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Waxal: First African Blog Award for Journalists

Norbert Bousigue · 23:35 · Sub-Saharan Africa

lingua → fr · zht · zhs

The first Waxal Blogging Africa Awards have been just launched! All African bloggers who work as journalists can submit their blogs. The deadline is the 7th of December 2008. The individual winners - one for an English blog, one for a French blog - and one for a blogging organization, will be rewarded with a cash prize, and all the best blogs will be promoted by the organizers through various channels.

Panos Institute of West Africa [fr], one of eight institutes of the global Panos network, an independent institution that promotes new media and communication in developing countries, took this initiative, in partnership with Highway Africa, Rhodes University and SABC - and Global Voices.

Here is the call for nominations to the awards:

WAXAL (pronounced WA-HAL) means “speak” in Wolof (Senegalese language) and the word captures the essence of the evolution of the worldwide web as a platform for conversation and for the raising of marginalized voices.

For this first edition, the WAXAL Awards will seek to recognize the production of blogs by people working as journalists (from all kind of media: print, online, radio, TV) and by African organizations working to favour the production of alternative information and citizen expression.

To this end the awards are in the following category:

1. Best French-speaking Journalist Blog

2. Best English-speaking Journalist Blog

3. Best Citizen Journalist Blog produced by an African Organization

The first and second categories will recognize individual journalist blogs, whereas the third category will reward individual organization's blogs. For this last category, the blog content can be in French or English. It’s envisaged to include other languages, notably African languages, in next editions of the blog contest. Apart from promoting blogs, this contest will help understand, among others, issues related to journalists’ use of blog in Africa. Internet users can vote online for the 5 Best Blogs in each category. A bilingual panel of judges composed of media professionals will select the winners.

Who can participate?

For the first two categories, the WAXAL Awards is open to any African citizen who owns his own blog, but works as journalist in any kind of media organ, online or conventional (print media, radio, TV) or who works as freelance journalist. The blog submitted should be the journalist own blog, instead of the blog of the media organ for which he/she works.

For the third category, blogs should have been produced by African organization, with the aim to produce alternative, citizen information, raise marginalized communities voices. Blogs just reporting on an organization’s activities are excluded.

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World AIDS Day: Blogging Positively

Juhie Bhatia · 19:12 · Sub-Saharan Africa , East Asia

lingua → mg · mk · pt · es

This year marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, which takes place every year on December 1. Though the impact of HIV and AIDS is felt by millions of people globally every day, this particular day can help bring much-needed attention to the disease.

The theme for this year's World AIDS Day is “Lead – Empower – Deliver,” highlighting the political leadership required to truly combat the disease. While the global percentage of adults living with HIV has leveled off since 2000, 33 million people are still living with the virus and there are nearly 7,500 new infections each day. Rates of new HIV infections are also rising in many countries, such as China, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Russia, and Vietnam. AIDS is also taking its toll — 2 million people died of the disease last year.

Blogs from around the world are putting faces to these statistics, sharing stories of caring for those with HIV/AIDS, how the disease impacts people's daily lives, and the stigma that accompanies the disease. These first-hand accounts show both the progress that has been made in fighting this disease, and how much work still needs to be done.

In Poz For Life 20-year-old Russell blogs from Australia about being HIV positive in hopes that it will encourage others to get tested for sexually transmitted infections and to play it safe. In his first post he recalls being tested for HIV and the awful waiting period before receiving the results. Here is how he found out he was HIV positive:

“I got there [the doctor's office] around 10:30am and went straight in, it was like they where waiting for me ready to take my soul and toss it out the 4th story. I went into his office and I sat down, then I hear ‘Russell am sorry to say but the test for HIV is positive.' I froze for a few seconds and just looked amazed. What felt like a lifetime of silence was around 30 seconds. I said ‘I was thinking it might come back that way.' I can't believe that I said that, really the first words out of my mouth was I thought it might come back that way.”

The AZUR Development organization's blog AIDS Rights Congo, a Rising Voices project, advocates for the rights of HIV-positive people. Their posts show the discrimination and stigma faced by those living with the virus in Congo. One post talks about the life of “Bernadette,” a young woman who is a clothing vendor at the Tié-Tié market in Pointe-Noire. Her life changes when her friend at the market divulges Bernadette's HIV positive status.

“At the market, her neighbors immediately desert their tables; which even attract the attention of those responsible for managing the market, who, conscious of the fact that having a table at the market is a difficult thing, are surprised to find empty tables around her. The situation has put everyone on alert, and those passing from far away can hear the neighbor’s gossip on the fact that she is a woman infected with HIV. However there are no outward signs that Bernadette is sick, one cannot read it on her face. The illness is not at an advanced stage and she is not on ARV [Antiretroviral] treatment. She is simply a normal young woman.

