Global Voices » Technology

Germany: “Rundshow”: A New, Social TV Format

Rachel Horst — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:28:49 +0000

The Bavarian broadcasting company Bayerischer Rundfunk recently launched [en] a social TV experiment called “Rundshow” (Roundshow). Viewers are actively incorporated into the show through virtual means such as Google Hangout, videos, an app called “Die Macht” (The Power), and Twitter. The concept of further blurring the lines between TV and the Internet can already been seen with Al Jazeera Stream [en]. But the „Rundshow“ [de] is the first format of its kind to be attempted in Germany.

Science Blogging in Sub-Saharan Africa

Lova Rakotomalala — Sun, 20 May 2012 15:31:30 +0000

Blogging has become an integral part of popular culture in Sub-Saharan Africa but blogging about science is still lagging behind. Many initiatives have been launched to increase the culture of sharing in the African scientific world, yet African science blogs, particularly about research, are still few and far between.

Lack of public interest?

The reason for this dearth of science blogging may be related to the uneven development of scientific research on the continent; the need for more research is well-known. B. Ruelle explains on his blog [fr]:

Le niveau de développement atteint par l’Asie du Sud-Est devrait pousser les Africains à investir dans la science et la technologie ; la science et la technologie représentent la seule voie d’évitement de la perpétuation de la faiblesse de l’Afrique dans le commerce international ; c’est aussi, dans un monde inégalitaire où racisme et xénophobie perdurent, la condition de l’affirmation de la part des Africains dans l’un des phares de la connaissance humaine.

The level of development reached by Southeast Asia should push African nations to invest into science and technology; science and technology are the only way to avoid the enduring shortcomings of Africa in international trade; it is also the only way to prevent racism and xenophobia in this increasingly inegalitarian world; the one remedy to assert African contribution to the global human knowledge pool.

University of Cheik Anta Diop in Dakar Senegal by Myriam Louviot (CC-License-BY).

The continent is not short on talented scientists. Bernard Kom lists a few of the mosts prominent African scientists [fr] right now, and some of them are also active on the web.

Jacques Bonjawo is a Cameroonian engineer who chairs the Board of Directors of the African Virtual University (AVU). He explains the objectives of the institution [fr]:

L’UVA a été conçue comme un système d’éducation à distance à travers Internet dont la mission est précisément de former une masse critique d’africains à des coûts faibles, grâce à des économies d’échelle ; une formation moderne et de qualité au terme de laquelle l’étudiant devient immédiatement opérationnel sur le marché de l’emploi.

The AVU was conceived as a complete remote online teaching institute whose mission is to train a critical mass of Africans at low cost through economy of scale. We provide a modern quality curriculum that aims to make the student immediately operational for the job market.

Mzamose Gondwe from Malawi recognizes the need to promote more African engagement with science. That is the objective of her blog, African Science Heroes. She explains what she aims to accomplish:

I documented in print, exhibition and film African Science Heroes, Afrrican scientists who have made considerable contributions to science. In this way I hope to generate a sense of pride in our African science accomplishments and promote public engagement with science.

African research pigeonholed?

When scientific news from Africa makes it to mainstream media platforms, it is usually related to environmental programmes, public health or research on exotic animals. A typical story that was shared many times on various online media was the recent research publication of the mating habits of the female gray mouse lemur in Madagascar. The title itself, “Costly sex under female control in a promiscuous primate”, was bound to draw quite a bit of interest from the non-scientific community.

As it turned out, the study draws interesting conclusion about strategy for the survival of the species as Sara Reardon from Science NOW explains:

Either a polygamous lifestyle confers some unknown evolutionary advantage for females, the team concludes, or girls really do just want to have fun.

African science and engineering has much to offer in other areas as well. The blog Afrigadget highlights innovative engineering projects aiming at solving specific problems. One of these projects is biogas installations in Kenya.

Paula Kahumbu explains how piki piki (motor bikes in Kiswhahili) can help distribute dung more efficiently:

The problem I face is common to many folks around here, we rent houses but we don’t have livestock. But there are huge cattle farms around us. So Dominic came up with a solution that creates jobs and moves poop quickly and efficiently. So we went to the local juakali welder on the roadside to create a dungmobile ..a trailer designed specially for cow dung!

The Africamaat project aims to document the full history of African science and its inventors. More precisely, it adds [fr]:

Notre démarche vise donc essentiellement à démontrer qu’il est profondément arbitraire d’exclure systématiquement l’Afrique noire de l’historiographie universelle lorsqu’il est question des sciences

Our approach aims to demonstrate that it is deeply arbitrary to systematically exclude black Africa from the universal history of science.

