahora, cualquiera puede ejercer el poder de la prensa. Todos pueden contar su historia al resto del mundo.
Queremos construir puentes entre los abismos de cultura y lenguaje que dividen a la gente, a fin de que nos podamos comprender cabalmente. Queremos trabajar juntos de una manera más efectiva y actuar de forma más poderosa.
Creemos en el poder de la conexión directa. El vínculo entre individuos de diferentes mundos es personal, político y poderoso. Creemos que la conversación a través de las fronteras es esencial para un futuro libre, justo, próspero y sustentable. – para todos los ciudadanos de este planeta.
Mientras continuamos trabajando y hablando como individuo, también queremos identificar y promover nuestras metas e intereses compartidos. Nos comprometemos a respetar, asistir, aprender y escucharnos los unos a los otros.
Somos las voces globales.


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Emergency Action Blog initiative · Global Voices
jonl

After the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia, bloggers from India quickly set up The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog for news and information about resources, aid, donations and volunteer efforts. This blog's an invaluable coordination effort, and it pointed to the need for a more robust and permanent site for ongoing coordination of bloggers and other online resources in response to other catastrophic situations that might occur in the future. Nick Lewis of the Progressive Blog Alliance is working on such an “Emergency Action Blog” site. We've set up an email list (eab at activist-tech.org) for a collaborative effort to define requirements and taxonomy and produce the site using something like CivicSpace. To subscribe, send a blank email to eab-subscribe at activist-tech.org. This will hopefully be an international collaboration of bloggers and techs, therefore a good early project for those who support the Global Voices intiative.


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Introducing Tsunami-Info.org · Global Voices
Andy Carvin

Hi everyone…. My tsunami info website now has its own domain name: Tsunami-Info.org.
The site aggregates news feeds and blogs from a variety of sources around the world, and offers machine-generated translations in more than half a dozen languages. Some of the feeds captured in the digest include Yahoo!/Reuters tsunami coverage, the BBC, South-East Asia and Tsunami Blog (SEA EAT), Crossroads Dispatches and Emergency Action Blog. The most poignant feed comes from SEA EAT's Flickr feed: a stream of photos and descriptions of people still missing from the tsunami. It sends chills up my spine every time I see them.If you'd like to see any more feeds added, please let me know…. -andy


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Blog for Mideast Peace · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Daniel Lubetzky of the Onevoice Movement – a citizens’ initiative for Israeli-Palestinian peace – has launched the Onevoice Blog. He says in an email: “We want the blog to become a major destination for all those that want to know what is really happening on Israeli and Palestinian ground so we will start unveiling some big news here before we even release them to the media.”
In a blog entry titled What does this mean to me? Daniel writes:
Serious prospects for a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace are
surfacing, and they could not come at a more important time, given the
threats and challenges mounting to civilization on other fronts.  But
history shows us that precisely when things start looking promising,
moderates tune out and extremists passionately derail the hopes for
reconciliation.  It behooves all concerned citizens to do their part.
Everyone can and must join as OneVoice against violent extremism and
militant absolutism.  Encourage others to join the movement (as a
member, a citizen negotiator, or a contributor): www.OneVoiceMovement.org.
Please check it out and put the Onevoice blog in your aggregator.


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Global Voices on Omidyar Network · Global Voices
Joi Ito

I just set up a request for a group on the Omidyar Network. If you haven't been there yet, give it a whirl. It's a very interesting community based on a wiki/blog system with a reputation system that is quite interesting. It's an interesting not-the-usual-members mix. Since GV is a bridging organization, I decided to try to build an outpost there and recruit members. On the other hand, it's simple for GV members to go to Omidyar Network and sign up. One easy way to navigate when you get there is to click on the names of the people who look interesting and see where they have been writing to find interesting conversations. You can add conversations to your watchlist to keep track. I'm still looking for more “sponsors” for the GV group there so if you sign up or already have an account, please join the sponsorship group. The URL is http://www.omidyar.net/group/globalvoices/
The top page URL for the Omidyar Network is: http://www.omidyar.net/home/
UPDATE: We just got enough sponsors so the group is not set up. Come join us and help build the bridge.
UPDATE 2: There is a group on Omidyar Network call Better World Media which seems to have a lot of overlap with our interests.


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Committee to Protect Bloggers · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Curt Hopkins has founded a new watchblog: The Committee to Protect Bloggers.
Welcome CPB!!!  Global Voices embraces and supports you!!