In a setback, traumatized by the situation, she stops her little shop.”

Juan Carlos, a 29-year-old from Ecuador, blogs about coping with being HIV positive. In one post he talks about the importance of balance and the benefits of talking to someone about what you're going through.

Hay mucha gente seropositiva que obvia la ayuda de los psicólogos a lo largo de sus vidas. Personalmente, si hay alguien que escuche o lea esto… yo creo que siempre es bueno conversar con un psicólogo cada cierto tiempo, hace que los días más sombríos se vuelvan más claros y nos ayuda a sobre llevar mejor nuestra vida con este virus y nuestros demás problemas.

“Many HIV positive people seek help from psychologists throughout their lives. Personally, if anyone listens or reads this … I think it's always good to talk with a psychologist from time to time, it makes the darkest days become lighter and helps us to better carry on our lives with this virus and our other problems.”

Pinoy Poz, who lives in Quezon City in the Philippines, blogs about living with HIV and the difficulties of disclosing his HIV status. He came out about being gay at the age of 21, but nine years later went “back in the closet” after finding out he was HIV positive. In this post he talks about how telling people he's HIV positive hasn't been as bad as he feared, but it's still hard.

“Honestly, I’ve been too chicken to tell some of my other contacts myself. And when I say contacts, I mean… okay, sexual contacts. So I did the next best thing. I backtracked through my sexual contacts up to more than a year ago, and had a friend contact them anonymously, to advise them to get tested for HIV. The reactions varied from asking who the sender was, replying to the anonymous number that they’d just gotten tested, sending foul messages to their alleged stalker, or most commonly, assuming that they did get the message, not replying. But I felt that was as decent a warning as I could manage.”

There are anecdotes similar to these posts from all over the world. This Global Voices Google map of HIV-positive bloggers highlights more voices of openly HIV-positive bloggers and caretakers, and other citizen media related to HIV/AIDS. So take a look and read their amazing stories. The map is embeddable, so you can add it to your Web site or blog. Though it is being launched in conjunction with World AIDS Day, the map will continue to be updated throughout the year.

Photo of AIDS Ribbon In Tree by ttfnrob.

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Brazil under flood: Bloggers form solidarity networks

Paula Góes · 15:57 · Americas

lingua → pt · fr

(All links go to websites in Portuguese)

There has been three months of intermittent rain in Santa Catarina and there are now nearly 79,000 displaced people and 110 deaths. Of a population of 5.9 million, 1.5 million people have been directly or indirectly affected by the floods. There are 12 cities in a state of emergency. The rain is expected to continue over the coming week, which not only hinders relief and rescue operations in areas hit by floods, but also jeopardizes the logistics of food and medicine distribution.

Photo taken on November 24 in Itajaí by flickr user magrufloriano and posted at the flickr group SOS Santa Catarina whose aim is to promote and spread news about aid campaigns. See his full coverage set.

This is not the first flood in Santa Catarina, but it is the first very serious disaster in Brazil in the age of the Internet. Alexandre Gonçalves says it won't make the rain stop, but at least social networking sites and blogs have provided real-time information and become ‘helplines' to support people affected by the tragedy. He explains:

Primeiro, porque aumentaram as opções para a população suprir sua necessidade por informação. Em outros tempos, dados oficiais da Defesa Civil, só pelo rádio ou pela TV. Agora, é só acessar o site e conferir os boletins mais recentes. Também fica mais fácil acompanhar o noticiário, sem esperar pelo plantão na TV nem pelo jornal do dia seguinte. E segundo, como era de esperar, muitos internautas se mobilizaram para prestar serviço, trocar informações, expressar opiniões, publicar vídeos e fotos sobre a tragédia (veja, por exemplo, o resultado de uma busca por “enchente, chuva, santa catarina” no BlogSearch). Em Blumenau, cidade mais atingida pelas enchentes, onde rádios e TVs tiveram cortes de energia e ficaram fora do ar, um grupo de blogueiros se reuniu num blog coletivo para publicar notícias sobre os estragos na cidade. Os blogueiros e outros moradores de Blumenau também passaram a postar sobre a situação no Twitter - veja o que já foi publicado. Foi lá que vi o link para o vídeo abaixo, que mostra desmoronamento na rua Hermann Huscher.

(Video by YouTube user carolanton)

First, because they have increased the options to supply the population's information needs. In other times, there would be official data from Civil Defense only on radio or TV. Now, you only need to visit the website to check updates. It is also easier to follow the news, without needing to wait for breaking news on TV or the next day's paper. Secondly, as expected, many Internet users have mobilized to provide help, exchange information, express their views, upload videos and photos about the tragedy (see, for example, the search results for “flood, rain, Santa Catarina” on BlogSearch). In Blumenau, one of the cities worst hit by floods, TV and radio stations suffered a blackout and were taken off air, then a group of bloggers got together in a collective blog to provide news about the damage in the city. Bloggers and other Blumenau residents have also been posting updates on Twitter - check what has been said. It was there that I saw this video about a landslide in Hermann Huscher Street.