In this video, YouTube user White African showcases an invention by Killian Deku, a Ghanaian engineer that came up with a device to dose the amount of chlorine to add to water:

Open access to publications

Madagascar is accustomed to have its lemur population draw more headlines that its people. However, it should not go unnoticed that the scientific blogging community there is starting to emerge. Several projects aim to collect and make available to the public all the scientific resources about the country.

Ange Rakotomalala describes the objectives of website Thèses Malgaches en ligne [mg]:

Ho hitanao eto ireo vokam-pikarohana tontosa teto amin'ny firenentsika nanomboka tamin'ny taona 2002.

On this website, you will be able to find all the theses and dissertations published since 2002

The scientific community blog MyScienceWork aims to promote the culture of sharing among scientists [fr]:

Pour construire la culture scientifique de demain, la science doit devenir toujours plus multidisciplinaire. Elle doit s’adresser aux amateurs de science, au public, aux professionnels de la recherche [..] En 2011, nous avons publié les textes d’étudiants en informatique des pays d’Afrique du Nord, de chercheurs en communication d’université belge, de doctorants en neurosciences, en agronomie, d’exobiologistes de renom [..] Parce que nous croyons que la culture générale doit inclure les savoirs scientifiques, nous vous remercions chaleureusement. Faites passer le message : « partager c’est vivre ».

To build the necessary scientific culture of tomorrow, science must strive to become more multidisciplinary. It must be accessible to science amateurs, the general public, the research scientists [..] In 2011, we published articles on IT from countries in Northern Africa, in communication with renowned Belgian researchers, and in neuroscience, agronomy and exobiology from PhD students [..] We did so because we believe that general knowledge ought to include science and we thank you for reading us. Please pass along this message: “sharing is living”.

The final words on science in Africa belong to Cheikh Anta Diop, one of the most prominent scientists in Africa, as posted by Africamaat [fr]:

En attendant, les spécialistes africains doivent prendre des mesures conservatoires. Il s’agit d’être apte à découvrir une vérité scientifique par ses propres moyens en se passant de l’approbation d’autrui, de savoir conserver son autonomie intellectuelle

Meanwhile, the African specialists must take prudent measures. It must be about being able to discover a scientific fact by our own means and without the approval of anyone else, about keeping our intellectual autonomy

North Korea Denies GPS Jamming

Lee Yoo Eun — Sat, 19 May 2012 04:59:18 +0000

North Korea denied that it jammed Global Positioning System (GPS) signals in the border area between North and South Korea which has caused inconvenience to commercial aviation flights. North Korea Tech blog wrote an analysis on the jamming which South Korean media have reported as coming from North Korea.

Greece: TEDxThessaloniki 2012, the Courage to Create

Asteris Masouras — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:21:09 +0000

Twelve hours long, with more than 20 speakers and performers, over 700 attendees and 5.000 livestream viewers from 57 countries; on Saturday May 12, 2012, TEDx Thessaloniki 2012 provided an inspiring intermission from the agonizing climax of the financial crisis embroiling Greece.

The theme of this year's event was encapsulated in this short but evocative promo video, which “attempts to depict the sense and feeling of suffocation, anguish the crisis has inflicted upon people as well as the ingenuity to transform obstacles into tools of creation”.

Among the speakers that inspired the audience:

Athens-based Albanian journalist and author Gazmend Kapllani talked about the challenges of creativity and identity faced by immigrants;
Stand-up comedian Katerina Vrana performed in English and Greek on the interaction of the two cultures;
Greek-American startup CEO Eric Parks drew parallels between entrepreneurship in Greece and Homer's Odyssey;
American expat Marcie Mayer presented a sustainable agricultural cooperative project utilizing crowdfunding in the island of Kea, and teacher Aggelos Patsias his innovative elementary school at a remote village in Crete;
Czech “rogue economist” Tomas Sedlacek offered an iconoclastic, philosophical view of the financial crisis;
Albanian politician Edi Rama outlined his audacious project to transform his country's capital Tirana into a vibrant and safer metropolis, and to reinvigorate politics.