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When Mobile Podcasting Leads to Mobcasting · Global Voices
Andy Carvin

I've just posted a blog entry on my website that might be of interest. It's about mobcasting– the idea of combining mobile phone-enable podcasting with smart mob-like group action. The blog was inspired by a tutorial I wrote yesterday on how to podcast with only a smartphone.Here's a snippet from the blog:
What do I mean by mobcasting? Well, it's really a double entrendre, if you will: a play on both mobile podcasting and Smart Mobs, Howard Rheingold's notion of viral-like social coordination enabled by information and communications technologies. Smart mobs got a lot of hype last year in the mainstream media, usually in the form of surrealistic group performance art initiated over the Internet. But smart mobs are much more powerful than just a group of college kids showing up in an art gallery at 12:15pm, standing on one foot and yelling “Tevye, get off the roof!” before dispersing without further comment. Like the case of SMS use during the anti-Estrada demonstrations in the Philippines, smart mobs can be any form of group social action enabled by ICTs.
A quick example: imagine a large protest at a political convention. During the protest, police overstep their authority and begin abusing protesters, sometimes brutally. A few journalists are covering the event, but not live. For the protestors and civil rights activists caught in the melee, the police abuses clearly need to be documented and publicized as quickly as possible. Rather than waiting for the handful of journalists to file a story on it, activists at the protest capture the event on their video phones — dozens of phones from dozens of angles. Thanks to the local 3G (or community wi-fi) network, the activists immediately podcast the footage on their blogs. The footage gets aggregated on a civil rights website thanks to the RSS feeds produced by the podcasters’ blogs. (Or perhaps they all podcast their footage directly to a centralized website, a la OneWorld TV but with an RSS twist.) This leads to coverage by bloggers throughout the blogosphere, which leads to coverage by the mainstream media, which leads to demands of accountability by the general public. That's mobcasting.
Here's the permalink:
http://www.andycarvin.com/000712.html
Would love to hear your thoughts on the concept…. -andy


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Jeff Ooi, Ferryman extraordinaire · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

Jeff Ooi announced today his new Chinese-language blog, 摆渡人 (in English: “The Ferryman”), quite possibly the first Chinese language blog in Malaysia. Jeff is launching this project explicitly to build bridges with the Chinese language blogosphere – he explains in his post that the blog is a result of the promise he and Issac Mao (Shanghai-based blogger and technology investory) made to each other that they should do  to build bridges between the Malaysian and Chinese blogospheres. What a great inspiration for all of us hoping to build new bridges and start new projects based on the ideas we shared at Global Voices! And what a beautiful name for a blog designed to bridge gaps between two nations and cultures. Good luck, Jeff!


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Planeta Spanglish · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

Loïc Le Meur, entrepreneur and bilingual bridgeblogger, just posted about Planeta SpanglishM, a new blog aggregator (hosted by Victor Ruís) designed to build bridges between Spanish-speaking and English-speaking bloggers by aggregating Spanish speaking bloggers who also blog in English. Julio Alonso at merondeondo.com has an early review of the project.
Hey Loïc, how about an aggregator of French-speaking bloggers who blog in English?


text:
Update on Mobcasting Idea · Global Voices
Andy Carvin

Hi everyone… I've managed to set up a blogspot site — mobcasting.blogspot.com — that can be used by anyone with a Blogger account to post podcasts from their mobile phone. While Blogger doesn't have a podcast-friendly RSS feed, FeedBurner does, so I'm using it to generate the necessary enclosure tags that make podcasting work.
So if anyone wants to test it out, let me know — I can then set you up with posting privileges for the blog so you can also post podcasts to it from your phone…. -andy


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An Inaugural Mobcasting Experiment · Global Voices
Andy Carvin

Hi everyone…. As an inaugural experiment in mobcasting, I've created a mobcasting tool for presidential inauguration protestors. I posted a note to a couple of protest group sites, and have set up the blog so that the instructions for participating are right on the homepage. At this point I just plan to sit back and see if anything happens. -andy


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North Korea and mobcasting??? · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

A video showing the first documented act of protest inside North Korea has emerged.  Chalk up several new points against state-sponsored thuggery.
Maybe now that they're getting so many Chinese mobile phones in North Korea they can start mobcasting. Serious. I'm not joking.


