Jankari, a famous blogger in the Arab world, wrote:
"Je crois qu’il faut penser à un dispositif de régulation de publication sur internet au Maroc. Il ne s’agit pas d’établir un système de censure à la saoudienne, mais une réglementation de la publication en ligne qui respecte la vie privée des personnes.
Ile ne faut pas se voiler la face. Le web marocain a son lot de sites chauds et qui portent atteinte à la vie privée des personnes (ex . Driba et Salgoute).
Il ne s’agit pas d’un phénomène spécifique au Maroc. Mais, il faut penser à y remédier en s’inspirant des bonnes pratiques au niveau international".
I am afraid. My dear friend. I have some serious considerations.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Mobile Voter - Txt:Politic
Web/Internet & the 2004 Elections: Mobile Presage?
I recently came across a series of articles/studies conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project about internet (Web) usage in the 2004 campaign. The conclusion of these studies: the internet had a big impact. Uh huh.
It doesn’t seem like 2004 was that long ago – it's so plainly obvious now - but the conclusion of these studies makes it evident that there was a question as to the efficacy of the Web in political campaigns prior to ’04.
Continue reading "Web/Internet & the 2004 Elections: Mobile Presage?"
I recently came across a series of articles/studies conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project about internet (Web) usage in the 2004 campaign. The conclusion of these studies: the internet had a big impact. Uh huh.
It doesn’t seem like 2004 was that long ago – it's so plainly obvious now - but the conclusion of these studies makes it evident that there was a question as to the efficacy of the Web in political campaigns prior to ’04.
Continue reading "Web/Internet & the 2004 Elections: Mobile Presage?"
Wikipedia, Open Source and the Future of the Web
A new wave of Internet sites, like Wikipedia, invite their users to interact and contribute facts and opinion and edit each other. It's a more democratic way to present information. But is it more accurate?
Guests:
Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine
Jimmy Wales, founder of the Wikimedia Foundation
Nicholas Carr, freelance business and technology writer; former executive editor of The Harvard Business Review; author of the book, Does IT Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage
[via smart mobs]
Guests:
Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine
Jimmy Wales, founder of the Wikimedia Foundation
Nicholas Carr, freelance business and technology writer; former executive editor of The Harvard Business Review; author of the book, Does IT Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage
[via smart mobs]
اعتقال مدون مصري
عبد الكريم نبيل سليمان طالب مصري له من العمر 21 سنة. يدرس القانون بجامعة الأزهر فرع دمنهور، وهو ناشط في مجال حقوق المرأة، ومراسل لموقع الأقباط متحدون ، بالإضافة إلى كتاباته في موفع الحوار المتمدن، فهو ينشر في مدونته كريم عامر.
Egyptian Blogger taken in Detention
Abdolkarim Nabil Seliman is a 21 year-old Egyptian student of law at the Azhar University, Damanhour Campus, a women's-rights activist and a correspondent for Copts United.
Egyptian Blogger taken in Detention
Abdolkarim Nabil Seliman is a 21 year-old Egyptian student of law at the Azhar University, Damanhour Campus, a women's-rights activist and a correspondent for Copts United.
Monday, October 31, 2005
A new publication "Blogs pour les pros"
Les chapitres et extraits disponibles dans leur version préliminaire (avant relecture et corrections) sont:
-La fin du marketing tel que nous le connaissons
-Etes-vous sûr de réellement vouloir bloguer en public ?
-Partager l'information a infiniment plus de valeur que la protéger (ce chapitre a été revu en profondeur)
-Conseils de base pour écrire un bon blog "pro"
-Comment regrouper 250 personnes de 25 pays en un mois avec un blog et sans publicité
-Travailler en groupe sur une présentation européenne avec un blog et un wiki
-Blog de marques et de chefs d'entreprise
-Les blogs des salariés
-Générez des revenus avec votre blog
-Les blogs contre le journalisme
-La fin du marketing tel que nous le connaissons
-Etes-vous sûr de réellement vouloir bloguer en public ?
-Partager l'information a infiniment plus de valeur que la protéger (ce chapitre a été revu en profondeur)
-Conseils de base pour écrire un bon blog "pro"
-Comment regrouper 250 personnes de 25 pays en un mois avec un blog et sans publicité
-Travailler en groupe sur une présentation européenne avec un blog et un wiki
-Blog de marques et de chefs d'entreprise
-Les blogs des salariés
-Générez des revenus avec votre blog
-Les blogs contre le journalisme
العالمية للمدونات دويتشه فيله -
.تم إختيار مدونة نسرين للفوز بجائزة أحسن مدونة عربية من بين الثمانية النهائيين
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Monday, October 24, 2005
تدوين
تدوين هى احد مواقع شبكة الطحاوى لخدمات انترنت و التسويق و التجارة الالكترونية.
تهتم تدوين بعرض و ربط المدونات العربية و تقديم الدعم للمدونين العرب.
تدوين ممولة بالكامل من شبكة الطحاوى و مجموعة ناشرين مستقلة لا تهدف للربح.
تدوين لا تمنح افضلية فى دليل المدونات بمقابل مادى و المدونات المنشورة هى ملك لأصحابها.
تابع شروط الخدمة و اتفاقية الخصوصية.
[via Jankari.org]
تهتم تدوين بعرض و ربط المدونات العربية و تقديم الدعم للمدونين العرب.
تدوين ممولة بالكامل من شبكة الطحاوى و مجموعة ناشرين مستقلة لا تهدف للربح.
تدوين لا تمنح افضلية فى دليل المدونات بمقابل مادى و المدونات المنشورة هى ملك لأصحابها.
تابع شروط الخدمة و اتفاقية الخصوصية.
[via Jankari.org]
Friday, October 21, 2005
A new publication on Blogs by a famous blogger
Blogs pour les pros est en cours d'impression, il sera en librairie fin Novembre et vous pouvez déjà le pré-commander en ligne. Merci à tous pour vos nombreux commentaires sur mes chapitres, ceux-ci m'ont permis de l'améliorer.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
'Splogs' Roil Web, and Some Blame Google
Spam, long the scourge of email users, rapidly has become the bane of bloggers too.
Spammers have created millions of Web logs to promote everything from gambling Web sites to pornography. The spam blogs -- known as "splogs" -- often contain gibberish, and are full of links to other Web sites spammers are trying to promote. Because search engines like those of Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. base their rankings of Web sites, in part, on how many other Web sites link to them, the splogs can help artificially inflate a site's popularity. Some of the phony blogs also carry advertisements, which generate a few cents for the splog's owner each time they are clicked on.
[via Smart Mobs]
Spammers have created millions of Web logs to promote everything from gambling Web sites to pornography. The spam blogs -- known as "splogs" -- often contain gibberish, and are full of links to other Web sites spammers are trying to promote. Because search engines like those of Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. base their rankings of Web sites, in part, on how many other Web sites link to them, the splogs can help artificially inflate a site's popularity. Some of the phony blogs also carry advertisements, which generate a few cents for the splog's owner each time they are clicked on.
[via Smart Mobs]
Social Networks and Social Networking
Social networking is built on the idea that there is a determinable structure to how people know each other, whether directly or indirectly. Notions such as "six degrees of separation" — that everyone on Earth is separated from everyone else by no more than six intermediate personal relationships — have popularized the idea that people can be (however unknowingly) connected through common associates.
This issue's theme includes three articles on research activities that have drawn on ideas from social networking to drive innovative designs. The focus stays close to our own intellectual home — the design, development, and study of social technologies at the level of individuals, groups, and organizations — although we refer to the broader issue of business, community, and societal impact in this short introduction.
This issue's theme includes three articles on research activities that have drawn on ideas from social networking to drive innovative designs. The focus stays close to our own intellectual home — the design, development, and study of social technologies at the level of individuals, groups, and organizations — although we refer to the broader issue of business, community, and societal impact in this short introduction.
We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People
Grassroots journalists are dismantling Big Media's monopoly on the news, transforming it from a lecture to a conversation. Not content to accept the news as reported, these readers-turned-reporters are publishing in real time to a worldwide audience via the Internet. The impact of their work is just beginning to be felt by professional journalists and the newsmakers they cover. In We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People, nationally known business and technology columnist Dan Gillmor tells the story of this emerging phenomenon, and sheds light on this deep shift in how we make and consume the news.
read more
read more
What Is Free Software
In This Article:
1. From Free to Proprietary
2. Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation
3. The Rise of Open Collaboration
4. Is It Free or Open Source?
5. The Future of Free Softwar
1. From Free to Proprietary
2. Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation
3. The Rise of Open Collaboration
4. Is It Free or Open Source?
5. The Future of Free Softwar
Blogging and the Wisdom of Crowds
One of the most highly touted features of the Web 2.0 era is the rise of blogging. Personal home pages have been around since the early days of the web, and the personal diary and daily opinion column around much longer than that, so just what is the fuss all about?
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Kifaya movement in Kuwait
[via Sabbah’s Blog]
(AFP) Around 200 Kuwaiti soccer fans called for the resignation of Kuwait Football Association officials after the national team’s poor form during their World Cup qualifying games.
The protestors, standing outside the KFA offices, raised placards calling on members of the ruling al-Sabah family to stay away from the football federation and for holding officials accountable for the team’s debacle.
“Kefaya” or “enough”, one of the placards read. (in fact that one is saying: “Keep the ruling family away from sports”)
The president and the head of training at the KFA are members of the ruling al-Sabah family.
(AFP) Around 200 Kuwaiti soccer fans called for the resignation of Kuwait Football Association officials after the national team’s poor form during their World Cup qualifying games.
The protestors, standing outside the KFA offices, raised placards calling on members of the ruling al-Sabah family to stay away from the football federation and for holding officials accountable for the team’s debacle.
“Kefaya” or “enough”, one of the placards read. (in fact that one is saying: “Keep the ruling family away from sports”)
The president and the head of training at the KFA are members of the ruling al-Sabah family.
A new Kifaya Movemeent in Tunesia: Yessi Movement
"Ben Ali, Fock!", "Ben Ali, Yezzi!"
Literally it means "Ben Ali, enough is enough!"(*) This expression in Tunisian dialect intends to transmit a clear message to the dictator in order to give up power, because we consider it is "enough". For us Tunisians, who are always banned from freely reaching independent information and who are violently forbidden from any peaceful demonstration; this kind of demonstration is a new form of peaceful protest,(See the site www.yezzi.org)
We call all of those who adhere to this discontent to join this demonstration, and send their photographs indicating one of the slogans mentioned above or carrying their own heartfelt one, to the following address: manif@yezzi.org
We call all Tunisian websites and blogs to defend freedom of expression on Internet and to resist governmental projects aiming to "regulate" the network by joining the "Blue Ribbon" campaign for freedom of expression and thus by inserting the "Blue Ribbon" logo on their Web pages (see the website of the TAPD - Cyberspace)
(*) It should be noted that the Tunisian expression "Fock" does not have any relationship with the English expression different by one letter.