The collective blog mentioned above is Notícias de Blumenau [Blumenau News], aka Alles Blau, put online by a dozen bloggers on November 24. Apart from providing updates, helping to find lost people and promoting information about donations needed in various shelters, the blog has also been selling t-Shirts to raise funds:

Buscamos parceiros para produzir essas peças gratuitamente ou a preço de custo, para reverter a receita líquida em doações para a Defesa Civil de Santa Catarina.

We have sought partners to produce these pieces for free or at cost price, to generate net income in donations for the Civil Defense of Santa Catarina.

Guilherme Valadares from Papo de Homem [Man's Talk] has just started a solidarity blog meme. Every blogger should donate R$100.00 (about US$43.00), post a picture of the receipt and link to three other blogs, who should in turn do the meme too. Here is how it works:

1. Fez seu post, doa R$100 - deixa de ser mão de vaca, é R$100 mesmo, imagina se fosse você que tivesse perdido tudo. Se o seu amigo for universitário quebrado e chorão, aí sim deixa doar R$50. Só não deixa ficar de fora.
2. Chama mais 3. Se eles fizerem corpo mole, pode chamar os caras de imbecis. Todo mundo tem grana pro bar, pra balada, pra comprar porcaria. Não adianta vir com papo de biba.
3. Linka o Alles Blau, que vai catalogar todos os participantes.
Conta para Doação
Banco do Brasil
Agência: 3582-3
Conta Corrente: 80.000-7
Fundo Estadual da Defesa Civil para Doações

1. Write a post, donate R$100 - stop being tight-fisted, it is just R$100, imagine if it was you who had lost everything. If your friend is a broke university student or a crybaby, tell them to donate R$50. As long as they join.
2. Call 3 more people. If they limp along, you can call these guys idiots. Everybody has money to spend in a bar, on a night out, to buy crap. No limp talk.
3. Link to Alles Blau, which will catalog all the participants.
Account for donations:
Banco do Brasil
Sort Code: 3582-3
Account Number: 80.000-7
State Civil Defense Fund for Donations

In all, and not only from bloggers, the state has received over R$3.5 million (approximately US$1.5 million) in donations. Domingos Secco, who had been asking around for blog mobilization, joins the meme and says that R$100 is worth more than a thousand words:

Tem horas que a saída é botar a mão no bolso e ajudar as pessoas que precisam. Falar, orientar, criticar, rezar, tudo isso fica em segundo plano, pois milhares de pessoas precisam de suporte material. Para quem está à distância, como eu, a única força de ajudar a tantos irmãos é fazendo uma doação monetária. Sim, existem outras formas como envio de alimentos prontos, roupas, material de construção, etc. Realmente a situação é crítica.

There are times when all you need to do is put your hand in your pocket and help people in need. Talking, guiding, criticizing, praying, all that goes to the background, considering that thousands of people need material support. For those who are far away, like me, the only useful way to help so many brothers is making a cash donation. Yes, there are also other ways such as sending food, clothing, building material, etc… Indeed the situation is critical.

Citizen Media 3: Mainstrean Media 0

The mobilization to help the victims of the disaster in Santa Catarina started with Twitter on Saturday November 22 with local residents themselves giving updates of everything happening nearby. Volunteers and victims used the tool to frenetically exchange messages and catch up on the #blumenau channel. Guilherme Felitti writes at Digital Age 2.0 about how the tool has been well explored in recent tragedies in Brazil and India, and how it worked as a direct information channel in both cases, with real time content produced by those affected by the tragedy and not just by a reporter who arrived too late to experience the commotion:

Enquanto a mídia local se organizava na cobertura, o Twitter demonstrava os principais problemas enfrentados pelos moradores pelo excesso de água acumulado em avenidas da cidade. Não demorou muito até que viessem os relatos mais contundentes, sejam em vídeos publicados no YouTube de barrancos desabando (maior causa de mortes, diz a Defesa Civil do Estado) seja em fotos publicadas no Flickr das ruas completamente tomadas pela lama (as que ilustram esse post, por exemplo). Blogs, sejam criados apenas para cobrir a tragédia, como o ótimo AllesBlau (”tudo bem”, em alemão), focado em publicar histórias de residentes e agregar conteúdos amadores encontrados por serviços colaborativos, ou tradicionais, entraram na roda com o principal propósito de espalhar informações sobre a situação da região como forma de sensibilização da opinião pública.