The entire event was eminently quotable, with several of the speakers providing insights pertinent to the crisis, avidly tweeted by the audience:

@fayko: Να λεμε εγω και μόνο εγω είμαι υπεύθυνος για τις πράξεις μου. Η θυματοποιηση είναι η εύκολη λύση. @gazikap #TEDxThess

@fayko: We should say: I and only I am responsible for my actions. Victimization is the easy way out. @gazikap #TEDxThess

@apas: Καταπληκτικός @erictparks - see the long term vision (Ιθάκη) and do fail and do fail fast. #TEDxThess

@apas: Amazing @erictparks - see the long term vision (Ithaca) and do fail and do fail fast. #TEDxThess

@vickyele: ‘Be present, have access. Listen. Learn. Voice. Have the courage to imagine' #TEDxThess #Rouka

@TEDxThess: Compromise in colors is gray and we already have enough of that.@ediramaal, ex-mayor of Tirana at #TEDxThess

@DimitrisTzouris: . @atomsedlacek says too much growth is causing the economic crisis, not the lack of it. It is a systemic problem. #TEDxThess

@fayko: If we dismantle the euro, this will mean the beginning of the crisis not the end of it. @atomsedlacek #TEDxThess

Several attendees blogged their impressions of the event. Athens-based fashionista Thalia Geladaki wrote about her favorite presentations:

Imagine a young person that abandons urban life to live in a small village named Fourfoura in Crete. Why? Because he chose to become a teacher and director of a primary school located in Fourfoura with only 4 teachers to cover the needs of six classes. What impressed me about Angelos [Patsias] was his modesty and his determination. It takes a lot of courage to persuade a small community that children can actually learn through different activities and interactions and not just through books. Children are learing via singing, dancing as well as by doing the garden or cooking. This to me is an example of how the educational system should be. Learn not only through books but through experience. You can follow Angelos and the “School of Nature and Colors” here.

Edi Rama on stage at TEDx Thessaloniki. Photo by Duncan Davidson, licensed CC BY-NC

Journalist Michalis Goudis compared Rama's political example to the dismal Greek reality [el]:

Η ομιλία του Edi Rama στο TEDx Thessaloniki κατέδειξε ακόμη περισσότερο τη γύμνια και την ανικανότητα του ελληνικού πολιτικού προσωπικού τόσο σε εθνικό όσο και σε τοπικό επίπεδο. [..] Το παράδειγμα του Rama αποδεικνύει πως η πολιτική είναι καθαρά και μόνο θέμα βούλησης και προθέσεων. Αρκεί να είναι κανείς διατεθειμένος να συγκρουστεί με μικροσυμφέροντα για να διαμορφώσει μία καλύτερη ευρεία εικόνα. Ο Edi Rama με τα μέτρια αγγλικά, αλλά το καθαρό βλέμμα και τις ακόμη πιο καθαρές ιδέες ενέπνευσε τους ακροατές του. Δυστυχώς, έχει ήδη επιστρέψει στην πατρίδα του κι εμείς απομείναμε με τη φαιδρότητα της ακυβερνησίας…

Edi Rama's speech at TEDx Thessaloniki showed even more how destitute and incapable Greek political personnel are, nationally as well as locally. [..] Rama's example proves that politics is clearly a matter of willpower and intentions; as long as one is willing to take on petty interests in order to better form the big picture. Edi Rama, in his mediocre English, clear look and even clearer ideas inspired his audience. Sadly, he's back home and we're left with the hilarity of the lack of government…

Local entrepreneur Nick Papanotas shared an insight gleaned from spending time with two accomplished speakers:

Geniuses have long ago killed their egos and that’s exactly the way to make breakthroughs. Get over your self and focus on your passion. Sounds like a cool way to make the world a better place, don’t you think?

At TEDx Thessaloniki, looking out on a rainy day. Photo by Maria Mouzakiti on Instagram, used by permission

Journalist Theodoris Georgakopoulos liveblogged TEDx Thessaloniki on Facebook. Charis Tasioulis summarized the event's sessions, and Petros Amiridis shared yet another insight:

My favorite part: We grownups have made mistakes, we do not know all the answers and we are just rebuilding a mistake. It doesn't matter who made the mistake, it doesn't matter why the mistake was made… we are here to fix it

Renowned TED photographer Duncan Davidson gave TEDx Thessaloniki 2012 a ringing endorsement:

Watching the TEDxThessaloniki team pull together their event has been much like watching any of the other talented teams I’ve seen pull together other events. Long hours. Late nights. Much coffee. It all came together magnificently on May 12th at the Olympion Theater into a world class TEDx event that was everything a TED-like event should be: inspiring, motivating, and thought provoking. Attendees were brimming with excitement and passion all the way through the day to the final performance. [..] Exhilarating. Wonderful. Tiring. A great day, no matter how one looks at it. More than anything, it’s wonderful to see people implement the spreading of ideas in their own communities and spheres of influence. It’s something that the world can definitely use more of.