Literally it means "Ben Ali, enough is enough!"(*) This expression in Tunisian dialect intends to transmit a clear message to the dictator in order to give up power, because we consider it is "enough". For us Tunisians, who are always banned from freely reaching independent information and who are violently forbidden from any peaceful demonstration; this kind of demonstration is a new form of peaceful protest,(See the site www.yezzi.org)
We call all of those who adhere to this discontent to join this demonstration, and send their photographs indicating one of the slogans mentioned above or carrying their own heartfelt one, to the following address: manif@yezzi.org
We call all Tunisian websites and blogs to defend freedom of expression on Internet and to resist governmental projects aiming to "regulate" the network by joining the "Blue Ribbon" campaign for freedom of expression and thus by inserting the "Blue Ribbon" logo on their Web pages (see the website of the TAPD - Cyberspace)
(*) It should be noted that the Tunisian expression "Fock" does not have any relationship with the English expression different by one letter.
Monday, October 17, 2005
State of the Blogosphere, October 2005 Part 1: On Blogosphere Growth
State of the Blogosphere, October 2005 Part 1: On Blogosphere Growth
Posted by Dave SifryDave Sifry on October 17, 2005. Tags: Technorati News
It is that time of the year again, and I've got some new information on the continued growth of the blogosphere. I made this presentation as part of my 10 minute talk at Web 2.0 on October 6, 2005. You can download the entire presentation, complete with underlying data as well, for research use, or to make part of other presentations. All I ask is that you keep attribution and the Technorati logo in a prominent place wherever the data is used.
Earlier State of the Blogosphere reports are available as well - from August 2005, from March 2005, and from October 2004.
So, What's New?
Well, first, the basics. The chart below shows the continued growth of the blogosphere. Technorati is now tracking 19.6 Million weblogs, and the total number of weblogs tracked continues to double about every 5 months. This trend has been consistent for at least the last 36 months. In other words, the blogosphere has doubled at least 5 times in the last 3 years. Another way of looking at it is that the blogosphere is now over 30 times as big as it was 3 years ago:
Technorati weblogs growth over time
The next chart shows the number of new blogs tracked each day by Technorati. About 70,000 new weblogs are tracked every day, which is about a new weblog created each second, somewhere in the world. It also appears that blogging is taking off around the world, and not just in English. Some of the significant increases we've seen over the past 3 months have been due to a proliferation of chinese-speaking weblogs, both on MSN Spaces as well as on Chinese sites like blogcn.com.
Now that we've been tracking spam and fake blogs, we've included the daily tracking statistics for spam and fake blogs from June 1, 2005. We are currently tracking about 2% - 8% of new weblogs are fake or spam weblogs. They are represented as the red spikes that are over and above the legitimate (human-created and updated) blogs shown in blue below.
New Technorati blogs per day
Spam Attacks
In the last couple of days, there's been a lot of talk about a set of spam blogs that have been set up to do keyword stuffing using a lot of popular phrases, including many popular bloggers' names. Lots of people have discussed this, including Tim Bray, Dave Winer, Ed Cone, Robert Scoble, Chris Pirillo, Jeff Jarvis, and others. In order to adequately analyze this, I updated the chart to include the blog data we've been tracking all the way up to yesterday, October 16, 2005.
In the past 2 weeks, there were 805,000 new weblogs created. In addition, Technorati tracked an additional 39,000 new fake and spam weblogs, which means that about 4.6% of the total weblogs tracked were fake or spam.
One of the remarkable things that comes out of looking at the data is that while spam and fake blogs are a problem, they are not an overwhelming problem - In fact, we've experienced much worse spam attacks in the past. The key difference in the spam attack over the weekend is that the attackers' posts included many popular search terms including popular bloggers' names - which is a common ego search on engines like Technorati. This made this particular attack much more visible to a number of high profile bloggers than attacks in the past.
A look at the posting volume over the last year is illustrative as well, and is included in the chart below:
Daily posting volume
You can see from the post statistics that there are on average, between 700,000 and 1.3 Million posts made each day. That's about 33,000 posts per hour. Spam and fake posts are reported here as well, and on average an additional 5.8% of posts (or about 50,000 posts/day) seen each day are spam or fake. This number changes on a daily basis as we track spam attacks, and have reached as high as an additional 18% over the regular daily volume.
One may argue that the numbers I'm reporting are way too low, or that Technorati isn't finding all of the spam weblogs out there. That's a legitimate argument, and by no means am I asserting that Technorati is capturing all of the spam and fake weblogs in existence. We know we're not getting them all, and every day we're working on improving our algorithms and data quality. However, our hard work means that we can still provide you with comprehensive timely results without having to do anything drastic, like removing a major hosting provider with millions of legitimate blogs from our indexes.
We're also working closely with the other players in the industry in order to close the gaps. In September, we helped organize the second Web 2.0 Spam summit, and representatives from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, Six Apart, Tucows, Wordpress, Feedster, and many more companies and organizations participated. The summit was quite successful, and I expect that there will be many more to come.
To summarize:
* As of October 2005, Technorati is now tracking 19.6 million weblogs
* The total number of weblogs tracked continues to double about every 5 months
* The blogosphere is now over 30 times as big as it was 3 years ago, with no signs of letup in growth
* About 70,000 new weblogs are created every day
* About a new weblog is created each second
* 2% - 8% of new weblogs per day are fake or spam weblogs
* Between 700,000 and 1.3 million posts are made each day
* About 33,000 posts are created per hour, or 9.2 posts per second
* An additional 5.8% of posts (or about 50,000 posts/day) seen each day are from spam or fake blogs, on average
What's Next?
Of course, one important question rears its head - how to make sense out of this monstrous onrush of conversation, and just get what you want - the best information from the most authoritative or influential people, in the most timely manner.
More on that in my next two posts, covering the growth of tags and of context in search and discovery
Posted by Dave SifryDave Sifry on October 17, 2005. Tags: Technorati News
It is that time of the year again, and I've got some new information on the continued growth of the blogosphere. I made this presentation as part of my 10 minute talk at Web 2.0 on October 6, 2005. You can download the entire presentation, complete with underlying data as well, for research use, or to make part of other presentations. All I ask is that you keep attribution and the Technorati logo in a prominent place wherever the data is used.
Earlier State of the Blogosphere reports are available as well - from August 2005, from March 2005, and from October 2004.
So, What's New?
Well, first, the basics. The chart below shows the continued growth of the blogosphere. Technorati is now tracking 19.6 Million weblogs, and the total number of weblogs tracked continues to double about every 5 months. This trend has been consistent for at least the last 36 months. In other words, the blogosphere has doubled at least 5 times in the last 3 years. Another way of looking at it is that the blogosphere is now over 30 times as big as it was 3 years ago:
Technorati weblogs growth over time
The next chart shows the number of new blogs tracked each day by Technorati. About 70,000 new weblogs are tracked every day, which is about a new weblog created each second, somewhere in the world. It also appears that blogging is taking off around the world, and not just in English. Some of the significant increases we've seen over the past 3 months have been due to a proliferation of chinese-speaking weblogs, both on MSN Spaces as well as on Chinese sites like blogcn.com.
Now that we've been tracking spam and fake blogs, we've included the daily tracking statistics for spam and fake blogs from June 1, 2005. We are currently tracking about 2% - 8% of new weblogs are fake or spam weblogs. They are represented as the red spikes that are over and above the legitimate (human-created and updated) blogs shown in blue below.
New Technorati blogs per day
Spam Attacks
In the last couple of days, there's been a lot of talk about a set of spam blogs that have been set up to do keyword stuffing using a lot of popular phrases, including many popular bloggers' names. Lots of people have discussed this, including Tim Bray, Dave Winer, Ed Cone, Robert Scoble, Chris Pirillo, Jeff Jarvis, and others. In order to adequately analyze this, I updated the chart to include the blog data we've been tracking all the way up to yesterday, October 16, 2005.
In the past 2 weeks, there were 805,000 new weblogs created. In addition, Technorati tracked an additional 39,000 new fake and spam weblogs, which means that about 4.6% of the total weblogs tracked were fake or spam.
One of the remarkable things that comes out of looking at the data is that while spam and fake blogs are a problem, they are not an overwhelming problem - In fact, we've experienced much worse spam attacks in the past. The key difference in the spam attack over the weekend is that the attackers' posts included many popular search terms including popular bloggers' names - which is a common ego search on engines like Technorati. This made this particular attack much more visible to a number of high profile bloggers than attacks in the past.
A look at the posting volume over the last year is illustrative as well, and is included in the chart below:
Daily posting volume
You can see from the post statistics that there are on average, between 700,000 and 1.3 Million posts made each day. That's about 33,000 posts per hour. Spam and fake posts are reported here as well, and on average an additional 5.8% of posts (or about 50,000 posts/day) seen each day are spam or fake. This number changes on a daily basis as we track spam attacks, and have reached as high as an additional 18% over the regular daily volume.
One may argue that the numbers I'm reporting are way too low, or that Technorati isn't finding all of the spam weblogs out there. That's a legitimate argument, and by no means am I asserting that Technorati is capturing all of the spam and fake weblogs in existence. We know we're not getting them all, and every day we're working on improving our algorithms and data quality. However, our hard work means that we can still provide you with comprehensive timely results without having to do anything drastic, like removing a major hosting provider with millions of legitimate blogs from our indexes.
We're also working closely with the other players in the industry in order to close the gaps. In September, we helped organize the second Web 2.0 Spam summit, and representatives from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, Six Apart, Tucows, Wordpress, Feedster, and many more companies and organizations participated. The summit was quite successful, and I expect that there will be many more to come.
To summarize:
* As of October 2005, Technorati is now tracking 19.6 million weblogs
* The total number of weblogs tracked continues to double about every 5 months
* The blogosphere is now over 30 times as big as it was 3 years ago, with no signs of letup in growth
* About 70,000 new weblogs are created every day
* About a new weblog is created each second
* 2% - 8% of new weblogs per day are fake or spam weblogs
* Between 700,000 and 1.3 million posts are made each day
* About 33,000 posts are created per hour, or 9.2 posts per second
* An additional 5.8% of posts (or about 50,000 posts/day) seen each day are from spam or fake blogs, on average
What's Next?
Of course, one important question rears its head - how to make sense out of this monstrous onrush of conversation, and just get what you want - the best information from the most authoritative or influential people, in the most timely manner.
More on that in my next two posts, covering the growth of tags and of context in search and discovery
Haitham Sabbah in the Media; Blogging in the Arab World
The full interview:
[Q1. It’s a reality that Arab dissent is growing through blogs, the easiest and cheapest way to collect thoughts and people, and to avoid for a while regimes’ censorship. Tunisia seemed to me a sort of country of birth, but the river of information/communication through blogs was really spreading specially starting this year, between February and March, when Arab bloggers were observing with a lot of attention all the political activities allover the region. Not only the so called Cedar revolution in Lebanon, but were spreading information (pictures, also) about dissent in Cairo (Kefaya et alia), with a growing attention to referendum and police violence, electoral campaign in August and presidential elections; talking about Syria, Kuwait, Bahrain dissent; disseminating the net with artistic samizdat. Can you explain this phenomenon from your point of view?
A1. The phenomenon is a natural inclination of maturity that wanted to make a clear position of the humble citizens of Middle Eastern, by taking the responsibility to represent the truth as they live it and see it, not as the west received it from what the majority of the Arabian bloggers, a biased anti-Arab, anti-Islam media.