While the local media coverage was still being prepared, Twitter was showing the main problems faced by residents because of the excessive water accumulating on the city's roads. Not long after that, the more remarkable accounts, either YouTube videos showing collapsing hills (the leading cause of deaths, according to the Civil Defense of the State) or Flickr's pictures of streets completely overrun by the mud (such as those that illustrate this post). Blogs have been set up just to cover the tragedy, as the great AllesBlau ( “OK” in German), focused on publishing residents' stories and aggregating amateur content provided by collaborative or traditional networks, which took to the field with the primary purpose of spreading information about the situation in the region to raise public awareness.

Blog do Kalel criticizes the media coverage (first being slow to pick up the issue or give it due importance and then sensationalizing it) and highlights the work done by other bloggers to report fairly and quickly on the news without sensationalism. He says they are actually changing the way journalism is done in Brazil:

O blog Poracaso, sediado em Jaraguá do Sul, uma das cidades mais atingidas em Santa Catarina, além de produzir uma cobertura mais intensa do que a das redes oficiais de TV, iniciou uma campanha de solidariedade e conseguiu em poucas horas, durante o dia de ontem, mobilizar dezenas de voluntários. Os cidadãos-repórteres também ajudam autoridades a avaliar o risco de pontes e outros locais atingidos pelas águas. Câmaras portáteis e aparelhos celulares permitem fazer imagens de qualidade suficiente para publicação na internet, mas alguns moradores conseguem produzir vídeos com qualidade para transmissão pela TV, oferecendo alternativas interessantes e variadas para os editores. Em alguns casos, as imagens só podem ser captadas por quem mora ou estava passando pelo local, pois todo o Sul do Brasil tinha até ontem várias comunidades isoladas pelas enchentes. Se a chamada grande imprensa relutou até aqui em assumir oficialmente uma relação de parceria com seus leitores e telespectadores, a tecnologia e os acontecimentos acabam de produzir uma mudança radical no modo de fazer jornalismo.

Poracaso blog, based in Jaraguá do Sul, one of the worst hit cities in Santa Catarina, in addition to providing a more intense coverage than the official TV networks, began a campaign of solidarity and succeeded in a few hours yesterday [November 26] in mobilizing dozens of volunteers. The citizen-reporters also helped authorities to assess the risk to bridges and other places affected by the waters. Portable cameras and cell phones are able to make images of sufficient quality for publication on the Internet, but some residents can produce high-quality videos for TV broadcast, offering a varied and interesting resource for editors. In some cases, the images can only be captured by those who live in, or were passing through, the spots, because up to yesterday the whole of southern Brazil had several communities isolated by the floods. If the so-called big media was up until now reluctant to officially make a partnership with their readers and viewers, technology and news events have caused a radical change in the way journalism is made.

Carlos Castilho from Observatório da Imprensa [Press Observatory] underlines the main differences between the less agile traditional media and the more to-the-point citizen media coverage:

Os deslizes e escorregões de repórteres durante coberturas de grandes tragédias são inevitáveis, dada a tensão e a emoção envolvidas no trabalho dos jornalistas. Mas os erros servem também para mostrar o tipo de cultura e de valores que orienta o comportamento dos repórteres e apresentadores. É nesta questão que fica claríssima a diferença de enfoques entre os profissionais da mídia convencional e os blogs produzidos por amadores e free lancers. Enquanto os primeiros estavam preocupados com a sua apresentação, ou seja, na imagem projetada para o público, os blogueiros estavam mergulhados na tarefa de prestar serviços aos atingidos por aquela que já é considerada a pior enchente de Blumenau, uma cidade periodicamente afetada por inundações do rio Itajaí-Açu.

Reporters' errors and blunders during coverage of major tragedies are inevitable, given the tension and emotion involved in the journalists' work. But errors are also good to show the kind of culture and values that guide the behavior of reporters and presenters. It is in this case that the difference in the approaches between conventional media professionals and amateur and freelancer produced blogs becomes crystal clear. While the first group were worried about their presentation, the image projected to the public, the bloggers were immersed in the task of providing services for the people affected by what is already considered the worst ever flood of Blumenau, a city periodically affected by the Itajaí-Açu river floods.

There are also Blog dos Desabrigados [Blog of the Displaced, pt] with a search system where people can find where their friends or relatives are being sheltered; a volunteer support network set up at Arca de Noé [Noah's Ark, pt] blog, where people can send photos and videos, and provide first hand news on the situation. Designer Rodrigo Muller has contributed the poster below, which has made it to posts on many blogs:

Give what you can spare to those who need it most, by Rodrigo Muller

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Blogging Positively: Live Chat about HIV/AIDS on December 3

Solana Larsen · 13:22 · Sub-Saharan Africa

lingua → mg · mk · fr · es · pt · it

Rising Voices and Global Voices are holding a live online chat for bloggers and activists on Wednesday, December 3, 2008 (3pm Nairobi time) on how to use citizen media to help improve awareness and information about the AIDS epidemic. The chat will be facilitated by Kenyan bloggers Serina Kalande and Daudi Were.