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Blogging Davos · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

The World Economic Forum now has a blog.
Let the WEF know what you think of it by engaging it in the blogosphere.
I'll be one of several Davos bloggers, plus some other blogger/journalist hybrids like me, some people from the tech community, and at least one celebrity (stay tuned for who). This is the first year that the World Econ Forum will have a blog for its annual meeting. It’s an experiment in greater openness, and an effort by the WEF to have a more direct conversation with the world at large.  Please visit often, link to it, comment, and let us know in the comments if you agree with what people are saying, disagree, have questions, or think it’s total bunk.  I'll push as hard as I can to get people there to be responsive… though it's all one big experiment, and some Davosians are not surprisingly a little nervous.
Also note that quite a lot of sessions will be webcast this year. Webcast information is here, though the times have not yet been posted. Also check out the full Davos program, plus more detailed information about the Open Forum sessions – sessions you can just show up for without a Davos invitation, if you can get yourself there…
Turns out there’s already a Davos del.icio.us tag for articles and blog posts on the Davos meeting. Please feel free to tag anything you see being written about the Davos goings-on that you’d like everybody else in cyberspace to know about, positive and negative. There will of course be a Technorati tag as well.


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Barlow on a new mode of building bridges · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

I've been spending a good part of the last few days meditating on Hossein Derakhshan's three metaphors for blogs: windows, bridges and cafés.
John Perry Barlow, who takes life in great big gulps online, as well as in the “real” world, has a wonderful story of a way that Skype can be a bridge technology. He's been getting random phonecalls from young women in Asia who want to talk to him, because his name is “John”, which implies that he speaks English, and they're hoping to practice their English skills.
Suspicious at first that this was a complex scam, or a conversation that was going to quickly lead to a request for marriage for a green card, Barlow has concluded that he's simply been lucky enough to encounter people from China and Vietnam who want to be friends.
Those of us in the US remember that AT&T used to want us to “reach out and touch someone”. Skype makes it possible to reach out and touch someone you've never met… for free.
I'd never thought of looking for people in countries I'm fascinated by and calling them up on Skype. But perhaps this is a new strategy for building bridges between people in different nations. If only my first name were John…


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Success stories for RSF · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

I had a brief conversation this morning with Julien Pain from the Internet Freedom Desk at Reporters Sans Frontières. He's working on a guide for bloggers and cyberdissidents. It's designed for journalists and activists who may never have used blogs before, and will cover basics of setting up a blog, ways to work around filters and other barriers to information, as well as basic aspects of encryption and cyber security.
Julien is interested in collecting “success stories” of people who've used blogs and other internet technologies to report news that would otherwise be censored. If you've got success stories that might be useful for his book, or ideas about bloggers who might have relevant stories, please post them in the comments section.


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Values for world leaders · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

What do you think are the most important values that world leaders must hold? Please go to the World Economic Forum blog and share your views.


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Blog: The Gates @ Central Park · Global Voices
Andy Carvin

Hi everyone…. I've set up a community blog for “The Gates,” the upcoming art event in New York's Central Park by the artist Christo. For two weeks in February, Christo will decorate Central Park with thousands of saffron-colored flags on gates throughout the park.
http://nycgates.blogspot.com/
The website is set up to accept new blog postings from anyone who visits The Gates and wants to comment on the event. The site will accept these posts via email and voicemail. Part blog, part wiki, part mobcast; think of it as a public experiment in collective art criticism. :-)
There are two emails you can use to post comments to the site – one email for people with positive comments about The Gates and one for people with negative comments. You can even attach a photo to the email and have it placed on the blog, if you go to Central Park and take pictures. Soon, I'll have the blog set up so that visitors can post audio blogs/podcasts about the event from their phone, using a call-in number and PIN code. I used this technique at the Berkman blogging conference for the blog http://mobcasting.blogspot.com.
So for those of you who are in NYC or are planning to visit the city during the February event, I'd like to invite you to post your thoughts about The Gates. Feel free to post before, during or immediately after the event; I'll probably close the site's posting features a couple of weeks after the exhibit ends.
If you would like to post your thoughts about the Christo Central Park exhibit to the website, please send an email with your comments to either of these addresses:
For positive comments:
For critical comments:
(You'll have to remove the “/at/” and replace it with an @ symbol. This is to discourage spam.)
Please put the title of your comments in the “subject” field of the email, and then your comments in the body of the email. Feel free to sign your email or post anonymously, whichever is more comfortable for you. Spam and off-topic posts will be removed immediately from the site.
You can also use these email addresses to post a photo to the website; simply attach a photo to your email, then put the title in the subject line and a description and photo credit in the message body. Please only send your own photos; do not send copyrighted material or other people's photos without their express permission. If you would like others to be able to use your photo, please feel free to make a note of it in the body of your email message.
If you're interested in discussing the site, including the development of lesson plans and other tools related to it, I've set up a yahoo group as well. To subscribe, please send an email to  and you'll be added to the list.
thanks,
Andy Carvin