Of course, presenting the truth as they live it and see it is not necessary counted as pro local governments and regimes, and not necessary against them, but in most cases resulted that blogger try to achieve the following:
1. Have a new window to represent the Arab countries, from within its people.
2. Anonymous (as most of them think they are) blogger, where no one can question him or hold him accountable for what he claim against, or for the country he represent. In other words, this created an attraction for the blogger to be free to reveal as much of their identity as they choose, unlike the public media
3. Correcting, and in some cases introducing the point of view that you never see on western media
4. Open new channels of discussion with formal and non formal identities inside ones country as well as outside
5. Get attention and support from international media as well as NGO’s for cases that one day were impossible to cross the borders of the room or the country they toke place
6. Mobs organization and unofficial groups’ space for declarations that are not permitted by the local governments and societies they live in. An example of that could be gays, or religious extremist, both of which are rejected widely within the Arab society
7. The unlimited topics and means of presentation that defeats the old Arab media style, which unfortunately is not showing any tendency of developing towards representing the pulse of the citizens rather than the rules by which they have to live within as dictated by their governments
8. The commercial and out-of-culture entertainment media, which in all cases was and still is a copy of imported foreign values that do not represent the Arab culture in general, and the refusal to accept that as the face value of the moderate citizens, hence the Arab bloggers
9. The emergence of few organizations who have sprung up to protect and to fight for the human rights in these countries, encouraged to have an extension of activities through bloggers who in all too many countries, face clampdowns on their freedom of expression
10. Another attraction of blogs in Arab world is the feedback, with readers of blog entries able to post their comments directly to blogs, thus hearing the hidden local news as well the opposite point of view that will never have space or means to appear to the public
11. War blogs and bloggers as a tool. This is conceived by some Arab bloggers, specially the depressed ones who feel that they have no chance to fight the war against their enemy (whoever and whatever that enemy is) face to face, due to the external and internal boundaries that govern his society
12. At the same time the online technology for setting up blogs has become increasingly user friendly, and is free
Q2. Arab blogs are not only political. Which kind of social and cultural reality do they represent, or at least show to us? Are they a sort of would-be butterfly constraint inside her “prison” but quite ready to fly, or it’s a short-term net-phenomenon?
A2. Arab blogs are like all other blogs. Yes the age of Arab blogs is small when compared to the USA blogs for example, but we have to keep in mind the fact that the majority of The Arab blogger community is overwhelmingly youthful, with many of them being students or aged 20-40. Youth is one of the striking characteristics of bloggers in the Arab world. Whereas in the USA for example many bloggers are long-established journalists, commentators and political troublemakers, such personalities in the Arab world do not yet generally have blogs.
Maybe this is partly because younger people have fewer inhibitions about mixing their writing about politics with contributions on more personal matters. It seems as if there are more English than Arabic-language blogs, and in the Maghreb there are of course many French blogs.
Therefore, what they represent is what modern reality of their social and cultural life is. I don’t agree to describe them as being in prison and ready to fly, no, they are what they are. However, unfortunately this is not what the West perceives about the Middle East. Being it a matter of heritage or a result of biased media, westerns still think that Arabs means camels, tents and 1001 nights.
Q3. I saw a debate in the Arab blogosphere on the language. What’s the inner meaning of this debate. Is Arabic used also as a sort of ideological mean? English and French are only seen as a colonialistic heritage or represent something else? What do you think, finally, about the typical mix normally used by younger and educated Arab generations?
A3. I don’t believe that is true. Yes, most if not all the early Arab bloggers had no choice when they started but to use the English as their blog language. But as I said, there was no choice. Arabic blog engines and tools were not available then. But I also don’t blame them, the Arabic bloggers in considering this as a colonialistic heritage, specially that famous blog tools such as blogger.com does not by default support writing in Arabic, even they don’t list Palestine Territories in the list of countries as when one register for a new blog!
On the other hand, I believe English blogs of Arabic bloggers has different objective than those written in Arabic, and that is the reach to the west in most, and the first language of some for those who live outside the Arab world.
For decades, there were no open channels between the East and the West. Blogs was and still is a great opportunity for Arab with bilingual skills to reach other around the world. To start a process of “learning to unlearn” on the non-Arab mass, so that the old believes and values perceived about Arabs, their culture and society are corrected and/or updated, and to represent an alternative point of view than that presented by local and foreign official views. It is very essential mind opener tool.
At the same time, Arabic blogs are also essential tool for open discussion between Arabs. A tool that never existed before to share ideas, to form a position, and to organize a move. Arabs in general never got the chance to live a democratic life locally or regionally. Hence, I believe that Arabic blogs will also help transfer of knowledge and strategies directly and indirectly will help in the long run to empower the Mobs. The recent Egyptian elections, and the reaction of Arab blogger (Arabic and English) from Egypt and outside, is a good example although it might have not made a big difference on the Elections process, but I think will be more powerful next elections, not only in Egypt, but in all Arab countries.
Q4. If we speak about the age of civil and political bloggers, many of you are very young. Do you agree that the bloggers are the sons of Al Jazeera revolution? At least from 2000 Al Aqsa intifada, they are digesting information not through anachronistic national State television channels. Do you think that Al Jazeera and her tv sisters were the necessary food for these blogs to grow and spread? Do you think that this is their way to show that they are ready to use not-conformistic information through the communication channels they have? In a word, through Blogs? Is there anything Al Jazeera and her tv sisters taught to bloggers in the way they do also information?
A4. In fact I think the contrary is true. Al Jazeera has learned from Arab Bloggers and followsuited by opening their English website, which is a great success by the way to the Arabic media. In fact I guess this success encouraged them to take the decision to open the English TV channel of Al Jazeera, which should be live early next year as they claim.
On the other hand, and as was mentioned before, most of the bloggers are very young. And to tell you the truth, Al Jazeera is not so much famous TV channel between this generations. However, that maybe does not apply to the political bloggers, which are not by the way that young. But, did Al Jazeera revolution have an effect on Arab bloggers? Yes it had, and probably will continue to do, specially that most if not all Arabs see it as the first open-debate channel that touch on taboos, similar to what Arab bloggers do touch on.
Having said all that, sometimes one has the impression the young Arab bloggers cannot believe the attitude of the older generation and especially figures of authority locally and internationally. And these are often challenged on Al Jazeera, but do not represent the Arab bloggers views, which mean that it does not represent the mass educated and ignored young generation. In fact, I believe that young generation has no presentation in the Arab media “revolution”, except few, very few Arabic newspapers articles here and there, on the other hand, much more attention from the western media, and this interview is an example :-)
Period.
They were only four question, I answered in four pages :-)
Anyway, please feel free to answer above questions and add correct me if I’m wrong…
]
[Q1. It’s a reality that Arab dissent is growing through blogs, the easiest and cheapest way to collect thoughts and people, and to avoid for a while regimes’ censorship. Tunisia seemed to me a sort of country of birth, but the river of information/communication through blogs was really spreading specially starting this year, between February and March, when Arab bloggers were observing with a lot of attention all the political activities allover the region. Not only the so called Cedar revolution in Lebanon, but were spreading information (pictures, also) about dissent in Cairo (Kefaya et alia), with a growing attention to referendum and police violence, electoral campaign in August and presidential elections; talking about Syria, Kuwait, Bahrain dissent; disseminating the net with artistic samizdat. Can you explain this phenomenon from your point of view?
A1. The phenomenon is a natural inclination of maturity that wanted to make a clear position of the humble citizens of Middle Eastern, by taking the responsibility to represent the truth as they live it and see it, not as the west received it from what the majority of the Arabian bloggers, a biased anti-Arab, anti-Islam media.
Of course, presenting the truth as they live it and see it is not necessary counted as pro local governments and regimes, and not necessary against them, but in most cases resulted that blogger try to achieve the following:
1. Have a new window to represent the Arab countries, from within its people.
2. Anonymous (as most of them think they are) blogger, where no one can question him or hold him accountable for what he claim against, or for the country he represent. In other words, this created an attraction for the blogger to be free to reveal as much of their identity as they choose, unlike the public media
3. Correcting, and in some cases introducing the point of view that you never see on western media
4. Open new channels of discussion with formal and non formal identities inside ones country as well as outside
5. Get attention and support from international media as well as NGO’s for cases that one day were impossible to cross the borders of the room or the country they toke place
6. Mobs organization and unofficial groups’ space for declarations that are not permitted by the local governments and societies they live in. An example of that could be gays, or religious extremist, both of which are rejected widely within the Arab society
7. The unlimited topics and means of presentation that defeats the old Arab media style, which unfortunately is not showing any tendency of developing towards representing the pulse of the citizens rather than the rules by which they have to live within as dictated by their governments
8. The commercial and out-of-culture entertainment media, which in all cases was and still is a copy of imported foreign values that do not represent the Arab culture in general, and the refusal to accept that as the face value of the moderate citizens, hence the Arab bloggers
9. The emergence of few organizations who have sprung up to protect and to fight for the human rights in these countries, encouraged to have an extension of activities through bloggers who in all too many countries, face clampdowns on their freedom of expression
10. Another attraction of blogs in Arab world is the feedback, with readers of blog entries able to post their comments directly to blogs, thus hearing the hidden local news as well the opposite point of view that will never have space or means to appear to the public
11. War blogs and bloggers as a tool. This is conceived by some Arab bloggers, specially the depressed ones who feel that they have no chance to fight the war against their enemy (whoever and whatever that enemy is) face to face, due to the external and internal boundaries that govern his society
12. At the same time the online technology for setting up blogs has become increasingly user friendly, and is free
Q2. Arab blogs are not only political. Which kind of social and cultural reality do they represent, or at least show to us? Are they a sort of would-be butterfly constraint inside her “prison” but quite ready to fly, or it’s a short-term net-phenomenon?
A2. Arab blogs are like all other blogs. Yes the age of Arab blogs is small when compared to the USA blogs for example, but we have to keep in mind the fact that the majority of The Arab blogger community is overwhelmingly youthful, with many of them being students or aged 20-40. Youth is one of the striking characteristics of bloggers in the Arab world. Whereas in the USA for example many bloggers are long-established journalists, commentators and political troublemakers, such personalities in the Arab world do not yet generally have blogs.
Maybe this is partly because younger people have fewer inhibitions about mixing their writing about politics with contributions on more personal matters. It seems as if there are more English than Arabic-language blogs, and in the Maghreb there are of course many French blogs.
Therefore, what they represent is what modern reality of their social and cultural life is. I don’t agree to describe them as being in prison and ready to fly, no, they are what they are. However, unfortunately this is not what the West perceives about the Middle East. Being it a matter of heritage or a result of biased media, westerns still think that Arabs means camels, tents and 1001 nights.
Q3. I saw a debate in the Arab blogosphere on the language. What’s the inner meaning of this debate. Is Arabic used also as a sort of ideological mean? English and French are only seen as a colonialistic heritage or represent something else? What do you think, finally, about the typical mix normally used by younger and educated Arab generations?
A3. I don’t believe that is true. Yes, most if not all the early Arab bloggers had no choice when they started but to use the English as their blog language. But as I said, there was no choice. Arabic blog engines and tools were not available then. But I also don’t blame them, the Arabic bloggers in considering this as a colonialistic heritage, specially that famous blog tools such as blogger.com does not by default support writing in Arabic, even they don’t list Palestine Territories in the list of countries as when one register for a new blog!
On the other hand, I believe English blogs of Arabic bloggers has different objective than those written in Arabic, and that is the reach to the west in most, and the first language of some for those who live outside the Arab world.
