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June 28th, 2008

   

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Public Health Projects to Use Citizen Media to Empower Community Voices

A small portrait of the translator David Sasaki · 15:31, June 28th, 2008 · Announcements
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Originally published on Rising Voices.

Rising Voices and Open Society Institute's Health Media Initiative are happy to announce the six newest health-focused citizen media outreach projects. We received over 110 proposals from health activists and organizations based in over 50 different countries. The six selected grantees represent the most innovative applications of citizen media tools like blogs, podcasts, and online video to help further the advocacy goals of public health organizations, and to empower the communities they work with.

In Brasov, Romania, the Casa Sperantei hospice center will train its nurses, doctors, and staff how to use audio and video recording equipment to share the direct stories of patients with life-threatening illnesses. The center's staff will also take advantage of their online media training and interactive website to explain the objectives, successes, and challenges in palliative care, which focuses on improving end-of-life care for patients and their families, with a special focus on vulnerable populations including the elderly, children, and patients with cancer or HIV/AIDS.

In the township of Kwa Mashu, on the outskirts of Durban, South Africa, the Kwa Mashu Community Advancement Project (K-CAP) will use its Ekhaya Imagination Lab to train 20 new citizen journalists from within the township how to report on local stories related to local health issues affecting the community. In 1998 Gugu Dlamini was stoned to death in Kwa Mashu after publicly declaring her positive HIV status. The twenty citizen journalists trained at K-CAP will aim to counter such severe stigma to HIV and AIDS while also bringing local health issues to an international audience.

Pavel Kutsev of the Drop-in Center will use blog posts, photos, podcasts, and online video to share his experiences working at a harm reduction facility based in Kyiv, Ukraine. The blog will open a window to the daily reality of drug users and describe how that reality affects public health throughout the country.

The Orizonturi Foundation in Campulung Moldovenesc, Romania will create a blogging club for mental health service users which trains them how to maintain a weblog, upload videos to online sharing sites, and use social networks. The technical skills will enable the participants to share their own stories and forge their own online identities.

In Brazzaville, Congo the AZUR Development organization, as part of its AIDS Network Africa initiative, will “train communication officers of local AIDS organizations in digital story telling, podcasting, and the creation of blogs to document the stigma and discrimination of people infected and affected by HIV and AIDS in Congo in order to use them as a tool for advocacy, education, and the promotion rights of people infected with HIV.” Each communication officer will describe how the AIDS pandemic is currently affecting the local community where he or she works and what daily life is like for people living with HIV and AIDS.

Last, but not least, the FrontAIDS project based in St. Petersburg, Russia will use citizen media to monitor accessibility to treatment for people living with HIV, AIDS, hepatitis, and TB in 20 regions around Russia. The interactive blog-based site will become a an aggregator and go-to resource of citizen media information related to health issues around Russia.

The six projects are diverse in their geography and their strategic approach, but they all share a desire to train health activists to use new media in order spread awareness about their work and the communities they serve.

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Israel: Sarkozy Security Scare at AirportPhotos post

A small portrait of the translator Maya Norton · 10:22 · Middle East & North Africa
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As French President Nicholas Sarkozy departed Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport, shots rang out. A quick assessment revealed that one of the Israeli members of Sarkozy's security detail had turned his weapon on himself, apparently committing suicide.

The victim, whose name has not been revealed at his family's request, was in his early 30s and had been a border guard for eight years after his release from the Israel Defense Forces. He was a member of the Druze community.

The incident followed a three-day visit of President Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni, to Israel. While in-country, Sarkozy spoke before the Knesset, Israel's house of parliament, where he rallied against the building of settlements, advocated an undivided Jerusalem as a capital for both Israel and Palestine, and reasserted France's commitment to protecting Israel's security.

Photo sourced from the Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons License)

During his visit, Sarkozy also met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and toured the West Bank, after having met with Arab leaders in Syria and Lebanon earlier this week.

Words from the Blogosphere–

Daniel Levy of the Prospects for Peace blog and Director of the Prospects for Peace Initiative at The Century Foundation compares the Knesset speeches of French President Sarkozy and US President George W. Bush, during his visit last month.