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Indexing Bridge Blogs · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

I'm in southern India this week (just outside of Bangalore), at the AsiaSource conference, a gathering of NGO tech professionals from around Asia, who are learning how to convert their organizations to open source platforms. It's been an amazing cross-cultural experience – I've had great conversations about access to the Internet in Burma and software development in Cambodia… as well as a great basketball game, where the US/Polish/Iranian side trounced the Danish/Mongolian/Croatian side…
My contribution to the gathering was a three-hour workshop, yesterday, on blogging. The connectivity here is poor, and it's unclear how many of the people who attended were able to set up blogs. But I'm hopeful that some of the amazing people who attended this conference will start blogging and that I'll be able to follow some of these blogs.
We've been having a lively discussion between some of the Global Voices participants about ways to keep track of bridge blogging efforts around the world. One of the outputs of this conversation has been an experimental index of bridge blogs around the world. Using a combination of technorati and del.icio.us tags, a group of us is trying to identify great bridge bloggers and add them to a wiki-based index.
If you're interested in what's been indexed so far, take a look at the entries for Morocco or Ghana. If you're interested in getting involved with helping us build this index, check out the wiki page on bridgeblogging, as well as the style guide for Index pages.


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GV draft project proposal · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

We're drafting a proposal for a project that (if approved and funded) would make Global Voices part of what the Berkman Center does officially.  Please visit the wiki to check it out and add your suggestions/comments/changes. Thanks!


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The Berkman Podcast: Hoder Profile · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

For more on Ben Walker's profile of Hossein Derakhshan and his Persian blogging community, click here.


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Cyberdissidents and WSIS · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Reporters Without Borders has taken a delegation of cyber-dissidents to the U.N.'s preparatory meeting for the World Summit on Internet & Society this week.  Global Voices is naturally concerned about efforts by governments that do not uphold free speech to interfere with internet governance.  RWB has come out with an excellent set of recommendations that the U.N. should uphold if it wants any credibility at all when it comes to internet governance:
(hat tip to B.A. Higgins)
MORE STUFF:
Committee to Protect Bloggers has a blogger's account from the WSIS meeting in Geneva. Much cause for concern about the situation in Tunisia, which will be hosting the next WSIS summit this Fall.
Plus,  more on Iranian bloggers from CPB, plus an Iranian writes about the plight of Iranian bloggers in the LA Times.
Global Voices and the CPB welcomes any further links you may find from people blogging about the WSIS meeting, threats against bloggers, and online freedom of speech issues.


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Global Voices blogger Jeff Ooi questioned in Malaysia regarding weblog comments · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