For decades, there were no open channels between the East and the West. Blogs was and still is a great opportunity for Arab with bilingual skills to reach other around the world. To start a process of “learning to unlearn” on the non-Arab mass, so that the old believes and values perceived about Arabs, their culture and society are corrected and/or updated, and to represent an alternative point of view than that presented by local and foreign official views. It is very essential mind opener tool.
At the same time, Arabic blogs are also essential tool for open discussion between Arabs. A tool that never existed before to share ideas, to form a position, and to organize a move. Arabs in general never got the chance to live a democratic life locally or regionally. Hence, I believe that Arabic blogs will also help transfer of knowledge and strategies directly and indirectly will help in the long run to empower the Mobs. The recent Egyptian elections, and the reaction of Arab blogger (Arabic and English) from Egypt and outside, is a good example although it might have not made a big difference on the Elections process, but I think will be more powerful next elections, not only in Egypt, but in all Arab countries.
Q4. If we speak about the age of civil and political bloggers, many of you are very young. Do you agree that the bloggers are the sons of Al Jazeera revolution? At least from 2000 Al Aqsa intifada, they are digesting information not through anachronistic national State television channels. Do you think that Al Jazeera and her tv sisters were the necessary food for these blogs to grow and spread? Do you think that this is their way to show that they are ready to use not-conformistic information through the communication channels they have? In a word, through Blogs? Is there anything Al Jazeera and her tv sisters taught to bloggers in the way they do also information?
A4. In fact I think the contrary is true. Al Jazeera has learned from Arab Bloggers and followsuited by opening their English website, which is a great success by the way to the Arabic media. In fact I guess this success encouraged them to take the decision to open the English TV channel of Al Jazeera, which should be live early next year as they claim.
On the other hand, and as was mentioned before, most of the bloggers are very young. And to tell you the truth, Al Jazeera is not so much famous TV channel between this generations. However, that maybe does not apply to the political bloggers, which are not by the way that young. But, did Al Jazeera revolution have an effect on Arab bloggers? Yes it had, and probably will continue to do, specially that most if not all Arabs see it as the first open-debate channel that touch on taboos, similar to what Arab bloggers do touch on.
Having said all that, sometimes one has the impression the young Arab bloggers cannot believe the attitude of the older generation and especially figures of authority locally and internationally. And these are often challenged on Al Jazeera, but do not represent the Arab bloggers views, which mean that it does not represent the mass educated and ignored young generation. In fact, I believe that young generation has no presentation in the Arab media “revolution”, except few, very few Arabic newspapers articles here and there, on the other hand, much more attention from the western media, and this interview is an example :-)
Period.
They were only four question, I answered in four pages :-)
Anyway, please feel free to answer above questions and add correct me if I’m wrong…
]
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Saturday, October 15, 2005
التدوين بلا حدود.. العدد الثالث
توضيح سريع قبل الانتهاء من كامل خدمات الموقع.. يهدف هذا الموقع إلى أن يكون ملتقى لكل المدونين العرب؛ مساحة للتلاقي وتبادل الخبرات. من خدمات الموقع:
- التدوين بلا حدود: هذا هو القسم المنتهي حاليا من الموقع، وهو عبارة عن مجلة أسبوعية تصدر مساء كل جمعة، لتقدم نخبة منتقاة من أهم وأبرز التدوينات العربية.
- دليل […]
- التدوين بلا حدود: هذا هو القسم المنتهي حاليا من الموقع، وهو عبارة عن مجلة أسبوعية تصدر مساء كل جمعة، لتقدم نخبة منتقاة من أهم وأبرز التدوينات العربية.
- دليل […]
Friday, October 14, 2005
Will lawmakers raise shields to protect bloggers?
A heads up for bloggers and other independent journalists on the status of shield laws and constitutional protections -- or lack thereof
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
The Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics
The results from the call for nominations are in and now we are asking you to select your favorite choice from the list of 20 finalists for the Top Ten Who Are Changing The World of Internet & Politics vote, sponsored by PoliticsOnline and the 6th annual E-Democracy Worldwide Forum.
This year marked the toughest year ever in choosing the 20 finalists. The integration of politics and the Internet has spread like wildfire around the globe, reflected in this year's diverse, international nominees.
The winners, those top 10 nominees who receive the most votes, will be announced at the 6th annual Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy -- September 28-29, in Issy-les-Moulineaux, (Paris, France).
Please review the 20 finalists below and then select one of the following as your choice for the Top Politics & Internet World Changer of 2005.
This year marked the toughest year ever in choosing the 20 finalists. The integration of politics and the Internet has spread like wildfire around the globe, reflected in this year's diverse, international nominees.
The winners, those top 10 nominees who receive the most votes, will be announced at the 6th annual Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy -- September 28-29, in Issy-les-Moulineaux, (Paris, France).
Please review the 20 finalists below and then select one of the following as your choice for the Top Politics & Internet World Changer of 2005.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
One blog created 'every second'
The blogosphere is continuing to grow, with a weblog created every second, according to blog trackers Technorati.
Blogs vie with news for eyeballs
Bloggers are gaining a higher profile alongside traditional news sources with Yahoo including blogs in its expanding news search system.
Blooker rewards books from blogs
The best books based on blogs are to be recognised in their own literary prize.
Citizens do media for themselves
The Asian tsunami and the London terror attacks marked a turning point for the reporting of events.
Web enjoys year of biggest growth
The web has grown more in 2005 than it did at the height of the dotcom boom, says a study.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Web enjoys year of biggest growth
The web has grown more in 2005 than it did at the height of the dotcom boom, says a study.
The Blog Herald Blog Count October 2005: over 100 million blogs created
The Blog Herald Blog Count October 2005: over 100 million blogs created
Related entries in In the News
Its been three months since the last Blog Herald Blog Count due to the richness of the figures I’ve been collecting and the time its takes, but the Blog Count returns for October, and will now be published quarterly.
Now for the good stuff: the number of blogs in existence: over 100 million blogs
There are two sets of figures: based on major blog using countries the figure would be around 75 million, which is a patchy figure because its difficult to count blogs based on the country of origin due to the worldwide phenomenon of people using US companies. Based on blogs created at major hosts (a more accurate measure) the figure is actually 134-144 million. So I’m taking a round 100 million + blogs figure.
As always I’ll qualify that the Blog Count is about counting blogs, not active blogs, legitimate blogs (vs spam blogs) or bloggers. Are there a lot of inactive blogs? yes. Are there a lot of spam blogs? yes as well, indeed I’d suggest maybe 40-50% of every blog on Googles Blogspot domain is a spam blog, but the vast majority of blogs out there aren’t.
The history of this count: it started because I was tired of reading press reports that there were 4 or 5 million blogs out there when some countries had more than this alone. The figures still aren’t good in the press. In this last week I’ve read that there were 14 million blogs out there. Technorati is now nearly upto 20 million, but its still no where near the true number of blogs out there based on reported numbers. If SixApart alone counts 11 million users, then surely there are a lot more than the nearly 20 million Technorati and others track!
So here we go: October 2005.
By country:
Australia: approx 450,000
Still not a lot of hard figures here, but based on report in the Australian Newspaper 19 May 05 and allowing for growth since. Like other members of the Anglosphere though its hard to quantify blog numbers due to the dominance of US blogging firms and .com domains
Austria: approx 20,000
Ref: Loic Le Meur
Belgium: approx 100,000
Skynet: 68,000. There are problems with a definite Belgium count because of the split between French and Dutch speakers. It’s likely that some Belgium bloggers use services in the Netherlands and France, + naturally the Anglosphere offerings.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: less than 3,000
LJ: 1300. Rest unknown
Brunei: less than 3,000
LJ, Blogshares and others.
Canada: approx 700,000
approximation, difficult to ascertain due to the Anglosphere problem, LJ shows 285,000
China: 6 million and growing
ref: http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=26700“>South IHT, South China Morning Post. Note the IHT article incorrectly reports 14.2 million which is a Technorati overall figure, however the earlier SCMP piece reported 5 million so we’d think 6 million, possibly more at this stage.
Croatia: approx 50,000
blog.hr which now has just short of 40,000 blogs + a little more for other sites.
Czech Republic: approx 10,000
Ref: Loic
Denmark: approx 15,000
Overskrift.dk has nearly 6,000, Smartlog 2,200, Loic has some earlier figures here.
Finland: approx 100,000
Media=blogi
Same as last quater, unable to ascertain any new figures.
France: approx 3.5 million
Businessweek called it 3 million back in July, and yet Skyblog alone now has 3 million. Ublog 65,000, Canalblog 64,200, Loic for other older figures.
Germany: 300,000
Hugo Martin from June + a little growth on this figure. Unlike France which is dominated by Skyblogs, German bloggers appear to be all over the place.
Greece: less than 5,000
ref: Loic
India: approx 100,000
Financial Express, same figure as last quarter as I couldn’t find anything more up to date but I suspect the number may be a lot more. Certainly India has its own blog awards now as well, and are mentioned in the press.
Iran: 700,000
Yes, this is a remarkable number, but I have it on research from Koorosh Eslamzade, but would note like all the figures here these are total blog numbers and not active blog numbers (which are between 40,000 and 110,000).
Persian Blog: 520,000 , Blogfa : 55,000, Blogsky: 20,000, Mihanblog: 25,000, Parsiblog: 7,000 , Perianlog: 9,500
Ireland: approx 75,000
Loic says 9,000, I don’t believe the figure could be low considering the “Irish economic miracle” of the 1990’s and Irelands continued status of growth and IT friendliness, although the population of just over 4 million people is always going to produce a fairly low figure. Problem again that most Irish bloggers would use Anglosphere blogging sites.
Israel: approx 100,000
thanks Jariv
Italy: approx 250,000
Splinder: 144,000, Excite: 17,500, Bloggers.it: 13,500, Timblog: 12,000, ilcannocchiale.it: 12,000, Aruba: 6,000, LJ: 7,500 + others per Loic.
Japan: at least 5.5 million
Ask Jeeves Japan is currently tracking 5.2 million blogs, suspect the number is much higher again.
Malaysia: approx 20,000
The Star + LJ. Difficult to ascertain as many would blog on anglosphere services such as Blogger.
The Netherlands: approx 600,000
ref: Loic
Philippines: approx 75,000
LJ + Pinoy. Could be significantly larger as writers are using Anglosphere services.
Poland: approx 1.5 million
onet.pl 825,000, Tenbit 228,000 , mylog.pl: 134,500, eblog.pl: 90,00, Blog.pl: 70,000, Blogi.pl: 37,500, Blogx.pl: 44,000 and Ownlog.pl: 13,500 = 1,442,500 + minor services= 1.5 million
Russia: approx 400,000
LJ: 218,000 users. Loic claims 800,000 but I’m putting the figure at 400,000 without any hard evidence, although likely more
South Korea: approx 20 million
See posts here and here + notes from previous blog counts.
Spain: approx 1.5 million
Terra.es reports 1 million MSN Spaces + others.
Ukraine: 50,000
Loic, not updates from last quarter
United Kingdom: 2.5 million
1.5 million UK residents using Spaces as of the end of June (Terra.es ). 227,000+ UK users on Live Journal. Anglosphere problem in estimating figure as many UK bloggers using US services, see notes from July blog count.