Everyone is welcome.

Chatroom: http://www.worknets.org/chat/

Login instructions: Click on the link above and login using your name. Then select the room you want to join by clicking enter. Once in the room, select a font color on the left side of the screen, and join the chat.

The chat will start out focusing on two Rising Voices grantee projects, REPACTED in Nakuru, Kenya and AIDS Rights Congo based in Brazzaville. We will learn how both organizations have implemented blogging and video outreach programs to spread awareness about their initiatives in AIDS prevention and advocating for the rights of HIV-positive individuals.

Other discussion topics include: What are the factors to weigh when HIV-positive bloggers go public about their status? How can blogging support networks form online? What about online forums? What are other new media tools, such as mapping mashups, that can be used effectively?

If there are other topics that you would like to discuss during the chat, please add comments below.

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Japan: Mainichi's Wikipedia Slip-up

Scilla Alecci · 11:21 · East Asia

lingua → es

Ignoring the fact that Wikipedia timestamps are in GMT and not JST (Japan Standard Time), on the 18th of November the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun published an article entitled, “Attack on the former vice-Director's home: crime announced on the Internet six hours earlier… hinting at the crime?” (元次官宅襲撃：事件６時間前にネット書き込み…犯行示唆) where a Wikipedia contributor (”Popons”) was erroneously identified [en] as involved in the attempted murder [en] of Yasuko Yoshihara, wife of former vice health minister Kenji Yoshihara, following on the murders of former vice health minister Takehiko Yamaguchi and his wife Michiko.

Mainichi's mistake, however, was promptly identified by 2-channelers:

758 ：無党派さん：2008/11/19(水) 02:52:53 ID:lqKwKi4w
　>>754
　wikipedia:社会保険庁長官の変更履歴　　　（毎日はこれを見て誤報に至る）
　てか、これ大誤報だろ。この変更時間ってGMTのはずだから、
　実際は午後9時27分じゃないのか。

758: >> to commenter 754
Wikipedia: Edit Records of Director General of the Public Insurance Agency (Mainichi looked at this and made a mistaken report)
This is a huge mistake. The timestamp must be in GMT, so wasn't the edit then in fact made at 9.27 p.m. [Japan time]?

The news immediately roused reaction among some bloggers. One of them, Hiroyuki Fujishiro [藤代裕之] at Gatonews, stressing how factually incorrect news was taken to be correct by other media, remarked on the newspaper's responsibility as author of the original report:

誤報やネットへのリテラシー不足よりも問題なのはその取材手法です。すでに消されてウェブ魚拓に残っている毎日の記事元次官宅襲撃：事件６時間前にネット書き込み…犯行示唆に『アクセスの記録などから書き込みがなされたパソコンが特定できるとみられ、捜査本部は慎重に調べている』という文面があります。これは、毎日報道「ネットに犯行示唆」は誤報という産経新聞の記事の『書き込みの内容は、参考情報として、捜査当局にも伝えていたという』で明らかなように、記者がウィキペディアの書き込みを見つけて警察に伝えて記事にしたものです。

The problem is not the incorrect report or the ignorance of Internet conventions, but the way that information was collected. In the article “Attack on the former vice-Director's home: crime announced on the Internet six hours earlier… hinting at the crime?” [jp], already taken down but still available on Web Gyotaku (ウェブ魚拓), they report that: “Thanks to the track records, the pc used to edit [the Wikipedia page] can be identified. The investigation headquarters is carefully looking into the case”. And the news of “hints about crime on the Internet” was then mistaken by Sankei Shimbun and reported as “sources from the Investigation Agency said that contents of the edit will be used as a reference”, as if the journalist who found the edit on Wikipedia had reported it to the police.

[…]

あいまいな記事の書き方はマスメディアにも警察にもメリットがあります。マスメディアは「捜査本部は調べている」とまるで情報主体が警察にあるように書くことで責任を回避できますし、警察は情報の非対称を利用して記者をコントロールすることが出来ます。

Both the police and the mass media are responsible for this ambiguous article. The mass media avoid any responsibility, reporting that “the investigation headquarters is investigating”, and making the Police the author of that information. At the same time, the police, by the principles of information asymmetry, can control the journalist.

Right after publication of the article, TV shows seized the opportunity to report news about an Internet user being involved in a crime, in doing so spreading incorrect news.