Global Voices ally and contributor Jeff Ooi was taken in for questioning this morning by Malaysia's Criminal Investigation Division regarding a September 2004 post on his weblog, Screenshots. Jeff was questioned for two hours and released. It's unclear whether the authorities will close the case regarding Jeff's weblog, or whether he may be subject to future questioning and harrasment.
Since 2003, Jeff has been one of Malaysia's most prolific, insightful and, often, controversial bloggers, posting in English, Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese. He's a paradigmatic bridge blogger, explaining politics and everday life in Malaysia for outsiders while weighing in on key debates for a local audience.
The post that led to Jeff's police questioning was posted on September 30th, 2004, titled “Islam Hadhari and Money Politics”. In the post, Jeff asserts that Islam Hadhari – an interpretation of Islam promoted by Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi focused on Islam's compatibility with economic and technical development (the term means “civilizational Islam”) – is inconsistent with political bribery. Jeff describes the two forces as “water and oil which do not mix.”
In the first comment on Jeff's post, a commenter who identifies himself only as “Anwar”, responds that “Islam hadari and money politics is just like shit and urine that's how to make comparison.” Jeff responded by deleting the words “shit and urine” and posting the following immediately below the comment:
I try to be as open-minded as I can, but what you said affects and hurts me because you have twisted and hijacked my blog topic. What you said is also blasphemy as it hurts people who hold dear to their value system. And I am one of them.
He also blocked the IP for “Anwar”, preventing him from posting future comments.
Malaysian newspaper Berita Harian picked up the story on October 2nd, with a cover story that faulted Jeff for failing to control his forum and allowing “opinion that is regarded as ridiculing Islam to be published”. Jeff responds with questions about the journalistic ethics of Berita Harian, most notably their failure to contact him about the story and offer him an opportunity to comment or respond.
According to Jeff, the newspaper story led to an investigator by Malaysia's Internet regulator, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), which filed a report with the Attorney General and closed their investigation.
Jeff was alerted on Friday that a criminal complaint had been filed regarding his blog on February 24th. The complaint was made under section 298(A) of Malaysia's penal code, a section that prohibits causing “disharmony, disunity, or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will” on the basis of religion, and provides for 2-5 year periods of imprisonment for offenders. Jeff discovered this morning that the complaint had been filed by the police themselves, four months after the initial incident.
After two hours of questioning this morning, with his lawyer present, Jeff was released. It is unclear whether this completes the investigation, if Jeff will be questioned again, or if he will be charged. In an email this morning, Jeff told friends around the world “I AM FINE” and asked bloggers to post his version of the statement he gave to police, as well as some relevant questions he has about the arrest. This follows below.
I'm confident that police harrasment won't prevent Jeff from being the outspoken and brave voice he's been since he started blogging two years ago. Friends at Reporters Sans Frontiers, Committee to Protect Bloggers and Global Voices, as well as Jeff's excellent lawyers in Malaysia, are standing at the ready should this case continue any further.
Dear Friends,
Here's an account of my taking of a witness’ statement “in assisting
the police in its investigation” pursuant to a police report lodged on
Feb 24 against me as the blogger for www.jeffooi.com (Screenshots)
under Penal Code 298(A).
Two major issues. The Senior Investiagtion Officer Assistant
Superintendent of Police (ASP) Ratnakumar of the Criminal
Investigation Division (CID) told me that:
( 1 ) The investigation is pursuant to the “October Issue” of a Malay
paper (Berita Harian) which accused me in its Oct 2, 2004 edition of
allowing a reader (named ‘Anwar’) posting on my weblog disparaging
remarks about Islam Hadhari (civilisational Islam) currently promoted
heavily by Malaysia's Prime Minister;
( 2 ) The current investigation is a result of a police report filed
against me on Feb 24 by the POLICE themselevs, purportedly from the
Police HQ at Bukit Aman.
The context:
( 1 ) Why did the police file its own police report to trigger
investigation under Penal Code 298(a)?
( 2 ) Why did the police file its own police report, invoking 298(A)
FOUR months after the incident?
( 3 ) Why did the police initiate the police investigation when the
Internet regulator – the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia
Commission (MCMC) has completed its investigations under the
Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, and had submitted the report
to the Attorney-General's chamber and the file closed?
To my Malaysian friends, please share your feedback in confidence.
Here's my version of the police statement I gave under Criminal
Procedure Code Section 112 – verbatim:
Q: TELL ME ABOUT YOUR WEBSITE: WHEN YOU STARTED IT AND THE PURPOSE.
A: www.jeffooi.com is a weblog I started in mid 2003 with a brandname
called “Screenshots”. This “Screenshots” weblog was started on Jan 2,
2003 hosted by www.blogspot.com. Blogspot.com is a free hosting
service with many restrictions such as administrative control over