United States: approx 30-50 million
Impossible to calculate although there are 4 million on LiveJournal and 3 million on Spaces. Reports that Myspaces hosts 20 million and I’d be guessing that most of these are US based. The US figure would also represent the highest number of abandoned blogs as well.
By host (over 500,000)
Note: these are based on known and rough figures based on media reports and other sources. If you are a blog hosting company and are not included here please send me your user data and I’m happy to add it.
Xanga: 40 million
re: WPXI
MySpace: 20-30 million
most recent number here. Not sure how many are blogging though, have read the figure was 20 million hence 20-30 million, these are also “private blogs” and are not indexed on sites such as Technorati.
MSN Spaces: 18 million
Terra.es + growth over the quarter
Blogger: 15 million +
Cyworld: 13 million
SixApart (Live Journal/ TypePad, MT): 11 million
SixApart figure in recent media releases
Planet Weblog Service: 6 million
Leading South Korean blogging provider (same as last qaurter as no new figure available)
Yahoo Blogs Korea: 3 million
Skyblog: 3 million
Bokee: 2 million
Greatest Journal: 1.16 million
Other US Live Journal clones: 1 million
ref: Perseus
onet.pl 825,000,
Persian Blog: 520,000
Related entries in In the News
Its been three months since the last Blog Herald Blog Count due to the richness of the figures I’ve been collecting and the time its takes, but the Blog Count returns for October, and will now be published quarterly.
Now for the good stuff: the number of blogs in existence: over 100 million blogs
There are two sets of figures: based on major blog using countries the figure would be around 75 million, which is a patchy figure because its difficult to count blogs based on the country of origin due to the worldwide phenomenon of people using US companies. Based on blogs created at major hosts (a more accurate measure) the figure is actually 134-144 million. So I’m taking a round 100 million + blogs figure.
As always I’ll qualify that the Blog Count is about counting blogs, not active blogs, legitimate blogs (vs spam blogs) or bloggers. Are there a lot of inactive blogs? yes. Are there a lot of spam blogs? yes as well, indeed I’d suggest maybe 40-50% of every blog on Googles Blogspot domain is a spam blog, but the vast majority of blogs out there aren’t.
The history of this count: it started because I was tired of reading press reports that there were 4 or 5 million blogs out there when some countries had more than this alone. The figures still aren’t good in the press. In this last week I’ve read that there were 14 million blogs out there. Technorati is now nearly upto 20 million, but its still no where near the true number of blogs out there based on reported numbers. If SixApart alone counts 11 million users, then surely there are a lot more than the nearly 20 million Technorati and others track!
So here we go: October 2005.
By country:
Australia: approx 450,000
Still not a lot of hard figures here, but based on report in the Australian Newspaper 19 May 05 and allowing for growth since. Like other members of the Anglosphere though its hard to quantify blog numbers due to the dominance of US blogging firms and .com domains
Austria: approx 20,000
Ref: Loic Le Meur
Belgium: approx 100,000
Skynet: 68,000. There are problems with a definite Belgium count because of the split between French and Dutch speakers. It’s likely that some Belgium bloggers use services in the Netherlands and France, + naturally the Anglosphere offerings.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: less than 3,000
LJ: 1300. Rest unknown
Brunei: less than 3,000
LJ, Blogshares and others.
Canada: approx 700,000
approximation, difficult to ascertain due to the Anglosphere problem, LJ shows 285,000
China: 6 million and growing
ref: http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=26700“>South IHT, South China Morning Post. Note the IHT article incorrectly reports 14.2 million which is a Technorati overall figure, however the earlier SCMP piece reported 5 million so we’d think 6 million, possibly more at this stage.
Croatia: approx 50,000
blog.hr which now has just short of 40,000 blogs + a little more for other sites.
Czech Republic: approx 10,000
Ref: Loic
Denmark: approx 15,000
Overskrift.dk has nearly 6,000, Smartlog 2,200, Loic has some earlier figures here.
Finland: approx 100,000
Media=blogi
Same as last quater, unable to ascertain any new figures.
France: approx 3.5 million
Businessweek called it 3 million back in July, and yet Skyblog alone now has 3 million. Ublog 65,000, Canalblog 64,200, Loic for other older figures.
Germany: 300,000
Hugo Martin from June + a little growth on this figure. Unlike France which is dominated by Skyblogs, German bloggers appear to be all over the place.
Greece: less than 5,000
ref: Loic
India: approx 100,000
Financial Express, same figure as last quarter as I couldn’t find anything more up to date but I suspect the number may be a lot more. Certainly India has its own blog awards now as well, and are mentioned in the press.
Iran: 700,000
Yes, this is a remarkable number, but I have it on research from Koorosh Eslamzade, but would note like all the figures here these are total blog numbers and not active blog numbers (which are between 40,000 and 110,000).
Persian Blog: 520,000 , Blogfa : 55,000, Blogsky: 20,000, Mihanblog: 25,000, Parsiblog: 7,000 , Perianlog: 9,500
Ireland: approx 75,000
Loic says 9,000, I don’t believe the figure could be low considering the “Irish economic miracle” of the 1990’s and Irelands continued status of growth and IT friendliness, although the population of just over 4 million people is always going to produce a fairly low figure. Problem again that most Irish bloggers would use Anglosphere blogging sites.
Israel: approx 100,000
thanks Jariv
Italy: approx 250,000
Splinder: 144,000, Excite: 17,500, Bloggers.it: 13,500, Timblog: 12,000, ilcannocchiale.it: 12,000, Aruba: 6,000, LJ: 7,500 + others per Loic.
Japan: at least 5.5 million
Ask Jeeves Japan is currently tracking 5.2 million blogs, suspect the number is much higher again.
Malaysia: approx 20,000
The Star + LJ. Difficult to ascertain as many would blog on anglosphere services such as Blogger.
The Netherlands: approx 600,000
ref: Loic
Philippines: approx 75,000
LJ + Pinoy. Could be significantly larger as writers are using Anglosphere services.
Poland: approx 1.5 million
onet.pl 825,000, Tenbit 228,000 , mylog.pl: 134,500, eblog.pl: 90,00, Blog.pl: 70,000, Blogi.pl: 37,500, Blogx.pl: 44,000 and Ownlog.pl: 13,500 = 1,442,500 + minor services= 1.5 million
Russia: approx 400,000
LJ: 218,000 users. Loic claims 800,000 but I’m putting the figure at 400,000 without any hard evidence, although likely more
South Korea: approx 20 million
See posts here and here + notes from previous blog counts.
Spain: approx 1.5 million
Terra.es reports 1 million MSN Spaces + others.
Ukraine: 50,000
Loic, not updates from last quarter
United Kingdom: 2.5 million
1.5 million UK residents using Spaces as of the end of June (Terra.es ). 227,000+ UK users on Live Journal. Anglosphere problem in estimating figure as many UK bloggers using US services, see notes from July blog count.
United States: approx 30-50 million
Impossible to calculate although there are 4 million on LiveJournal and 3 million on Spaces. Reports that Myspaces hosts 20 million and I’d be guessing that most of these are US based. The US figure would also represent the highest number of abandoned blogs as well.
By host (over 500,000)
Note: these are based on known and rough figures based on media reports and other sources. If you are a blog hosting company and are not included here please send me your user data and I’m happy to add it.
Xanga: 40 million
re: WPXI
MySpace: 20-30 million
most recent number here. Not sure how many are blogging though, have read the figure was 20 million hence 20-30 million, these are also “private blogs” and are not indexed on sites such as Technorati.
MSN Spaces: 18 million
Terra.es + growth over the quarter
Blogger: 15 million +
Cyworld: 13 million
SixApart (Live Journal/ TypePad, MT): 11 million
SixApart figure in recent media releases
Planet Weblog Service: 6 million
Leading South Korean blogging provider (same as last qaurter as no new figure available)
Yahoo Blogs Korea: 3 million
Skyblog: 3 million
Bokee: 2 million
Greatest Journal: 1.16 million
Other US Live Journal clones: 1 million
ref: Perseus
onet.pl 825,000,
Persian Blog: 520,000
Sunday, October 09, 2005
A Dynamic Frencg Blogger
I quote this nice reading. Hi arab bloggers. This French bloger can be regarded as a modbloger. He makes sense in the world of blogging.
[start]->
""""Sorry for not being very present on this blog these days, lots of traveling, I went last week to Munich to have dinner with Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO (OK we were about 50 people...) Thanks for the invite, Dr Hubert Burda and Marcel.
I spent a very nice evening even though Steve was a bit corporate in his speech. I was impressed by his charisma. I talked with him and asked a few questions:
"Are blogs important for Microsoft ?"
"Oh yeah, we now have about 20 million, and what about you, what's your occupation ?"
"I am with a small startup, a weblogs software company" I told him with my French accent...
"fantastic, how many do you have ?"
"about 10 million" -Steve is surprised
"and do you have a business model ?" -asks somebody else who just joined the conversation
"yes, yes, we have three brands and some of them have free offers but also very strong sales, such as TypePad and Movable Type"
and we continued talking. Steve was very interested to say the least. I collected a cool business card.
Photos Uncategorized Photo083 1I asked another question after his speech, in public, this one.
"What do you think about the growth of collaborative and free software ? I am thinking about Firefox or Wikipedia compared to Internet Explorer and Encarta, do you see this as an important threat ?"
"It's interesting but as you are a blogger yourself, consider the fact that more and more bloggers get paid in some way to write, some of them because professionals. The question is clear. Sure, Microsoft is a commercial company but we answer one of the key question of our customers: be in charge in case of a problem or a question, provide somebody to talk to."
Actually, think about when you buy software or hardware, do you turn first to online resources or to the hotline of the supplier ? I check first blogs, forums, chat, sites to find my answer and most of the time I find it way quicker and better than if it was through some kind of call center.
I spend a very nice evening. Bonus: two short videos of Steve Ballmer's speech, unfortunately I did not record the part when he quoted Six Apart ;-) vidéo1 et vidéo2
[end]<-
[start]->
""""Sorry for not being very present on this blog these days, lots of traveling, I went last week to Munich to have dinner with Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO (OK we were about 50 people...) Thanks for the invite, Dr Hubert Burda and Marcel.
I spent a very nice evening even though Steve was a bit corporate in his speech. I was impressed by his charisma. I talked with him and asked a few questions:
"Are blogs important for Microsoft ?"
"Oh yeah, we now have about 20 million, and what about you, what's your occupation ?"
"I am with a small startup, a weblogs software company" I told him with my French accent...
"fantastic, how many do you have ?"
"about 10 million" -Steve is surprised
"and do you have a business model ?" -asks somebody else who just joined the conversation
"yes, yes, we have three brands and some of them have free offers but also very strong sales, such as TypePad and Movable Type"
and we continued talking. Steve was very interested to say the least. I collected a cool business card.
Photos Uncategorized Photo083 1I asked another question after his speech, in public, this one.
"What do you think about the growth of collaborative and free software ? I am thinking about Firefox or Wikipedia compared to Internet Explorer and Encarta, do you see this as an important threat ?"
"It's interesting but as you are a blogger yourself, consider the fact that more and more bloggers get paid in some way to write, some of them because professionals. The question is clear. Sure, Microsoft is a commercial company but we answer one of the key question of our customers: be in charge in case of a problem or a question, provide somebody to talk to."