“Two Presidents, two speeches, one leader:
- President Bush on the borders for a 2 state solution: ___________.
- President Sarkozy: “It is not possible to have peace without a negotiated border based on the 1967 lines with an exchange of territories.”
- President Bush on settlements: ___________.
- President Sarkozy: “Peace cannot be achieved without a total and immediate cessation of the settlements.”
- President Bush on Jerusalem's future status: ___________.
- President Sarkozy: “Peace cannot be achieved without the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of two states and guaranteeing freedom of access to holy sites for all religions.”
- President Bush on the Palestinian refugee issue: ___________.
- President Sarkozy: “Peace cannot be achieved without solving the problem of the Palestinian refugees, while respecting the identity and purpose of Israel.”
- President Bush on Israeli-Palestinian, Israeli-Syrian, or Israeli-Lebanese peace talks: _________.
- President Sarkozy: “(France) is ready to organize on its soil all the talks that could lead to (peace), whether in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the Syrian-Israeli dialogue, or the talks that will have to resume, one day soon I hope, between Israel and Lebanon.”

Other bloggers were less concerned with the political content of Sarkozy's visit and focused more on the visuals that it presented. Carla Bruni, the President's third wife who works professionally as a singer and model, drew significant attention from the ever appreciative citizen journalists of Israel.

Simply Jews observes:

“Carla Bruni appears to be accompanied by a French president, one Nicolas Sarkozy… The immediate effects of this singular event:
1. The quantities of drool emanating from the paparazzi, journalists, assorted officials and Israeli male population in general postponed the expected government announcement of drought and drastic water economy measures.
2. The attack on Iranian nuclear sites, invasion of Gaza, decapitation of Hezbollah and other miscellaneous acts of usual Zionist aggression are delayed indefinitely or until further notice.
3. Shimon Peres was seen doing 90 push-ups in the VIP lounge of Ben-Gurion airport, with Carla and their aids counting, Dom Perignon being uncorked in the background.”

Dion Nissenbaum of the Checkpoint Jerusalem blog joins Simply Jews in welcoming Ms. Bruni's arrival.

“Carla Mania has come to Israel. After charming the Brits in March and winning fawning praise from President Bush earlier this month, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the accomplished singer and successful model who is sometimes referred to as France's first lady, has brought her allure to Jerusalem. One French magazine has dubbed her “La Presidente.”

Her husband, President What's-His-Name, is doing his best to make some news of his own.”

Israelity Bites comments darkly on Ms. Bruni's role in the shooting.

“Some jested that the security guard lost his footing while straining to see Madame Carla, the French first lady, who has had a Jackie Kennedy dazzle on the populace at large. Israel Radio said the soldier who was shot was stationed 100 meters to 200 meters away. Two women soldiers who witnessed the shooting were treated for shock, the radio said.

Israel's volunteer medical service Zaka said the soldier apparently committed suicide. But other media reports said he may have fainted from the heat, discharging his gun accidentally.”

Read More About Recent Visits to Israel by Heads of State–

And:

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GV Summit: Day One a Success!Photos post

Jillian C. York · 09:40, June 28th, 2008 · Eastern & Central Europe
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The first day of the Global Voices 2008 Summit in Budapest, Hungary was a wild success, as far as we can see (obviously we can't know all of the implications this early in the game). The morning started with an introduction from Ethan Zuckerman and Rebecca MacKinnon, founders of Global Voices, during which they acknowledged the many sponsors and friends of the Global Voices Summit. Of particular note, they thanked Georgia Popplewell, Managing Director of GV and major guiding force of the Summit. Rebecca explained the impetus behind GV:

I came from journalism, Ethan from non-profits; we both shared concern about the media and global attention flows. I saw the international English-language media focusing a lot of attention on certain people and places, and less attention on other voices and places. Ethan was doing a lot of research on media attention patterns. We were studying the blogosphere and wanted to talk about all the people around the world who were starting to blog.

Following the introductions, Session 1: “Toward a Global Anti-censorship Network,” started up, with Helmi Noman moderating. Jillian York and Renata Avila liveblogged the session using CoveritLive. Internet filtering, self-censorship, and related issues in Egypt, Morocco, Belarus, Japan, and Pakistan were discussed during this session, which featured Sami Ben Gharbia, Chris Salzberg, Andrei Abozau, Ethan Zuckerman, Awab Alvi, and Alaa Abdel Fatah.

Session 2 was liveblogged by Juliana Rotich. Mary Joyce moderated; Ory Okolloh of Kenya, Wael Abbas of Egypt, Amine of Morocco, Oiwan Lam of hong Kong, Au Wai “Alex” Pang of Singapore, and Hamid Tehrani of Iran spoke on the subject “Citizen Media and Online Free Speech.” Issues broached during the discussion were the use of twitter, proxies and SMS to get around internet filtering and censorship. Each panelist shared stories of recent events from their countries.