And, with the crisis raging outside the venue, multimedia director Marineta Kritikou expressed the misgivings that many attendees must have been feeling about facing the day after:

@makemanet: Και μετα απο αυτή την ανάταση ψυχής @TEDxThess πρέπει να βγούμε έξω κ να αντιμετωπίσουμε την άλλη πλευρά της χώρας μας.COURAGE to ALL Of Us

@makemanet: And after this uplifting of the soul @TEDxThess, we have to go out and face the other side of our country.COURAGE to ALL Of Us

More on TEDxThessaloniki: Official site, blog, @TEDxThess on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. Photos were also posted by Tom Tziros and Asteris Masouras on Flickr.

Yemen: The #NoDrones Campaign

Noon Arabia — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:55:19 +0000

Yemenis have launched a campaign on Twitter to express their condemnation of the United States' drone war in Yemen. They are tweeting under the hashtag #NoDrones, and have asked non-Yemenis to speak out and join them in their campaign.

Mai Saleh in Yemen tweeted:

@A4Mai: Take a moment and shout with us: No to the jungle law, No to the extrajudicial killings, No to the killing of innocent civilians #NoDrones

Stop drone attacks, protest sign. Image by meeshypants on Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

Talal, a British-Yemeni activist in London, urged:

@25FebFreedom: #US killing innocent civilians in #Yemen in the name of “war on terror ” #StopDrones #NoDrones for God sake in #Yemen

The campaign started on May 13, the same day that President Obama's counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, met with Yemen's president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and a day after a stepped-up campaign of American airstrikes reportedly killed 11 militants.

British journalist Tom Finn, who is based in Yemen, tweeted:

@tomfinn2: Yemenis launch a #NoDrones campaign on twitter as US counterterrorism czar John Brennan arrives in Sana'a… #Yemen

Mai Saleh addressed some tweets to Brennan:

@A4Mai: Urgent message to the visiting Mr. #Brennan: Take your hands off #Yemen & take your drones off our skies for good. Yemeni Citizen #NoDrones

‏@A4Mai: Dear Mr. Brennan, Your policy has proved a failure in #Pakistan, why try it in #Yemen? It is obviously doomed to fail, sincerely #NoDrones

Yemenis condemn terrorism, and they believe the use of US drones only fuels it, as blogger Atiaf Alwazir pointed out:

‏@WomanfromYemen:B/c I'm against #terrorism & #extremism, i'm also against #drones. It's counter-productive & fuels more extremism. #NoDrones #yemen #US

@womanfromYemen: We are saying #NoDrones, b/c we don't want militants in #Yemen. Drones do not eradicate militants they intensify their presence.

French journalist Benjamin Wiacek, who is based in Yemen, tweeted

@Nefermaat: #US drones and air strikes create more extremism and resentment than improving the situation: SAY NO to DRONES !! #NoDrones

He also tweeted a link about drone strikes and the civilan casualties in Yemen which are seldom reported.

Atiaf Alwazir added:

@WomanfromYemen: For every headline you read regarding “militants” killed by drones in #Yemen, think of the civilians killed that are not reported. #NoDrones

A Yemeni journalist and poet who goes by the name Sana2 Al-Yemen tweeted her contempt:

@Sanasiino: It is a disgusting thought to know US officials across the globe are playing a video game with our people in #Yemen. #NoDrones

@Sanasiino: Decreasing #AQAP support and power would need to start with a #NoDrones policy in #Yemen

And finally, Shams in Yemen tweeted a hope many Yemenis share, that the new governemnt will put an end to US drone attacks:

@shamsalshomos: I hope #Hadi does what #Saleh never did speak and act on behalf of the welfare of his people #NoDrones in #yemen

To learn more about the campaign follow the hashtag #NoDrones and read this Storify.

Kenya: Mark Kaigwa to Global Voices: “The East is Coming to Africa.”

Suzanne Lehn — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:57:07 +0000

Mark Kaigwa is a Kenyan blogger and new media consultant based in Nairobi, whose work is to “help international companies and African brands to connect with each other to develop creativity”. He is also a former film maker and was a judge at the 2012 Kenyan Bloggers Awards that took place on May 5.

His session at the recently concluded re:publica conference, “Silicon Savanna, how African technologies are changing the world”, was dedicated to illustrating the shift in Africa's image - a shift from the clichés of crisis, war, or even wonders of nature, to an Africa that is showing the world a way to foster development in a competitive environment, specifically through the use of mobile technologies.

Global Voices caught up with Mark at the re:publica to better understand his hopes and dreams about Africa's digital future.

Mark Kaigwa. Photo by Suzanne Lehn

Global Voices Online (GV): When and how did you get into blogging?