The next day, Mainichi published few lines where they apologized [jp] “for reporting that the edit on the online encyclopedia Wikipedia was a pre-announcement of the crime while, instead, the edit time was p.m., after the crime had already been committed, and not before.” However this attracted even more criticism by many bloggers, who harshly blamed the newspaper, because in the apology there is no mention to Popons, the editor who was irresponsibly accused of being directly involved in the stabbing, as id: Britty [ja], for example, pointed out:

ウェブ魚拓を見ると、その「犯行予告」なるものを投稿した投稿者のログイン名が掲載されている。上記のお詫び記事ではそのことについては言及がない。時刻表記を取り違えたことだけを「お詫びして訂正」している。ほんとうに詫びるべきは、不用意に特定投稿者の名前を掲載したこと、そのことでその方に迷惑をかけたことなのではないであろうか。

If you search for “advance notice of crime” [犯行予告] on Web Gyotaku (ウェブ魚拓), you will see that the id of the contributor who made the edit was published in the article. However, in Mainichi's apology, there is no mention of that. The apology only consists of a correction of the mistaken news report. But what they should apologize for is the careless publication of the contributor's personal identity. After all, haven't they caused that person problems [in what they did]?

While the few lines by Mainichi seemed shallow to many [jp], at his personal page, the Wikipedia user Popons expressed his heartfelt apologies for what happened:

私の書き込みが社会保険庁長官の件で、ご遺族の方々、捜査関係者の方々にたいへんなご迷惑をおかけしましたことを反省いたしております。先ほどのニュースで知りました。申し訳ございませんでした。大変申し訳ございませんでした。特にご遺族の方々、申し訳ございませんでした。私は北陸在住でプロバイダもそちらのものです。ただいま、地元警察のほうへ、連絡し、謝罪の電話をいたしました。申し訳ございませんでした。–Popons 2008年11月18日 (火) 21:35 (UTC)

With regards to the page “Director General of the Social Insurance Agency” which I edited, I am very sorry to have caused trouble to the victim's family and to all the people involved in the investigation. I heard [about the misunderstanding] from the TV news a while ago and I do apologize. I have no words to express how sorry I am, in particular for her relatives. I live in the North and the [Internet service] provider I used is [located] here as well. Right now I contacted the local police station and I called them to apologize. I am very sorry.

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Korea: The Birth of Internet Netizen Legend

Hyejin Kim · 08:47 · East Asia

A new Hong Gil Dong [EN] emerged on the Internet of Korea! A netizen who is just known as “Minerva” started writing his economic analysis in Agora—a Netizens’ panel— in a major portal site, Daum from 2007. He predicted the collapse of Leman Brothers, sudden jump in the foreign exchange rate, and fluctuations of real estate business. His syndrome is explosive and he is more popular and trusted than the government. The government reacts sensitively to the unknown netizen and tries to find who he is under the pretext of having conversations with him.

He became an Internet Legend.

Who is Minerva? It is a question by not just the government, but the netizens.

아고라 미네르바는 포털 사이트 다음의 아고라에서 활동하는 인터넷 유명 논객이다. 리먼 브러더스의 부실과 환율 폭등 등, 대한민국 경제의 변동 추이를 정확히 예견하여 주목을 받았다. 그의 영향력을 인식한 기획재정부는 그에게 정부의 방침을 설명하거나 자료를 제공하는 등 소통하는 방안을 검토 중이라고 밝혔다.[…] 자신을 ‘고구마 파는 늙은이’라고 칭하며 본인의 신원에 대해 밝히는 것을 꺼리면서 직업이나 경력 등에 대한 정보는 알려진 바 없었으나 정보당국은 포털 사이트 다음을 통해서 알아본 결과 나이는 50대 초반이고 증권사에 다녔으며 해외에서 생활한 경험이 있는 사람이라고 파악했다.[2] 정보 당국의 이 같은 조사에 대해 대해 논란이 일어나기도 했다. 이후 미네르바는 “국가가 침묵을 명령했으니 글쓰기를 멈추겠다. 경제 예측을 하는 것을 불법사유라고 하다니…‘조국’과 ‘한민족’이라는 이름으로 포장된 애국심을 갖고 공동체 의식 속에 살아 온 것이 얼마나 가증스런 기만인지 깨닫는 계기가 됐다”는 글을 남겼다.

Minerva is a famous netizen who writes in Agora, Daum. He predicted collapse of Leman Brothers, sudden rise of the foreign exchange rate, and processes of Korean economic changes. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance recognized his influence and announced that they will explain governmental policies and provide information to him. The government says that they look for ways to have communication with him. […] Minerva calls himself ‘an old man to sell sweet potatoes’ and is reluctant to expose his identity. Nobody knows about his job and career. Checking with a portal site, the intelligence found out that he is in his early 50s, has worked in a stock company, and has lived abroad. Regarding this investigation, there are denunciations. After that, Minerva left the last writing, “The government ordered the silence and therefore I will stop writing. Predicting economy is illegal to their perspective… Now I recognize how deceptive life I have had with patriotism nicely designed with ‘mother land’ and ‘united group’.”

