Stories about Technology from October, 2012
Puerto Rico: Political Parties Reap the Benefits of Social Media
Social media have become a key part of daily life in Puerto Rico, a fact which has not escape the attention of the country's various political parties. Each of these has tried to capitalise on the enormous potential that social media offer, some with greater success than others.
What Exactly is a Hackathon? And What is Open Data?
We previously announced the next hackathon for Latin America: Developing Latin America 2012. But it's likely that some readers are not sure what a hackathon is or above all, what it's for. Here we try to answer those questions with definitions, examples, and two video interviews with Argentinian hacker Mariano Crowe.
Kenya: The Influence of Technology in Governance
Will Mutua writes about a report investigating the use of Twitter by various presidential candidates ahead of the 2013 national elections: This first report (a mini-report really) investigates Martha Karua’s engagement on Twitter: mentions, hashtags, sentiment analysis, key words used in tweets by her or about her and other such...
Africa: The Challenges of Building African Platforms
John Karanja discusses the challenges of building African platforms: What is an African platform? What does it look like? and perhaps more importantly what does it do? Will it address a Need or a Want? What exactly will make it African? Will it work elsewhere in the World?
Philippines: Online Shame Campaign Against “Epal” Politicians
With less than a few months before the 2013 national elections, various groups have launched an online shame campaign against the common practice of Filipino politicians to attach their names to government projects that are funded or assisted by their office. These politicians are labelled “epal,” a Filipino slang term meaning “attention grabber”
Ukraine: Election Monitors’ Websites Under DDoS Attack
Ukrainian domestic election monitoring organizations and projects using crowdsourcing for mapping election violations (see GV post) reported [uk] being DDoS-ed on the day of the vote: […] web-sites of election monitoring organizations are experiencing DDos attacks. Maidan, OPORA, ElectUa.
Ukraine: Technology for Transparent Elections
Amidst mounting allegations of the ruling party's use of administrative resource during election campaign, the government has pledged to keep the Oct. 28 free and fair. Local election monitoring groups, however, have been utilizing new technology to ensure electoral transparency and to check governmental pledges for themselves.
Ukraine: Crowdmapping Election Violations
ElectUA.org [uk] is a crowdsourcing tool used to report and map election violations in Ukraine. A project of Internews-Ukraine, its goal [en] is “to encourage citizens to have active social position and monitor the electoral process.” So far, 1,177 reports have been submitted; the parliamentary vote is to take place...
Russia: Cryptanalytic Vulnerabilities in the Opposition's Online Elections
The opposition's Elections Commission accidentally leaked personal voter data to one of its most dangerous enemies, Sergei Mavrodi's MMM group. How avoidable was this mistake, and does the fact that it happened indicate more serious vulnerabilities in the protest movement's digital self-defense?
Manufacturing a Car in Open Source and Modular Design
I don’t know whether we will need gasoline, electric or hydrogen cars tomorrow. I don’t have to know, because I designed my car so that I can change the motor in about the same time that it takes to change a tire. Joe Justice, founder and Team Lead of Wikispeed,...
Madagascar: A Case Study for Small Scale Mining
The Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) in Protected Areas and critical ecosystems (“PACE”) programme (ASM-PACE) has released a case study on how Madagascar can “ensure continued socioeconomic development without undermining ecological resiliency”. The report focuses on successful and failed methods to cope with mineral rushes.
Cuba: Cell Phone Use on the Rise
Puertasabiertas [es] reports that thousands of Cubans are purchasing cell phone service for the first time because of a new plan offered by Cuba's cell phone company, Cubacel, that began offering a new low rate for users last week. Cubacel centers in Havana and Santiago de Cuba have been reportedly...
Chile: What is Poderopedia and How Does it Work?
Poderopedia is an editorial and crowdsourced data journalism platform that maps who's who in business and politics in Chile.
Competition to Use Civic Apps Before U.S. Election
Race for Reuse is a competition launched by the Code for America Brigade to implement one of four civic applications in a local community in the United States before the presidential election on November 6, 2012. The apps are: Adopta, Textizen, LocalWiki and Shareabouts.
New Realities of the India-Russia Defence Partnership
India has traditionally enjoyed warm defense ties with Russia. However, New Delhi’s recent tilt towards Washington has prompted Moscow to enhance its defense and diplomatic states with other South Asian countries, most notably Pakistan.
FIFA Approves Use of Goal-Line Technology
Yesterday, 23 October, international football association FIFA announced that Hawk-Eye and GoalRef goal-line technology can be used, starting with the Club World Cup championship in December. Read blogger responses to the news.
Trinidad & Tobago: Working with Windows 8
Two Trinidadian bloggers review Microsoft's Windows 8: Mark Lyndersay, who offers a techie analysis of working with it on a tablet, and aka_lol, who gives it a more humourous spin.
Madagascar: Preserving National Heritage with Video Archiving
A Civil Society Initiative has been set up to preserve the 'collective memory' of Madagascar by digitally archiving videos detailing its, often controversial, history. The Fl@H Association was set up to preserve Madagascar’s audiovideo heritage and aims to be a force for the preservation of the country’s history. Members can already point to several achievements.
Benin: Organizing Volunteer Holidays to Share Specific Expertise
Youphil writes [fr] about a project driven by Espace Volontariats du Bénin and supported by France Volontaires that promotes volunteer holidays in Porto Novo and Sô-Ava. The project will help experts share their knowledge in fields such as accounting, communication, ICT & project management with local NGOs.
North Korea's Software and IT Exhibition
The NK Leadership Watch posted photos of North Korea's 23rd National Software Contest and Exhibition held in Pyongyang. North Korean state media reported 1,300 computer programs developed by North Korean engineers and technicians were displayed in the exhibition.
Bangladesh: The Perils of The YouTube Ban
The Bangladesh government banned YouTube and its many IPs were also banned which are also used by other Google Services. Many from Bangladesh are unable to access a number of Google services for more than a month as a consequence. Sajib vents his frustrations.