Mark Kaigwa (MK): I started blogging in 2007 – 2008, first with a personal blog. I wanted to express myself so that someone in the world would listen and hear.

Now I run three blogs : my personal blog mark.co.ke - where I give my personal views about creativity in African technology, afrinnovator.com - with focus on technology, start-ups, who is bringing money and from where and africandigitalart.com - about animation, illustration, graphic design, in one word, all about the combination of art and technology. It features, for instance, artists giving responses to the North African uprisings.

GV: Do you have any links/connections with French-speaking African countries?

MK: I have personal business connections through the Internet, yes, but I have yet to travel to a francophone African country. I am trying to get inputs from francophone as well as lusophone countries, but not because they belong to the non-English sphere (editor's note: The notion of language-based sphere appears pretty much irrelevant to Mark). To give you an example, Angola is interesting to me as a country regardless of the fact that it is part of the lusophone sphere.

GV: The world went through a period in which low-cost labor was the most sought after commodity. Then recently it was low-cost natural resources. In your opinion, is it now a period in which low-cost technologies will be the most sought after?

MK: The 1990's were the decade of China's boom, the 2010's are India's and the 2020's will be Africa's. The West was going to the East, now the East is coming to Africa.

The east has a smart strategy. It brought to Africa what it learned and it does not consider Africa as one entity. On the contrary, eastern countries have understood that Africa is composed of 56 countries. They build the infrastructure in exchange for the natural resources that they are of course in need of. Technology is last on their agenda.

GV: It has been said that Africa's real problems are transport and the banking systems. What is your opinion?

MK: Those problems indeed exist but these are not the only ones.

The African challenges are the infrastructure and the economic climate for doing business, but we as Africans are in the process of solving them; and as a prominent economist of the World Bank noted, Kenya's debt-to-GDP ratio amounts to about 45%, which would make many European countries very envious !

The true size of Africa, an infographic presented by Mark at the conference (CC License. No Rights Reserved, public domain)

GV: So how will the shift of economic power work in favor of Africa?

MK: They know that Africa will compete with them. China's competitive advantages - economies of scale, low costs - are going to shrink, and might even cancel out in the next 10 or 20 years, along with the development there of the middle classes, the rise of wages and consumption. China's low-cost advantages will then probably go to Africa. Once the infrastructure is up to par, Africa will be able to be competitive with the East – provided the political leadership holds its end of the bargain.

At the re:publica 2012. Photo by Suzanne Lehn

GV: Regarding African breakthroughs in technology that came about after the well-known Ushahidi, you mentioned the following in your session - SwiftRiver, CrowdMap, Kopo Kopo, iCow, M-Pedigree, MXIT. However, these are mostly operating on mobile phones. Is technology in Africa over-hyped ?

MK: What we have now is that for the first time, Africa has a way to influence the world. Political leadership permitting, technology is getting some serious attention. Furthermore, the Kenyan government is acknowledging that opening its data will result in better accountability and leadership, and that this is good for their political legacy.

I don't deny there's hype, but it's a good hype and I prefer it to the former one-sided vision of Africa.

GV: A meaningful fact for conclusion?

MK: All of East Africa started to learn Chinese – starting, not from English, but from Swahili.

The interview was conducted by Global voices author Suzanne Lehn. The photos of Mark Kaigwa used in this post were taken by her.

Video: Robot Shows us How to Stay Safe Online

Juliana Rincón Parra — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:12:00 +0000

ONO the Robot

Online security is a complex issue that is sometimes hard to understand or to know how to face. Using a lovable animated robot, the Tactical Tech Collective is trying to get more people aware on how to stay safe online through short video animations that can be viewed online or downloaded.

With eight new weekly releases for their new series Survival in the Digital Age, ONO the robot will help us with email security, facebook security, private browsing and more. The first video in the new series is HEY YAHOO! HTTPS MY EMAILS! where how to chose a safe web based email provider. The organization is using crowdsourcing efforts to translate the videos into as many languages as possible.

In 2010, ONO made its appearance explaining the Digital Traces we leave behind and how to keep our personal information and contacts safe when using mobile devices, cameras or the internet. The videos in this past series have been subtitled into many different languages already. Following is the promotional video for this episode, the full length video can be viewed at Onorobot.org.

Through ONO's own eyes, we see how we are constantly tracked through our digital communications. While a lot of the time this might not be harmful for us, we have little control over what we want to keep private and what is available for viewing, recording and information harvesting. This is crucial for activists and journalists who might be under surveillance and whose digital activities can put them in danger. ONO explores some of the ways that people can protect their identity and separate who they are from what they are doing such as: the use of anonymising and circumvention tools and encryption. ONO warns us that we need to know what we are doing when trying more advanced privacy techniques and provides a checklist for the best practises which everyone can implement in our daily use of email, mobile phones and online services.