Minerva’s prediction and sensitive reactions of the government seem to bring more attention.

[…]'미네르바'는 올 7월에 있어던 미국 서브프라임 사태의 불똥이 한국에 옮겨붙을 것도 예측 했었다고 하네요..전 그것까지는 몰랐었는데.. 암튼 미네르바 뿐만 아니라 다른 여러 사이버 논객들이 경제 위기와 관련한 글들을 올리면서 정부 정책을 비판하는 사례가 많아지니까 현재 강만수장관 뿐만 아니라 다른 많은 정부 관료들이 상당히 고심 중이라고 하네요..

[…]Minerva predicted that the American sub-prime crisis in July would affect Korea. I didn’t expect that part, though. Including Minerva, there are many cyber analysts who write about economic crisis and they write criticisms of government policies. I heard that many government officers as well as the Minister, Kang Man Soo, are worried about this symptom.

Despite the government pressure, his popularity is ballooning and his writing circulates everywhere. People who even didn’t know about him search for him after the government reaction.

미네르바 님의 글은 어디가서 볼수있나요? 아고라에서 미네님 글을 검색해도 없네요 부탁합니다. 모음집이면 더 좋구요.

Where can I see Minerva’s writings? I can’t find them in Agora. Please help me. It will be better if I can get all of them.

Netizens exchange their information and even made a web-café that collected all his writing. Some of them made his writing as an internet book.

요새같은 경제불황에 정부에 의지하지말고 본인이 정보를 얻는게 힘인것같요. 다음 아고라에서 경제예측으로 유명했던 미네르바님의 주옥같은 글을 모아놓은 카페입니다. 10분이라도 읽어보시는걸 추천해드려요~

Don’t lean on the government in such an economic crisis. This is the place to collect all beautiful compositions of Minerva. I recommend you to read at least 10 minutes.

Netizens explain why his writing appeals to many people.

‘신드롬'까지 일으키며 정계를 비롯한 사회 전반적인 파장을 몰고 온 ‘미네르바'라는 필명의 논객이 쓴 글 모음입니다. 이 논객의 글을 신뢰하느냐 마느냐의 문제는 개인적인 판단에 따른 것이므로 제가 왈가왈부 할 성격의 요점이 아닐 것입니다. 다만, 우리 사회가 이렇듯 단절되고 소통이 이루어지지 않았던 것의 원인이 ‘나와 다른 것은 배척한다'라는 정신에 입각한 것이었음을 감안해야 함은 필연적임을 누차 강조해도 과하지 않습니다. 따라서 의견이 같고 다르고의 문제를 떠나 ‘미네르바'라는 논객이 어째서 신드롬을 일으킨 것인지, 정부의 말은 불신하면서 일개 네티즌의 말에는 귀를 기울이는 웃지 못할 상황이 왜 벌어지는 것인지 반드시 확인해야 합니다.어려운 경제 용어에 대해서 전혀 모르는 제가 봐도, 그저 ‘믿음'과 ‘확신'만을 바라는 정부보단 훨씬 논리적임을 느낄 수 있었습니다. 읽어 보시면 신드롬에 대해 어느 정도 이해를 하시리라 봅니다.

This is the collection of the writing of ‘Minerva’ who is making a ‘syndrome’ in society as well as in political world. How much you will trust his writing is depending on your perspectives. Anyway, this symptom shows that how much our society is excluded and has hard time to have soft communication. It is because we basically exclude different opinions. Now overcoming this prejudice, we should think about why Minerva’s opinions bring syndrome and why people distrust what the government says, but pay attention to what a netizen says. Even to me who doesn’t know anything about economic terms, his writing looks more logical than the government which only emphasizes ‘belief’ and ‘assurance.’ After checking his writing, you would understand what I mean.

Netizens criticize how the government responds to this syndrome.