Actually, think about when you buy software or hardware, do you turn first to online resources or to the hotline of the supplier ? I check first blogs, forums, chat, sites to find my answer and most of the time I find it way quicker and better than if it was through some kind of call center.
I spend a very nice evening. Bonus: two short videos of Steve Ballmer's speech, unfortunately I did not record the part when he quoted Six Apart ;-) vidéo1 et vidéo2
[end]<-
Saturday, October 08, 2005
ISP should not identify blogger - court
Victory for free speech on the internet - for Americans
By OUT-LAW.com
Published Friday 7th October 2005 18:56 GMT
Get breaking Internet news straight to your desktop - click here to find out how
By OUT-LAW.com
Published Friday 7th October 2005 18:56 GMT
Get breaking Internet news straight to your desktop - click here to find out how
Young blog their way to a publishing revolution
Young blog their way to a publishing revolution
· Poll shows a third of 14- to 21-year-olds now have their own online content
· Fast-changing world of the internet poses challenge to old media
Owen Gibson, media correspondent
Friday October 7, 2005
The Guardian
· Poll shows a third of 14- to 21-year-olds now have their own online content
· Fast-changing world of the internet poses challenge to old media
Owen Gibson, media correspondent
Friday October 7, 2005
The Guardian
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Just what is a blog, anyway?
To blog or not to blog is no longer the question.
The question now: What is a blog?
Capturing the blogging beast is no small matter, not when everybody from the lonely scribe in Paducah to me-too mass media in Manhattan is trying to get arms and minds around the virtual blob now encroaching online. Nor is the act of definition without consequences, as individuals and corporations make plans (and even multimillion dollar acquisitions) based upon the momentum behind something they can no more easily define than a Rorschach splotch.
The question now: What is a blog?
Capturing the blogging beast is no small matter, not when everybody from the lonely scribe in Paducah to me-too mass media in Manhattan is trying to get arms and minds around the virtual blob now encroaching online. Nor is the act of definition without consequences, as individuals and corporations make plans (and even multimillion dollar acquisitions) based upon the momentum behind something they can no more easily define than a Rorschach splotch.
The Chiness 11 commandments of the Internet to be applied in the Arab world in the very next future
Arab regimes import from China. This time, they will import the 11 commandments of the Internet.
Arab bloggers should learn from chinese bloggers how to evade these commandments.
Arab bloggers, it is time to start learning Chinese.
Arab bloggers should learn from chinese bloggers how to evade these commandments.
Arab bloggers, it is time to start learning Chinese.
Digital Reach" - The Official WSIS Commemorative Publication for Tunis
In preparation for the Tunis Summit, Tudor Rose, a commercial publisher, and ITU are jointly producing a publication entitled Digital Reach, which will be published in November 2005. The book will focus on the key elements of building an inclusive, development-oriented Information Society, on implementation of the WSIS Plan of Action and follow-up beyond Tunis. Contributing authors will be invited from among all stakeholders of WSIS.
الأمم المتحدة تدافع عن استضافة تونس لقمة المعلومات
دافعت الأمم المتحدة أمس عن قرار استضافة تونس للقمة العالمية لمجتمع المعلومات في نوفمبر/ تشرين الثاني المقبل وذلك في وقت تصاعدت فيه الانتقادات لحكومة الرئيس زين العابدين بن علي بعدم احترام حرية الصحافة والتنكيل بالصحفيين والمعارضين السياسيين وهو ما تنفيه تونس.
وقال ستيفن دوجاريتش المتحدث باسم الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة إن القمة قد تساعد في الضغط على الرئيس بن علي مشيرا إلى أن مثل هذه المؤتمرات تكون ذات نتائج إيجابية على الشعوب المستضيفة لأنها تفتح بلدهم أمام العالم الخارجي ما يشجع الحكومات على الوفاء بالمعايير الدولية.
وكانت السلطات التونسية رفضت ما وصفته بمزاعم جماعة صحفية دولية حول الحريات قبل قمة مجتمع المعلومات التي تستضيفها.
وكانت إيفيكس -التي تضم 14 منظمة غير حكومية من بينها الاتحاد الدولي للصحفيين- قالت في تقرير صدر في جنيف يوم الاثنين إن الوضع تدهور خلال الشهور القليلة الماضية وإن الحكومة تميل إلى خنق المعارضة وإن تونس ليست مكانا مناسبا لعقد قمة عالمية تابعة للأمم المتحدة.
وتشير إيفيكس إلى منع السلطات التونسية انعقاد مؤتمر نقابة الصحفيين التي لا تحظى باعتراف رسمي من السلطات وإلى صدور حكم بتعليق عقد مؤتمر لرابطة حقوق الإنسان التونسية مطلع الشهر الجاري.
وكانت تونس ألغت خلال الأشهر الأخيرة إجراء الإيداع القانوني بالنسبة للمنشورات والصحف لدى المصالح الحكومية في خطوة أشيد بها واعتبرت علامة بناءة لفك ما تقول المعارضة إنه رقابة مباشرة على الصحافة.
ومن المقرر أن تكون مواضيع حرية المعلومة والوصول إلى شبكة الإنترنت وتقليص الفجوة الرقمية بين شعوب العالم من أبرز قضايا القمة التي ترفض المعارضة التونسية مشاركة رئيس الوزراء الإسرائيلي أرييل شارون فيها.
وقال ستيفن دوجاريتش المتحدث باسم الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة إن القمة قد تساعد في الضغط على الرئيس بن علي مشيرا إلى أن مثل هذه المؤتمرات تكون ذات نتائج إيجابية على الشعوب المستضيفة لأنها تفتح بلدهم أمام العالم الخارجي ما يشجع الحكومات على الوفاء بالمعايير الدولية.
وكانت السلطات التونسية رفضت ما وصفته بمزاعم جماعة صحفية دولية حول الحريات قبل قمة مجتمع المعلومات التي تستضيفها.
وكانت إيفيكس -التي تضم 14 منظمة غير حكومية من بينها الاتحاد الدولي للصحفيين- قالت في تقرير صدر في جنيف يوم الاثنين إن الوضع تدهور خلال الشهور القليلة الماضية وإن الحكومة تميل إلى خنق المعارضة وإن تونس ليست مكانا مناسبا لعقد قمة عالمية تابعة للأمم المتحدة.
وتشير إيفيكس إلى منع السلطات التونسية انعقاد مؤتمر نقابة الصحفيين التي لا تحظى باعتراف رسمي من السلطات وإلى صدور حكم بتعليق عقد مؤتمر لرابطة حقوق الإنسان التونسية مطلع الشهر الجاري.
وكانت تونس ألغت خلال الأشهر الأخيرة إجراء الإيداع القانوني بالنسبة للمنشورات والصحف لدى المصالح الحكومية في خطوة أشيد بها واعتبرت علامة بناءة لفك ما تقول المعارضة إنه رقابة مباشرة على الصحافة.
ومن المقرر أن تكون مواضيع حرية المعلومة والوصول إلى شبكة الإنترنت وتقليص الفجوة الرقمية بين شعوب العالم من أبرز قضايا القمة التي ترفض المعارضة التونسية مشاركة رئيس الوزراء الإسرائيلي أرييل شارون فيها.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Arab-Americans and the Internet
The Arabic media reaches three-quarters of all Arab-Americans. Television is the preferred medium. Internet access among Arab-Americans is higher than it is for any other ethnic group studied. Three-quarters of all Arab-American adults have access to the Internet and a majority of them visit Arabic websites.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
الجزيرة نت يكسر حاجز النصف مليون زائر يوميا :Al-Jazeera.Net and Arab Bloggers
What if Al-Jazeera.Net integrates blogging features?
Al-Jazeera.Net should consider the possibilites of new generation technologies of the Internet.
If Arab bloggers can syndicate its content, I think it will experience an increase in the number of hits.
Technologies of Collaboration are in vogue.
Al-Jazeera.net and Arab bloggers can collaborate.
Al-Jazeera.Net should consider the possibilites of new generation technologies of the Internet.
If Arab bloggers can syndicate its content, I think it will experience an increase in the number of hits.
Technologies of Collaboration are in vogue.
Al-Jazeera.net and Arab bloggers can collaborate.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Blogjahiz : nouvelle plate-forme de blog marocaine
La société marocaine Arcanes Technologies vient de mettre en ligne une nouvelle plate-forme de blogs gratuite. Baptisée « Blogjahiz », cette solution de blogging est basée sur le logiciel libre Dotclear. Les détails.
[via Jankari.org]
[via Jankari.org]
Friday, September 23, 2005
Reader for European Public Space
Interesting articles and links for the workshop in Helsinki
To prepare for the workshop " European Public Space" for young journalists of quality newspapers from all over Europe, this reader is composed. Interesting articles are classified by the three main themes of the workshop. Narratives, European public sphere and trust.
To prepare for the workshop " European Public Space" for young journalists of quality newspapers from all over Europe, this reader is composed. Interesting articles are classified by the three main themes of the workshop. Narratives, European public sphere and trust.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Legal Guide for Bloggers
Whether you're a newly minted blogger or a relative old-timer, you've been seeing more and more stories pop up every day about bloggers getting in trouble for what they post.
Like all journalists and publishers, bloggers sometimes publish information that other people don't want published. You might, for example, publish something that someone considers defamatory, republish an AP news story that's under copyright, or write a lengthy piece detailing the alleged crimes of a candidate for public office.
The difference between you and the reporter at your local newspaper is that in many cases, you may not have the benefit of training or resources to help you determine whether what you're doing is legal. And on top of that, sometimes knowing the law doesn't help - in many cases it was written for traditional journalists, and the courts haven't yet decided how it applies to bloggers.
But here's the important part: None of this should stop you from blogging. Freedom of speech is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Internet bullies shouldn't use the law to stifle legitimate free expression. That's why EFF created this guide, compiling a number of FAQs designed to help you understand your rights and, if necessary, defend your freedom.
To be clear, this guide isn't a substitute for, nor does it constitute, legal advice. Only an attorney who knows the details of your particular situation can provide the kind of advice you need if you're being threatened with a lawsuit. The goal here is to give you a basic roadmap to the legal issues you may confront as a blogger, to let you know you have rights, and to encourage you to blog freely with the knowledge that your legitimate speech is protected.
Please note that this guide applies to people living in the US. We don't have the expertise or resources to speak to other countries' legal traditions, but we'd like to work with those who do. If you know of a similar guide for your own jurisdiction or feel inspired to research and write one, please let us know. We can link to it here.
Like all journalists and publishers, bloggers sometimes publish information that other people don't want published. You might, for example, publish something that someone considers defamatory, republish an AP news story that's under copyright, or write a lengthy piece detailing the alleged crimes of a candidate for public office.
The difference between you and the reporter at your local newspaper is that in many cases, you may not have the benefit of training or resources to help you determine whether what you're doing is legal. And on top of that, sometimes knowing the law doesn't help - in many cases it was written for traditional journalists, and the courts haven't yet decided how it applies to bloggers.
But here's the important part: None of this should stop you from blogging. Freedom of speech is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Internet bullies shouldn't use the law to stifle legitimate free expression. That's why EFF created this guide, compiling a number of FAQs designed to help you understand your rights and, if necessary, defend your freedom.