Following is a preview for the Safe Email episode. Full length here.

With a callout to Global Voices Advocacy Access Denied Map, ONO'S GUIDE TO SAFE SURFING tells people how to stay safe while surfing online, specially when accessing sites that may be blocked. Following the promotional video, full length on the site.

You can learn more about ONO through Facebook, twitter (@onorobot), and more about online security through the Tactical Tech site.

India, Pakistan Missile Launches: Game Changers or Mere Posturing?

Aparna Ray — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:01:30 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage International Relations & Security.

On April 19, 2012, India successfully test-fired its Agni V inter-continental ballistic missile (IBCM). With a range of over 5,000 kilometres, the Agni V places India’s missile capabilities increasingly in line with the United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France and China. The following week, neighboring Pakistan successfully test-launched its nuclear capable ballistic missile, the Shaheen 1-A.

These back-to-back missile tests received widespread coverage and comment on mainstream and social media outlets. In particular, netizens have been engaging in lively online discussions regarding the escalating arms race in South Asia and its impact on the overall security of the region.

While many netizens across India and Pakistan, fuelled with nationalistic fervor, engaged in hyperbole regarding the respective missile launches, there has been some strong criticism in the Pakistani blogosphere regarding the United States’ response to India's missile launch. Labeling it as “double standards”, Yasmeen Ali, a university professor based in Lahore, wrote on Pakpotpourri2's blog:

The Agni V missile being launched off the coast of Odhisa, India, on 19th April, 2022. Image courtesy Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

The need here is to support a country within the region to act, or seem to act as a deterrent to China. Obvious choice: India.What USA had completely overlooked in this game of regional hegemony is when you let the genie out of the bottle, it will refuse to go back in the bottle. It can one day, turn upon the master, once his heart’s desire of being let out is fulfilled.

However, a section of netizens felt that these missile tests were not going to escalate security tensions among India, China and Pakistan. On his blog Chaturanga, Jaideep Prabhu pointed out that India's policy was to acquire a ‘minimum credible deterrent' and not to escalate an arms race, as was being loosely discussed in a section of the media.

He commented:

The launch of the China-specific Agni V has generated much talk about an arms race between China and India, and consequently, India and Pakistan. The Chinese media (and hence the government) has taken exception to this, reacting sharply to the test and labeling it as India’s missile delusion…But unless India has abandoned its old policy of MUD (Mutually Unacceptable Damage), analysts and Beijing have jumped the gun.

On the blog Rolan San Juan, Rajesh Basrur, a Senior Fellow and the Coordinator of the South Asia Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), argued that the Agni-V launch was “inconsequential” in that it would not change India's “deterrence game vis-à-vis China.

In his post on The Christian Science Monitor, Scott Baldauf referred to the chain of events as ‘ritual aggression' between India and Pakistan, a posturing more out of habit than actual security concerns, especially given that the two countries were currently trying to develop closer ties.

He wrote:

These tests follow an extraordinary set of meetings between the president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi earlier this month, in which the two nations pledged to increase trade ties and to fight against extremism. While these missile tests might have seemed to be a setback in earlier times, they have now become a kind of theater of virility, separate from any political discourse.

There were hardly any major security concerns expressed in the social media of neighbors such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

This post and its translations to Spanish, Arabic and French were commissioned by International Security Network (ISN) as part of a partnership to seek out citizen voices on international relations and security issues worldwide.

Visit the ISN blog and see more related stories.

Kenya: An Online Source for Kenya Architecture

Ndesanjo Macha — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:52:20 +0000

Architecture Kenya is an online source of information for a growing number of people interested in Kenyan architectural news, projects, products, events, jobs, interviews and competitions among others.

Belgium: Video Shows Campaign to Curb Texting and Driving

Juliana Rincón Parra — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:43:43 +0000

The Impossible texting and driving test is part of a campaign to raise awareness to the dangers of texting using mobile devices while driving in Belgium. Several young people doing their behind the wheel driving test were surprised to know there was a new test section requiring them to text while driving. The dashboard cam tells the story of how these young people faced this new part of the test.