제가 알기론 요즘 ‘미네르바'나 ‘김광수'등 사이버 논객들이 정부의 정책에 대해서 신랄하게 비판하기도 해서 정부 정책 신뢰도에 큰 영향을 끼치고 있다 보니까..기획재정부가 외국 언론의 한국에 대한 부정적 보도에 대응할려고 외신 대변인 제도를 부활하기로 결정 하면서, 사이버 경제 논객인 ‘미네르바'와 김광수경제연구소의 ‘김광수'등에게 정부 방침을 설명하거나 자료를 제공하는 등 일련의 소통(?)을 하려고 찾는 거래요. 아무래도 이들 논객들이 올린 글들은 평균 조회소도 5만건을 넘어서고 1천건 이상의 댓글들이 달리기도 하는 등 사이버에서 상당한 영향을 미치고 있기 때문에 더욱 그런 것 같은데요. 과연 이렇게 하는게 적절한 방법인지 잘 모르겠네요..재정부는 적절한 비판은 귀담아 들어도, 잘못된 통계를 인용한다거나 근겅벗이 비판할 경우에는 정부 입장을 설명할 필요가 있다고 말했다는데..강만수 기획재정부 장관은 사이버 논객들이 재정부와 똑같은 생각을 하고 같은 방향을 바라보는 것을 원하는 건가요.. 비판적인 시각 따위는 아예 뿌리뽑고 싶은 걸까요? 그리고 ‘미네르바'는 자신의 직업을 고구마 파는 늙은이로 소개하기도 하는 등 언론의 노출을 바라지 않는 것 같았는데, 재정부가 이렇게 사이버 논객들을 찾아내서 자신들의 정책을 설명하고 어쩌고 하게되면 과연 그들이 자유로운 의사 표현을 할 수 있을까요? 여러모로 많이 생각해봐야 할 문제인 것 같습니다..;;

Cyber analysts such as ‘Miverva’ and ‘Kim Kwang Soo’ criticize government policies, and their comments influence reliabilities of government policies. Therefore, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance decided to resurrect the foreign affairs representative system in order to respond negative news about Korea in foreign media. And they said that the reason why they would like to find those people is in order to look for ways to explain government policies, to provide information, and to communicate with them. Their writings are generally read more than 50,000 times and each writing has more than 1,000 opinions in the Internet. I think that due to their influences the government is more sensitive. I don’t know whether what the government tries to do is the suitable way or not.[…]

There are concerns about this sudden syndrome.

이 모든 소동의 중심에는 정부와 주류를형성하는 관료, 학자들이 일차적으로 책임이있다. 막말로 그들이 잘했으면은, 조금이라도 방향을 제대로 말했으면, 미네르바란 인물이 애초부터 나올일은 없었을것이며, 신원조회, 검찰조사 협박 이런류의 뭐라 표현해야할지 모를정도로 구린 대응을 하지 않았으면 아마 나같은 애들은 미네르바란 이름도 몰랐을거다.

오죽 혼란스러우며, 믿고기댈대가없으면은 온라인의 한 논객에 온국민이 열광하나. 집권자들이 보기엔 두려울것이다. 이해는간다. 아무튼 그들이 자초한거며, 이건 그 하나의 입을 막는다고 해결될일이 절대로 아닌, 자기들 스스로해결해야 할 문제다. 단 하나 걱정되는건, 이제 이 상황에서 적절한 예측과 호소력이있으면은 엄청난 파워를가지게된다는걸 본의아니게(?) 미네르바가 증명해준거다. 다행히 그는 순수한 의도였던것 같지만 이런 좋은 기회를 화려한말빨, 적당한 지식으로 무장한 놈들이 이용하지말란법은 없다. 그리고, 그때는정말 정부가 두려워하는 상황이 벌어질수도 있을거다.

세기말보다 더한 종말론적인 분위기가 퍼져간다. U.S.에서는 이미 NYU의 한 비관론적 성향을 가진 교수가 큰 주목을 받았는데, 한국에선 IT강국답게(?) 인터넷포탈싸이트 익명논객이 그런 각광을 받고있다. 어찌됐든, 인터넷의 한 논객의 말이 이런 파워를 지니는것은 분명히 건강하지 못한 위험한 상황이고, 이 책임은 글 서두에 말했듯 정부, 주류 학계에 있다고본다.

This chaos is due to the government, main civil servants and scholars first of all. If they did a good job or gave a good direction, the person like Minerva would not be born. If the government didn’t start investigating his identity and threatening him with prosecution, people like me would not even recognize what Minerva is and what he has been doing.

Now, things are chaotic. People are excited at a disputant in the Internet because they don’t know whom they have to trust. Therefore, the authority would be afraid of this reaction. I understand. But this is what the government caused. Blocking one person’s mouth will not solve these problems. The government should find a better way. What I am worried at present is that the Minerva symptom proved if you make predictions and have convincing power, you can have enormous power. Fortunately, his intention was pure. But people who have bad intentions and have knowledge could make use of this kind of chance later. Then if it happens, it will be a really scary moment for the government to control.

Negative atmosphere is spreading over now. A professor who has pessimistic views at NYU in the US has been receiving attention recently. Now in Korea fitting for the characteristic as an IT country, an unknown netizen on an Internet portal site gets the attention. Anyway, the fact that a netizen could obtain such a power is very dangerous and the government and major scholars should take the responsibility.

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