To be clear, this guide isn't a substitute for, nor does it constitute, legal advice. Only an attorney who knows the details of your particular situation can provide the kind of advice you need if you're being threatened with a lawsuit. The goal here is to give you a basic roadmap to the legal issues you may confront as a blogger, to let you know you have rights, and to encourage you to blog freely with the knowledge that your legitimate speech is protected.
Please note that this guide applies to people living in the US. We don't have the expertise or resources to speak to other countries' legal traditions, but we'd like to work with those who do. If you know of a similar guide for your own jurisdiction or feel inspired to research and write one, please let us know. We can link to it here.
Google: the tale that's wagging the blog?
It might usually be a bad idea for a reporter to become part of the story, but Google News is making headlines amid suggestions the service is already influencing the news agenda.
By Rhys Blakely, Times Online
By Rhys Blakely, Times Online
Create your own blog, remain anonymous and get round censorship !
Reporters Without Borders today publishes a Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents (in English, French, Chinese, Arabic and Persian), in which experts and bloggers from all over the world advise Internet users, especially those in repressive countries, how to set up their own blogs and get them known, while preserving their personal anonymity.
How open source gave power to the people
Open source
The sedentary art of software development and the extreme sports of kitesurfing, sailplaning and canyoning would appear to have little in common.
However, both are examples of a new force that could eventually affect a far broader range of companies and industries: the power of users to shape how products are developed.
By Richard Waters
see also: the Rise of Open Source Politics
The sedentary art of software development and the extreme sports of kitesurfing, sailplaning and canyoning would appear to have little in common.
However, both are examples of a new force that could eventually affect a far broader range of companies and industries: the power of users to shape how products are developed.
By Richard Waters
see also: the Rise of Open Source Politics
Kursbuch Internet und Politik 2004/2005 (Arbeitstitel)
Das Kursbuch Internet und Politik präsentiert seit 2001 in bewährter Weise Beiträge aus Wissenschaft, Politik und Gesellschaft zu aktuellen Themen und Grundsatzfragen netzgestützter politischer Kommunikation und Willensbildung. Dieser Band des Kursbuches bietet einen Gang durch interessante aktuelle Dimensionen politischer Internetnutzung in verschiedenen Weltregionen. Außerdem gibt es verständliche Einblicke in die wissenschaftliche Debatte und Rezensionen interessanter Neuerscheinungen.
Aus dem Inhalt:
Aktueller Internet-Atlas für Deutschland - Entwicklung der Internet-und-Politik-Debatte - Digitaler Wahlkampf in Nordrhein-Westfalen - Rechtsextreme Propaganda im WWW - Netzgestützte politische Partizipation in Japan und Süd-Korea - Netzgestützte amerikanische Public Diplomacy - Leistungsfähigkeit von Online-Umfragen
Mit Beiträgen von Alexander Siedschlag, Wolfgang Fischer, Heike Kellermann, Christoph Busch, Isa Ducke, Eun-Jeung Lee, Mohammad Ibahrine, Claudia Rinke, Henning Hehemann, Nicole Sommer, Dorothea Winckler u.a.
Über den/die Autor(en):
Dr. habil. Alexander Siedschlag ist Universitätsprofessor am Institut für Politikwissenschaft an der Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck.
Aus dem Inhalt:
Aktueller Internet-Atlas für Deutschland - Entwicklung der Internet-und-Politik-Debatte - Digitaler Wahlkampf in Nordrhein-Westfalen - Rechtsextreme Propaganda im WWW - Netzgestützte politische Partizipation in Japan und Süd-Korea - Netzgestützte amerikanische Public Diplomacy - Leistungsfähigkeit von Online-Umfragen
Mit Beiträgen von Alexander Siedschlag, Wolfgang Fischer, Heike Kellermann, Christoph Busch, Isa Ducke, Eun-Jeung Lee, Mohammad Ibahrine, Claudia Rinke, Henning Hehemann, Nicole Sommer, Dorothea Winckler u.a.
Über den/die Autor(en):
Dr. habil. Alexander Siedschlag ist Universitätsprofessor am Institut für Politikwissenschaft an der Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck.
The Internet in Morocco
Plus de 3,7 millions d’internautes et un taux de pénétration de 0,4 de la population. Tels sont les deux principaux indicateurs qui ressortent de la dernière enquête menée par le cabinet IDATE pour le compte de l’ANRT sur l’état des lieux d’internet au Maroc. Les détails
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Socialtext recognized as "Best of the Web"
Les Blogs: Soziale Software, Firmen-Wikis und bezahlte Blogger
Ross Mayfields Unternehmen Socialtext entwickelt Wiki-Software für den Unternehmenseinsatz. Mayfield orientiert sich dabei an der populären und freien Online-Enzyklopädie Wikipedia: "Wenn man sich Wikipedia anschaut, erkennt man, dass ein unglaublicher Grad an Zusammenarbeit durch den Einsatz recht einfacher Werkzeuge entsteht", erklärte er auf dem Kongress "Les Blogs" in Paris. Auf Unternehmensebene könne dies zu neuen Wegen der Produktivität führen. Der Einsatz von Wikis sei dabei nahezu überall möglich: "Ob zur Dokumentation, als Projektplaner oder als Wissensspeicher." Mayfield glaubt, die gigantischen Enterprise-Dokumentenmanagementsysteme in Großunternehmen würden von den Mitarbeitern kaum eingesetzt, da sie zu kompliziert sind. "Social Software ist dagegen so simpel, dass die Leute sie gerne nutzen. Warum sollten sie es nicht innerhalb eines Unternehmens tun?"
Anzeige
Euan Semple von der britischen BBC gibt ihm Recht. Der auf der Insel zärtlich "Tantchen" genannte Sender nutzt seit sechs Monaten unternehmensintern Wikis. "Das wächst unglaublich schnell", berichtet Semple, "man findet dort inzwischen enorm viele Projektunterlagen, Einsatzpläne oder Brainstorming-Notizen." Vorher hatte der Sender eine komplizierte interne Webstruktur im Einsatz, die nach Aussage von Semple "fast niemand genutzt hat". Die Wikis seien hingegen schon nach zwei Tagen äußerst beliebt gewesen: "Die Leute fühlen sich wohl mit diesen kleinen Programmen." Die BBC setzt im Intranet neuerdings auch rund 70 Blogs ein. Semple: "Wir hatten vorher Webmaster, welche die kompliziertesten Organisations- und Team-Plattformen aufgesetzt haben. Seit wir Blogs nutzen, brauchen wir die fast gar nicht mehr." Ross Mayfield versucht, großen Firmen auch den Einsatz von RSS nahe zu legen. Seine Erfahrungen: "Man darf den Mitarbeitern während der Einführung nie erzählen, wie das eigentlich funktioniert. Das Beste ist, man sagt ihnen, es sei eine Art E-Mail -- nur ohne Spam. Dann lieben sie RSS."
In den USA versuchen mittlerweile mehrere Unternehmen, ganze Netzwerke von Berufsbloggern heranzuzüchten. Gaby Darbyshire von Gawker Media erklärt den Unterschied zu den klassischen Medienmodellen: "Abgesehen von den Honoraren für die Blogger und ein wenig Hosting-Gebühren hat man quasi keine Kosten. Das ist der große Unterschied zur Zeitungs- oder Magazinindustrie." Für die Blogger gebe es -- außer der Talentfrage -- praktisch keine Einstiegshürde. Allerdings müsse man sie motivieren, denn: "Gute Autoren schreiben nicht nur auf Grund des Geldes gerne für Mainstream-Medien, sondern auch fürs Renommee". Jason McCabe Calacanis betreibt mit Weblogs Inc. ein ähnliches Geschäftsmodell. Er ist sicher, dass die Kombination aus Blogger und Leserkommentaren sogar viel effektiver funktioniert als eine klassische Redaktion: "Wer schon einmal etwas Falsches gebloggt hat und direkt danach 30 verschiedene Richtigstellungen in den Kommentaren findet, weiß, was das für ein unglaubliches Gefühl ist." Auch den Korrekturprozess würden Blogger -- im Gegensatz zu Printmedien -- wesentlich transparenter gestalten: "Die falsche Information streichen wir durch und schreiben die richtige darunter. Dann kann jeder die Veränderung nachvollziehen."
Jochen Wegner, Wissenschaftsredakteur des Focus, zeichnet ein pessimistisches Bild der deutschen Bloglandschaft: "Deutschland ist definitiv Entwicklungsland in Sachen Blogs." Zur Untermauerung dieser These stellte er die Versorgung mit Breitbandanschlüssen und die Anzahl der Weblogs unterschiedlicher Länder gegenüber. Wegner: "Das ist recht fair, denn Bloggen ist ein Breitband-Phänomen." Legt man diese Zahlen zu Grunde, findet man Deutschland nicht nur weit hinter den USA und Japan, selbst China hat einen mehr als deutlichen Vorsprung. Aber Wegner hat noch weitere Thesen für die deutsche Blog-Verweigerung parat:
* Es gebe nicht ein einziges wirkliches "Impact-Blog",
* keine ernsthaft betriebenen professionellen Blogs
* und sehr wenig qualitative Blogs.
* Ferner seien die Eliten in Deutschland technologiefeindlich,
* die Menschen würden sich sehr an Reputation orientieren,
* in Deutschland existiere keine Kultur der Rhetorik,
* und schließlich gebe es kein öffentliches Verständnis für Blogs oder wenigstens für die Idee des "Freedom of Speech".
[Via: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/58992]
Ross Mayfields Unternehmen Socialtext entwickelt Wiki-Software für den Unternehmenseinsatz. Mayfield orientiert sich dabei an der populären und freien Online-Enzyklopädie Wikipedia: "Wenn man sich Wikipedia anschaut, erkennt man, dass ein unglaublicher Grad an Zusammenarbeit durch den Einsatz recht einfacher Werkzeuge entsteht", erklärte er auf dem Kongress "Les Blogs" in Paris. Auf Unternehmensebene könne dies zu neuen Wegen der Produktivität führen. Der Einsatz von Wikis sei dabei nahezu überall möglich: "Ob zur Dokumentation, als Projektplaner oder als Wissensspeicher." Mayfield glaubt, die gigantischen Enterprise-Dokumentenmanagementsysteme in Großunternehmen würden von den Mitarbeitern kaum eingesetzt, da sie zu kompliziert sind. "Social Software ist dagegen so simpel, dass die Leute sie gerne nutzen. Warum sollten sie es nicht innerhalb eines Unternehmens tun?"
Anzeige
Euan Semple von der britischen BBC gibt ihm Recht. Der auf der Insel zärtlich "Tantchen" genannte Sender nutzt seit sechs Monaten unternehmensintern Wikis. "Das wächst unglaublich schnell", berichtet Semple, "man findet dort inzwischen enorm viele Projektunterlagen, Einsatzpläne oder Brainstorming-Notizen." Vorher hatte der Sender eine komplizierte interne Webstruktur im Einsatz, die nach Aussage von Semple "fast niemand genutzt hat". Die Wikis seien hingegen schon nach zwei Tagen äußerst beliebt gewesen: "Die Leute fühlen sich wohl mit diesen kleinen Programmen." Die BBC setzt im Intranet neuerdings auch rund 70 Blogs ein. Semple: "Wir hatten vorher Webmaster, welche die kompliziertesten Organisations- und Team-Plattformen aufgesetzt haben. Seit wir Blogs nutzen, brauchen wir die fast gar nicht mehr." Ross Mayfield versucht, großen Firmen auch den Einsatz von RSS nahe zu legen. Seine Erfahrungen: "Man darf den Mitarbeitern während der Einführung nie erzählen, wie das eigentlich funktioniert. Das Beste ist, man sagt ihnen, es sei eine Art E-Mail -- nur ohne Spam. Dann lieben sie RSS."