Cuba: National Meeting of Bloggers Ends in Controversy

Eleanor Staniforth — Sat, 05 May 2012 00:09:19 +0000

Several months ago the administrators of La Joven Cuba [es], one of the blogs with the highest number of followers on the island, declared their intention [es] to organize an event to bring together representatives of the national blogosphere to discuss various subjects. The silence surrounding the installation of fibre optic cables [es] which were supposed to come into use in 2010, the impact of blogs on the national public sphere, and the regulations which limit Cuban citizens' access or participation in Web 2.0 spaces are some of the main concerns shared by all members of the national blogging community.

Poster for the Meeting of Cuban Bloggers.

The event was programmed for the 27th and 28th April 2012. More than 60 bloggers from all the provinces in the country spent two days sharing their experiences at the University of Matanzas “Camilo Cienfuegos,” east of the Cuban capital, in an event which tried to create “horizontal mechanisms for coordinating different blogging projects around the country.”

In the event's final statement [es], which has sparked controversy [es] amongst various members [es] of the national blogosphere, the participants note:

Conseguimos así un marco de socialización que nos permitió salir de la ambigüedad y el anonimato que propicia Internet y coordinar estrategias de trabajo que articulen nuestros proyectos ante los desafíos que tenemos los blogueros cubanos.

Through this event we have established a framework of socialisation which allows us to emerge from the ambiguity and the anonymity which the Internet provides and to coordinate working strategies within which to develop our projects in light of the challenges we face as Cuban bloggers.

The event was broadcast in real time by Justin.tv, Twitter and the event's official blog “Blogazo x Cuba” [es]. The final declaration contains 12 points and confirms participants' support for the Cuban political system while calling for “respect for difference and for open debate.”

The document also demands the release of the five Cubans held prisoner in the United States and the end of the economic and financial sanctions which the United States have held in place against Cuba for over half a century. The participants also requested that the “State's Central Administration Bodies reformulate the regulations which limit connectivity and access to the web by state institutions, in the interest of establishing a greater presence of Cuban citizens in cyberspace.”

The main regulation existing in the country on this issue was passed in 2007 and is known as Resolution 127 of the Ministry of Informatics and Communications (MIC). It bans the publication of information on foreign servers, forcing the majority of national bloggers who blog from their places of work or study into illegality.

Another of the issues currently provoking significant debate on the island is related to the discursive nuances of the reality presented in these spaces: the different critical levels, as well as ambiguity regarding which topics may be dealt with and how the questioning attitude adopted by some bloggers may be considered as “outside the Revolution” or contrary to the current political system. On this note, one of the participants in the event, Carlos Alberto Pérez, author of La Chiringa de Cuba [es] poses the question [es] “how can one be critical in Cuba without being considered a dissident?”

Although the committee organizing the event, composed of five bloggers living in Cuba, stated that “our dream was to organise a meeting which would be national in scale and as inclusive as possible,” members of collectives such as Critical Observatory [es] and Havana Times [es] , two of the main blogging communities on the island and supporters of the Cuban political system, were not invited.

The selection critiera took into account the regular updating of blogs, the diversity of topics dealt with, and representation of each province.

However, the authors of La Joven Cuba said:

Estamos conscientes que dejamos fuera otros blogueros y quedamos con la insatisfacción de no ser lo suficientemente justos pero un evento de tal magnitud llevaba muchos recursos y esta fue nuestra principal limitación y preocupación. Era un riesgo que tuvimos que asumir y asumiremos todas las críticas que se nos hagan al respecto.

We are aware that we excluded other bloggers and we regret having been unfair, but an event of this scale requires significant resources and this was our main limitation and concern. It was a risk which we had to take and we will accept all criticisms which are made of us in this respect.

On this topic, the author of the blog “In 2310 and 8225” Yasmín Silvia Portales pointed out later in her post “I failed”:

¿Acaso no es siempre parcial y sesgada la manera en que se decide quiénes son “los protagonistas de la blogosfera del país”, no importa si lo dice El País o… alguien más?

Isn't the way in which we decide who “the protagonists of the country's blogosphere” are always partial and biased? Does it matter if it is El País [one of Spain's main newspapers] which says it or…someone else?

According to the article by the Inter Press Service (IPS) agency:

En el país, se han realizado encuentros de activistas en blogs y en redes sociales en Internet. El 27 de septiembre de 2008, Roger Trabas organizó junto al empresario y bloguero francés David Chapet, el primer Encuentro “Bloggers por Cuenta Propia”, convocado desde el sitio llamado Bloggers Cuba, que se celebró en el gubernamental Palacio de Computación y Electrónica de la capital cubana.

Meetings of activists involved in blogging and social networks have been held in the country. On 27th September 2008, Roger Trabas alongside the French businessman and blogger David Chapet, organised the first meeting “Independent Bloggers,” convened from the site called Bloggers Cuba, which was held in the governmental Centre for Computing and Electronics in the Cuban capital.