Jillian York liveblogged Session 3, entitled “Living with Censorship.” Awab Alvi of Don't Block the Blog moderated, whilst Helmi Noman, CJ Hinke, Andrew Heavens, Rezwan, Yazan Badran, and John Kennedy were panelists. Each panelist discussed what it's like to live with censorship, and each had a different perspective on the issue.

Yazan Badran speaks about living with censorship in Syria

Session 4, liveblogged by Juliana Rotich, brought special guests, whom moderator Ethan Zuckerman said we are very lucky to have at the Summit, as they are in high demand as speakers! Roger Dingledine of Tor, Nart Villeneuve (Citizen Lab), Isaac Mao (Digital Nomads Project), Robert Guerra (Privaterra), and Danny O'Brien (Electronic Frontier Foundation) spoke. Danny O'Brien discussed selecting a circumvention tool:

What criteria should you look for when choosing circumvention & anonymizing tools? This is important because some tools that you can use now may not be safe to use in future. Google may be good now, but as it continues to grow, will it remain so?

The features you want…
-You want a tool that is well funded.

Nart Villeneuve and Robert Guerra

Juliana notes that O'Brien recommends against commercial products.

The day wrapped up with Session 5, liveblogged by Rebecca Wanjiku and moderated by Xiao Qiang. Panelists were Clothilde Le Coz (RSF), Elijah Zarwan (HRW), Nasser Weddady (HAMSA), Stephanie Hankey (Tactical Tech), and Antony Loewenstein (Amnesty International Australia's campaign Uncensor).

Rebecca MacKinnon spoke at the very end of the panel, discussing censorship as a legal, political and social program:

Without the social layer on top of the technical and legal solutions, a lot of these problems are going to be difficult to solve. I was really struck by stories about social demoralization and isolation that some bloggers feel.

She added that we as citizens need to work together to get past censorship and focus on what we can do, rather than what we can’t. To conclude, she also mentioned how censorship can have a landslide effect, for example: Japan’s freedom of speech/anti-pornography censorship stance could be used as an example by China to subdue its activists and dissenters.

Day 2 promises to be just as incredible, with Rising Voices, GV Lingua, and other topics.

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Kuwait: Video Games, Newspapers and Female Bloggers

A small portrait of the translator Abdullatif AlOmar · 08:18 · Middle East & North Africa
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Who should regulate the video gaming scene in Kuwait? This and many other questions are on the minds of Kuwaiti bloggers in this round up. Forzaq8 speaks of laws dealing with video games and who he thinks should regulate them. He writes:

Politics shouldn’t interfere in games , i was shocked and sicked to hear that people want laws to to control what games we can buy or not.
I don’t want laws requires all retailers to check ID from any child trying to buy games.
I believe that Parents should take responsibility , not the government , its not freedom thing , its responsibility

Another blogger, Ajel turns his attention to newspapers in Kuwait. He says:

لدينا في الكويت – حتى الآن – 14 صحيفة يومية سياسية ، وهناك المزيد منها بالطريق ، توجد أيضا مواقع إخبارية ومدونات الكترونية شبه إخبارية تزود قراءها بكل ما تعزف وسائل الإعلام المختلفة عن نشره ومنها القنوات الخاصة التي باتت تخصص جزء من برامجها لمناقشة الأحداث المحلية الساخنة بصورة أفضل من تلفزيون الكويت الذي يتجنب عادة الخوض في تلك المسائل
موضوعنا هو كيف نقرأ ما سوف يقع وليس ما وقع ؟ وأي الصحف التي تخدمنا في هذا المجال على الصعيد السياسي بالدرجة الأولى ؟

Until now, we have 14 daily newspapers in Kuwait, and more will be published soon. There are also news sites and blogs which cover news of all that media refuses to publish, in addition to the private television stations which cover hot local issues better than Kuwait's national television station, which usually avoids covering such topics. Our topic today is how to read what will happen and not what has happened and which newspapers serve this purpose when it comes to political coverage.

SpiKeY writes what he thinks is an accurate description of Kuwaiti female bloggers. He notes:

So female bloggers….do you think being open to the world helps the (Kuwaiti) internet users know about you?

By open…I mean…that you talk about the “taboo” stuff….like doing it…like smokin..like drinking…like havin fun alone….like cussing…drugs….sexuality…. lesbianism..(NOTE: these are considered taboo in our society it aint ma opinion)…..

Bahsar, over at blogallalong, wonders what the Ministry of Communications wants. He writes:

The Ministry of Communications (MOC) is the central authority in Kuwait for internet and phone, which includes ISPs, phone lines, and mobile operators. Such a big responsibility that can take the country both ways. And unfortunately, the way they’re doing it can only take us backward I am afraid

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