commentators’ remarks. There were frequent service outage incidents.
Because of that, I hosted “Screenshots” on a dedicated server, using
another technology called “MovableType 2.x” starting from mid 2003.
The purpose of “Screenshots” is to provide an archiove of developments
in information technology, international governance, impact of
Internet on economy and society. In the Malaysian context, the same
focus is applied by looking at issues that affect the country with
relation to realising Vision 2020 and the achievement of a
knowledge-based economy as an advanced, industrialised nation.
The blog is aimed at creating a platform for intellectual discussions
and exchanges of information and knowledge. These exchange and
discussions come in the form of interactive feedback, commentaries and
civil conversations. In summary, it is a platform fopr exchanging
knowledge internationally.
CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT YOUR BLOG ON “ISLAM HADHARI” IN www.jeffooi.com
AS REPORTED ON OCTOBER 2 OF BERITA HARIAN?
On Oct 2 morning, I was informed by several readers that there was a
frontpage story on Berita Harian, alleging that “Screenshots” has
allowed a commentator to post remarks that ridiculed “Islam Hadhari”.
I was surprised that Berita Harian had published the story without
getting a clarification from me. On my own investigation, I had
discovered that the Berita Harian story was related to a commentary
posted by a reader who used the name “Anwar”. Anwar's comment was
posted onto a blog topic that talked about “Money Politics” in Umno
that was then the hot topic in all Malaysian newspapers after the
September 2003 Umno party elections.
In the blig, I wrote about my concern for Prime Minister Abdullah
Badawi's efforts in fighting corruption. In my blogs since Pak Lah
took over as the PM, I had always voiced my support for his commitment
to fighting corruption and to enhance the country's economic strength.
I have also appealed to my readers to give Pak Lah their support in
this noble cause (fighting corruption). When the media reports were so
sustained in their coverage about the alleged “Money Politics” in
Umno, I gave my context that this must be seen in the proper
perspective. Hence, I wrote that corruption and “Money Politics” and
the universal values of Islam Hadhari are like “oil and water”, they
cannot mix and they are mutually exclusive.
Somehow, reader “Anwar” posted his comment saying that I have made a
wrong analogy. He said, the two elements should instead be likened to
faeces and urine. The date for this commentary should be September 30,
2004.
WHAT DID YOU DO AFTER ANWAR UTTERED THE WORDS?
In the late evening of September 30, I wrote a rebuttal on the same
commentary that Anway posted. I told him that his remarks are
equivalent to blasphemy and I told him that his remarks may hurt the
feelings of people who share the sentiments like me. This comment of
mine still remains in the archive.
At the same time, I wrote a private email to Anwar at his email
address “tongsanchai@hotmail.com”, giving him 24 hours to retract his
statement, failing which I would ban him from commenting in my blog.
The deadline expired at 12.00 midmight October 1, but Anwar did not
respond. I then banned him from my blog and deleted his offensive
statement.
IS THERE A REQUIREMENT TO NOTIFY ANY AGENCY OF SUCH INCIDENT?
On the frontpage of my weblog, I have a caution to readers that the
“freedom of Internet” must be handled with care. Should there be
infringement or violation of the law, I shall cooperate with the
authority in theoir investigation, particularly on issues related to
defamation, libel and sedition. I let the authority like MCMC to do
the policing of Internet inaccordance to CMA 1998.
WHY DIDN'T YOU NOTIFY ANY AGENCY OF SUCH INCIDENT?
I would like to invoke CPC112 Sub-section 2 (meaning I would not want
to say anything that would be used to incriminate me).
ANY AUTHORITY RECORDED ANY STATEMENT FROM YOU?
Yes. The investigator from MCMC has taken a statement on the issue in
October 2004. I gave them my fullest cooperation.
WHO WAS THE INVESTIGATING OFFICER FROM MCMC?
It was Mohd Ashwar  Abdul Aziz from the Enforcement Department of the
Monitoring & Enforcement Division of MCMC.
DO YOU KNOW THE READER CALLED ANWAR?
No, I do not know him or her.
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU COMMUNICATED WITH HIM?
I have communicated with him only once, that was through the private
email dated Sept 30, asking him to retract his remarks which I
rebutted.
WAS THERE SIMILAR INCIDENTS LIKE THIS AFTER THIS ISSUE?
No, there wasn't.
WAS THERE SIMILAR INCIDENTS LIKE THIS BEFORE THIS ISSUE?
No, there wasn't.
DO YOU HAVE A CONTRACT WITH THE WEBHOST (INFO NET/WEBVISION)?
Yes.
HAVE YOU GONE THROUGH AND UNDERSTOOD THE CONDITIONS OF THE CONTRACT?
Yes, I have gone through it and regarded it as a standard contract for
webhosting.
DO YOU DISCUSS RELIGIOUS MATTERS IN YOUR BLOG?
I only discussed religious matters that are uttered by politicians but
not religion itself. For example, I am fearful of the “Islamic State
Document” proposed by political party PAS; but I voiced my concurrence
with the 10 guiding pricinples of Islam Hadhari.
ANYTHING TO ADD?
No.
End of police statement.
ASP Ratna asked me to provide the following to him personally, in my
convenience, after which he would issue me a certificate of submission
of evidence:
( 1 ) A printout of the caution to commentators I listed onthe frontpage
( 2 ) A printout of the Sept 30 blog which contains Anwar's comment
and my rebuttal
( 3 ) The private email that I sent to Anwar, asking him to retract his remarks.
Friends (in Malaysia), do you think I could post this police statement
(my record) in my blog for record?
Cheers
Jeff