North Korea Says More Satellite Launches Are Coming

Lee Yoo Eun — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:54:21 +0000

North Korea Tech blog wrote about North Korean state media's claim that its satellite launch was part of a “peaceful, civilian space program” and they will launch even more into space.

Yemen: Anger at Expansion of US Drone War

Noon Arabia — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:31:25 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Yemen Protests 2011.

The United States has recently expanded its campaign of drone strikes in Yemen, to widespread anger and concern.

Drone strikes against suspected Al Qaeda operatives have been launched under expanded authority allowing the CIA and military to fire based only on the targets' intelligence “signatures” or patterns of behaviour, without knowing their identity.

Yemeni-American Summer Nasser tweeted:

@SummerNasser: #Yemen: Basically, the CIA & military can fire drones even when the identity of those who are killed is not known. Approved by Pres. Obama.

US Air Force General Atomics MQ-1 Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Image by Flickr user james_gordon_los_angeles (CC BY-NC 2.0).

Ibrahim Mothana, a Yemeni writer and activist, commented on the drone policy:

@imothanaYemen: Expanding drones program is not in the interest of #Yemen nor the US. It will only expand an ongoing Talibanization process for tribal areas

Jeb Boone, an American journalist and former managing editor of the Yemen Times, said:

@JebBoone: Drones not only inflame anti-US and pro-AQAP sentiment, they delegitimize the #Yemen government. Troubling.

The drones have been striking targets in the south of Yemen, and researcher Atiaf Alwazir commented:

@WomanfromYemen: it's sad that too many ppl from the #North disregard/ignore the issue of the drones b/c it doesn't “affect” them. it's too far. #yemen

Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning American investigative journalist, has argued against the use of drones in Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia. He recently made a documentary for Al Jazeera English entitled “America's Dangerous Game”, which asks if the US is creating more enemies than it can capture or kill.

According to the organizers of the recent “Drone Summit” held in Washington on April 28-29, as many as 3,000 people, including hundreds of noncombatants, have been killed in drone strikes. This Storify collects some of the tweets from the summit regarding drone strikes and US policy in Yemen. Jeremy Scahill's speech at the summit can be seen here.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism based at City University, London, has published figures for US covert action in Yemen:

US Covert Action in Yemen 2001-2012

Total US strikes: 41 - 132
Total US drone strikes: 31 - 68
Total reported killed: 294 - 673
Civilians reported killed: 55 - 105
Children reported killed: 24

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has also collated detailed data on reported US covert actions in Yemen since 2001.

On April 30 John Brennan, chief counterterrorism advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama, gave a speech entitled “The Ethics and Efficacy of the President’s Counterterrorism Strategy” in which he defended the use of drones. Activist Medea Benjamin challenged him and spoke up against drone killings in Pakistan, Yemen and other countries, as shown in this video:

In a post entitled “A brave lady Speaks out about the CIA Drone Strikes”, Yemeni blogger Afrah Nasser commended Medea Benjamin's courage and quoted her words:

“What about of the hundreds innocent people killing with our drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia? I speak out on behave of those innocent victims. They deserve an apology from you, Brennan. How many people are you willing to sacrifice? Why are you lying to the American people and not saying how many people have been killed? …. Shame on you!”

As I said in a recent blog post,“The Failed US Policy in Yemen”:

The use of drones on Yemeni soil to kill “suspected” al Qaeda leaders, the unjustified killing of a teenager and many other innocent civilians commonly referred to as “collateral damage” and the illegal detention of a journalist, has fostered more animosity towards the US. […] The US clearly needs to re-evaluate its counter-terrorism policy in Yemen by addressing the socio-economic underlying causes that produce terror, rather than focusing its aid solely in the fight against al “Qaeda” and continuing with the drone attacks which kills innocent people, alienates, angers and aggravates the general Yemeni public, giving extremists a motive to join militant groups.

This post is part of our special coverage Yemen Protests 2011.

Kenya: State of Software and Intellectual Property Law in Kenya

Ndesanjo Macha — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:46:46 +0000

Learn about the state of software and intellectual property law in Kenya: “Kenya’s judiciary does not deliberate many software and IP cases and the country remains lax in terms of piracy with domestic uses of pirated software being allowed, but companies being liable for piracy if software installed on office computers or used for official purposes.”

Iran: Opposition sites under cyber attack

Fred Petrossian — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:21:18 +0000

Several blogs and sites reported [fa] in recent days several Iranian reformist and green sites such as daneshjoonews have been under cyber attack.