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Civiblog – Blog Hosting for Civil Society · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

Global Voices collaborator Joi Ito has just joined the advisory board of Civiblog, a project designed to give blogs to civil society organizations around the world. Run by Citizen's Lab (a fantastic source of information on censorship and media freedom around the world), sponsored by Tucows and the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, the project involves a cross-section of top Canadian do-gooders.
I've registered for a Civiblog account to check out the service and provide a review, which I'll post here. Civiblog promises to get back to applicants within 24 hours with blog location and login information. This is significantly slower than the immediate turnaround of full-service free blog hosts like Blogsome, but it's quite possible that the interlinking and promotion of the Civiblog service make the wait worthwhile. More to come if and when we're able to review the Civiblog service with our own account.


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Plagarism is the sincerest form of flattery – Controversy in the Kenyan blogosphere · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

Ory Okolloh, the Kenyan Pundit and Global Voices ally, is keeping her eyes on an interesting situation in the Kenyan blogosphere – the plagarism of a prominent Kenyan blogger by a columnist for one of Kenya's most respected newspapers.
Here's the original post, a mock-job ad for positions in President Kibaki's cabinet, made by “The Thinker”, a Kenyan IT specialist who moonlights one of the nation's sharpest satirists.
And here's Clay Muganda's column in The Nation, one of Kenya's best respected newspapers, reproduced by AllAfrica. The middle third of the piece  – “Job Opportunity” – is lifted word-for-word from “The Thinker”. Muganda lamely credits “The Thinker” with the following:
(The original, un-edited version of the advertisement is available on the Internet). Muganda's piece appeared a week after the original post on “The Thinker's” blog.
Muganda did such a poor job of sourcing his column that “The Thinker” found himself, shortly after, making his own disclaimers, asserting that he is not Clay Muganda and has no affiliation with The Nation or Nation Media Group. In the past few days, there's been an interesting exchange of letters between “The Thinker”, some of his fans, Clay Muganda and his editors about whether Muganda's use of “The Thinker”‘s words was “adaptation” or “plagarism”.
One way or another, as Ory points out in an email to me, “the upside of all this of course is that Kenyan journalists are reading
Kenyan blogs.” As well they should – the Kenyan blogosphere is the most vital and interesting of the African blogospheres, and Kenyan bloggers are doing an excellent job of keeping track of the fascinating and complex politics of the nation.


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Dina Mehta on the Indian blogscene · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

Dina Mehta, a brilliant Indian anthropologist and blogger, just published an article on the emergence of the Indian blogosphere for online magazine Nirantar. Referencing Malcolm Gladwell's new book, “The Tipping Point”, she points to the emergence of “Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen” as evidence that Indian bloggers are emerging as a force to be reckoned with. She points to her own experiences with the Tsunami Help blog which rapidly mobilized hundreds of volunteers in the wake of the December 26th tsunami.
Dina blogs in English, but her piece was translated into Hindi for Nirantar, which calls itself the world's first Hindi-language blogzine. For those interested in brushing up their spoken Hindi, Dina points to Blognaad, a site dedicated to Hindi-language audioblogs.


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Internet, Democracy & Terrorism · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Ethan Z and I (among others) are Madrid now, at the Safe Democracy conference, where people from around the world have gathered to discuss how you fight terrorism without destroying democracy. See some news coverage here, here and here.  Joi Ito has organized a workshop focusing on internet issues. As one participant just asked: How do you save the internet without destroying it?  How do you continue to protect privacy and political dissent? Joi points out that anonymity must be defended, despite the belief of some that all internet users should be identifiable. Others are talking about the delicate balance between privacy and security concerns. How do you find the right balance?
There's a lively IRC chat on freenode at: #madridopendemo.


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Media access to the Madrid Summit · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

Martín Varsavsky, our host at the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security, has been handling some awkward questions about media access to the summit. Over thirteen hundred journalists were invited to the summit, but none are admitted to the main conference hall. Instead, they're set up in the hotel across the street, where attendees, who are so inclined, can visit and give an interview.
Martín's not thrilled – it hardly seems consonant with democratic principles that the press isn't admitted to this gathering. Unfortunately, the Spanish secret service felt like they couldn't provide adequate security for world leaders if they had to admit these journalists.
In an odd twist, a few dozen bloggers – conference attendees – are blogging the conference. So, in that spirit, here's a videoblog of Martín talking about the situation.
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Safe Democracy & the Internet · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Recommendations for Safe Democracy: The document of recommendations for the Club of Madrid is on the wiki page here.
David Weinberger has posted the IRC for our workshop yesterday.


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Newsweek piece on blogosphere diversity and the Halley/Levy challenge · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

Steven Levy's column in the upcoming issue of Newsweek starts with a quote from Keith Jenkins, commenting on Rebecca's blog, which expressed his concern that people of color are less well represented in the blogopshere than in mainstream media:
“It has taken ‘mainstream media’ a very long time to get to [the] point of inclusion,” Jenkins wrote. “My fear is that the overwhelmingly white and male American blogosphere… will return us to a day where the dialogue about issues was a predominantly white-only one.”
Levy notes that it's ironic that, in a medium designed to be open, grassroots and participatory, the most widely cited bloggers are white, male Americans:
So why, when millions of blogs are written by all sorts of people, does the top rung look so homogeneous?
Levy cites Global Voices as one of the projects attempting to diversify the blogosphere, and mentions a challenge offered by Halley Suitt at the recent “Weblogs, Journalism and Credibility” conference at Harvard:
…Suitt challenged people to each find 10 bloggers who weren't male, white or English-speaking—and link to them. “Don't you think,” she says, “that out of 8 million blogs, there could be 50 new voices worth hearing?” Definitely. Now let's see if the blogosphere can self-organize itself to find them.
Finding female webloggers is hardly a challenge, especially if one opens the definition of “weblog” to include LiveJournal and Xanga sites. LiveJournal features 2.6m “active” accounts – 1.5m of which have been updated in the past 30 days – and 67.2% of registered users are female.
Finding non-white, non-American blogs can be more challenging – I wrote an essay a year ago called “Making Room for the Third World in the Second Superpower” positing some of the challenges webloggers in the developing world have getting access to the web and making their voices heard. These challenges aside, it's becoming increasingly easy to find great blogs from around the world, thanks to country and regional aggregators, blogrings, and “hub figures” who link to multiple bloggers in their communities.
For instance, Global Voices ally Ory Okolloh keeps close track of the Kenyan blogosphere – her blogroll is a who's who of Kenyan bloggers and a great introduction to fantastic voices like Unganisha and Mental Acrobatics. The Egyptian Blog Ring, Jordan Planet and BahrainBlogs give English-speakers a good starting point for discovering great blogs from the Middle East. And African aggregator BlogAfrica features blogs from the entire African continent.
Inclined to take up Halley and Levy's challenge and discover ten new blogs that aren't written by “the usual suspects?” Blog it on your site and let us know about it in the comments section of this post.


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Video Blog: Baramati Bus Stop · Global Voices
Andy Carvin

This weekend I completed a short Web documentary on my visit to a mobile computing lab in Baramati, India last week. The video, called Baramati Bus Stop, is about six and a half minutes long. It explores the mobile computing lab, which features two dozen thin-client computers installed on a bus. I also show my visit to a rural primary school classroom, and meeting some of the local village children who aren't enrolled in school — and thus have no access to the technology.
I've made two versions of the video, one without captioning and one with captioning.
Both versions of the movie are quite large – more than 45 megs. So you may want to let the video download for a brief time before trying to stream it. Better yet, download the whole thing first so you won't have to worry about it pausing due to bandwidth bottlenecks. The movie is released on a Creative Commons noncommercial/attribution/share-alike license, which means it may be viewed, disseminated and even edited for educational and noncommercial purposes.
For those of you who are interested in how I made the video, here are some quick tech specs. I shot the video on a Canon A60 digital camera, capturing about 15 minutes of footage, on location in Baramti, India. I uploaded this footage to my Mac G4 laptop and edited it using Final Cut Pro. Music was licensed from ProductionTrax.com; licenses for four songs cost approximately USD $30. For voiceover (narration) I used Final Cut Pro's voiceover tool, spoken through a LogiTech USB headset mic. Captioning was also done using Final Cut Pro. The total editing process, from uploading footage to exporting the movie as a Quicktime file, took approximately eight hours over the course of several days.
Anyway, please check it out when you get a chance and let me know what you think. -andy
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NewsILike and Aggregator Artistry · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

I'm experimenting with NewsILike.com, a new aggregator site put together by a team that includes Jim Moore, Berkman colleague, Darfur activist, and Global Voies ally. Jim introduces the concept of “aggregator artistry”, the idea that aggregators can be a creative expression in the same way that blogging is.
NewsILike has a lot in common with other online aggregators like BlogLines, but has a key feature I haven't found elsewhere: post filtering. I was able to put together an Africa filter, which is designed to match any mention of an African nation, which allows me to subscribe an aggregator to a broad news feed – like the Guardian's world news feed – and filter it to match only Africa-focused stories.
So here's a first step towards an Africa aggregator, which includes mainstream media news run through the Africa filter, and some great African blogs. (When I'm not conference surfing full time, I'll flesh out the sources a bit further.) I'm already finding a number of interesting posts and stories that aren't making it into BlogAfrica or my information sources.
As NewsILike gets to be a stronger platform, I can imagine this being a hugely helpful tool for GlobalVoices, allowing us to put together targeted aggregators focused on different parts of the world. Anyone want to put together the Middle East, Latin America or Central Asia aggregators?