In den USA versuchen mittlerweile mehrere Unternehmen, ganze Netzwerke von Berufsbloggern heranzuzüchten. Gaby Darbyshire von Gawker Media erklärt den Unterschied zu den klassischen Medienmodellen: "Abgesehen von den Honoraren für die Blogger und ein wenig Hosting-Gebühren hat man quasi keine Kosten. Das ist der große Unterschied zur Zeitungs- oder Magazinindustrie." Für die Blogger gebe es -- außer der Talentfrage -- praktisch keine Einstiegshürde. Allerdings müsse man sie motivieren, denn: "Gute Autoren schreiben nicht nur auf Grund des Geldes gerne für Mainstream-Medien, sondern auch fürs Renommee". Jason McCabe Calacanis betreibt mit Weblogs Inc. ein ähnliches Geschäftsmodell. Er ist sicher, dass die Kombination aus Blogger und Leserkommentaren sogar viel effektiver funktioniert als eine klassische Redaktion: "Wer schon einmal etwas Falsches gebloggt hat und direkt danach 30 verschiedene Richtigstellungen in den Kommentaren findet, weiß, was das für ein unglaubliches Gefühl ist." Auch den Korrekturprozess würden Blogger -- im Gegensatz zu Printmedien -- wesentlich transparenter gestalten: "Die falsche Information streichen wir durch und schreiben die richtige darunter. Dann kann jeder die Veränderung nachvollziehen."
Jochen Wegner, Wissenschaftsredakteur des Focus, zeichnet ein pessimistisches Bild der deutschen Bloglandschaft: "Deutschland ist definitiv Entwicklungsland in Sachen Blogs." Zur Untermauerung dieser These stellte er die Versorgung mit Breitbandanschlüssen und die Anzahl der Weblogs unterschiedlicher Länder gegenüber. Wegner: "Das ist recht fair, denn Bloggen ist ein Breitband-Phänomen." Legt man diese Zahlen zu Grunde, findet man Deutschland nicht nur weit hinter den USA und Japan, selbst China hat einen mehr als deutlichen Vorsprung. Aber Wegner hat noch weitere Thesen für die deutsche Blog-Verweigerung parat:
* Es gebe nicht ein einziges wirkliches "Impact-Blog",
* keine ernsthaft betriebenen professionellen Blogs
* und sehr wenig qualitative Blogs.
* Ferner seien die Eliten in Deutschland technologiefeindlich,
* die Menschen würden sich sehr an Reputation orientieren,
* in Deutschland existiere keine Kultur der Rhetorik,
* und schließlich gebe es kein öffentliches Verständnis für Blogs oder wenigstens für die Idee des "Freedom of Speech".
[Via: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/58992]
Blogs, social software and their impact in the Middle East and China
Blogs, social software and their impact in the Middle East and China
* panelists: Yat Siu and Hossein Derakhshan
* Adriana Cronin-Lukas: Blogging for freedom
* panelists: Yat Siu and Hossein Derakhshan
* Adriana Cronin-Lukas: Blogging for freedom
Morocco: Internet Making Censorship Obsolete
While satellite television often attracts the lion's share of analysis about new media and their effect on prospects for democratization in the Middle East and North Africa, another technology may already have had at least as large an impact: the Internet. In Morocco, where the regime has severely constrained, controlled, or silenced independent print media through direct and indirect censorship, the Internet has become an important instrument for unrestricted flows of information, which in turn are leading to the emergence of a more vibrant public sphere.
Internet-based political activism in Morocco is still nascent, but is growing at a fast pace and is likely to play an increasingly important role in accelerating political pluralism. The Moroccan regime is not ignorant of the power of the Internet and is attempting to stifle its effectiveness via legal constraints such as the 2003 anti-terrorism law as well as technical methods such as filtering and blocking websites. But such methods ultimately are ineffective; even when a website is shut down, there are still e-mail list serves and BLOGS to take up the cause.
Internet-based political activism in Morocco is still nascent, but is growing at a fast pace and is likely to play an increasingly important role in accelerating political pluralism. The Moroccan regime is not ignorant of the power of the Internet and is attempting to stifle its effectiveness via legal constraints such as the 2003 anti-terrorism law as well as technical methods such as filtering and blocking websites. But such methods ultimately are ineffective; even when a website is shut down, there are still e-mail list serves and BLOGS to take up the cause.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Arab Bloggers and Freedom of Press in the Arab World
TelQuel Fights Back - And You Can Help
This blog was one of the first to break the story about the Moroccan courts' crackdown on groundbreaking weekly magazine TelQuel
[Quick backgrounder: In March, TelQuel publishes cover story detailing King Muhammad VI's enormous salary. In August, a Moroccan judge hits TelQuel with a massive $112,000 fine for a supposedly unrelated case of defamation. The case is a sham and the judge ruled against TelQuel without even allowing the magazine's lawyer to speak. Editor Ahmed Benchemsi (right) now faces jail time if he does not pay the fine.]
After a few weeks of silence, a new issue of TelQuel is out - and it aims straight at the regime for attempting to quash freedom of the press. First, editor-in-chief Benchemsi pens a summary of the affair called "A Mockery of Justice", which runs with a cute accompanying cartoon (right).
Second, the magazine has launched a new website ("soutientelquel.com"- support TelQuel) with a support petition demanding freedom of the press and a transparent judicial process. Up only two days, the petition already has over 1,500 signatures.
Take a minute to support a daring but threatened Middle Eastern publication, a magazine committed to civil rights and self-critical introspection (name another magazine from the region to publish cover stories on homosexuality, reinterpreting the Quran, and the local dictator's salary). Sign the petition here. (For those who don't speak French, following the "continuation" link below for a translation.)
"In a rushed slander court case, the Editor of TelQuel Ahmed R. Benchemsi and his deputy Karim Boukhari were condemned - without even allowing their lawyer to speak - to two months in prison if they do not pay a 1,050,000 dirham [$112,000] fine. The two journalists are appealing.
"This prison sentence and this exorbitant fine constitute, without any doubt, a 'warning' by the authorities directed at TelQuel, which has been 'punished' for its editorial independence. The authorities have launched a new method for muzzling the press: choking it progressively through disproportionate fines, meted out via sham court cases. Though just TelQuel today, it is the entire Moroccan free press that is threatened tomorrow.
"We the undersigned forcefully denounce any attack, even indirect, on freedom of the press, and we demand justice for TelQuel via a transparent and fair legal process."
SIGN HERE (first name, last name, profession, city). Or use this Google translation to sign.
BRAVO_Haitham Sabbah of Sabbah's Blog
This blog was one of the first to break the story about the Moroccan courts' crackdown on groundbreaking weekly magazine TelQuel
[Quick backgrounder: In March, TelQuel publishes cover story detailing King Muhammad VI's enormous salary. In August, a Moroccan judge hits TelQuel with a massive $112,000 fine for a supposedly unrelated case of defamation. The case is a sham and the judge ruled against TelQuel without even allowing the magazine's lawyer to speak. Editor Ahmed Benchemsi (right) now faces jail time if he does not pay the fine.]
After a few weeks of silence, a new issue of TelQuel is out - and it aims straight at the regime for attempting to quash freedom of the press. First, editor-in-chief Benchemsi pens a summary of the affair called "A Mockery of Justice", which runs with a cute accompanying cartoon (right).
Second, the magazine has launched a new website ("soutientelquel.com"- support TelQuel) with a support petition demanding freedom of the press and a transparent judicial process. Up only two days, the petition already has over 1,500 signatures.
Take a minute to support a daring but threatened Middle Eastern publication, a magazine committed to civil rights and self-critical introspection (name another magazine from the region to publish cover stories on homosexuality, reinterpreting the Quran, and the local dictator's salary). Sign the petition here. (For those who don't speak French, following the "continuation" link below for a translation.)
"In a rushed slander court case, the Editor of TelQuel Ahmed R. Benchemsi and his deputy Karim Boukhari were condemned - without even allowing their lawyer to speak - to two months in prison if they do not pay a 1,050,000 dirham [$112,000] fine. The two journalists are appealing.
"This prison sentence and this exorbitant fine constitute, without any doubt, a 'warning' by the authorities directed at TelQuel, which has been 'punished' for its editorial independence. The authorities have launched a new method for muzzling the press: choking it progressively through disproportionate fines, meted out via sham court cases. Though just TelQuel today, it is the entire Moroccan free press that is threatened tomorrow.
"We the undersigned forcefully denounce any attack, even indirect, on freedom of the press, and we demand justice for TelQuel via a transparent and fair legal process."
SIGN HERE (first name, last name, profession, city). Or use this Google translation to sign.
BRAVO_Haitham Sabbah of Sabbah's Blog
Monday, September 19, 2005
The_Social_Media_Group
The Social Media Group (SMG) est une société éditrice de portail de contenu B2B et grand public classé par thème ou par industrie. Il regroupe des communautés d’auteurs et de lecteurs autour de centres d'intérêts communs en leur offrant une plateforme interactive de discussion et d'échange d'information autour de ces thématiques.
SMG offre une approche différente des médias traditionnels. L'information traitée est indépendante et sujet à contestation ou commentaire par le lecteur qui se retrouve au coeur du débat et contribue à l'élaboration du contenu. Il offre aussi la possibilité à un auteur de blog de rejoindre le réseau SMG et d'étendre l'offre à de nouvelles thématiques.
En tant que portail, SMG offre un gain de temps considérable tant aux professionnels qu’aux lecteurs grand public. Par le biais de ses flux RSS SMG permet la présélection de sources d'information critiques dans leur métiers ou leurs centres d’intérêt sur un lecteur de flux RSS, leur donnant un accès en temps réel à cette information.
Le Social Media Group développe 7 blogs qui couvrent 5 thématiques grand public et une thématique B2B - voir 'réseau blogs' colonne de droite
Enfin, le Social Media Group propose également une activité de conseil pour les organisations au travers de l’analyse de la communication, de services professionnels de blogging, de management et de diffusion de la connaissance.
SMG offre une approche différente des médias traditionnels. L'information traitée est indépendante et sujet à contestation ou commentaire par le lecteur qui se retrouve au coeur du débat et contribue à l'élaboration du contenu. Il offre aussi la possibilité à un auteur de blog de rejoindre le réseau SMG et d'étendre l'offre à de nouvelles thématiques.
En tant que portail, SMG offre un gain de temps considérable tant aux professionnels qu’aux lecteurs grand public. Par le biais de ses flux RSS SMG permet la présélection de sources d'information critiques dans leur métiers ou leurs centres d’intérêt sur un lecteur de flux RSS, leur donnant un accès en temps réel à cette information.
Le Social Media Group développe 7 blogs qui couvrent 5 thématiques grand public et une thématique B2B - voir 'réseau blogs' colonne de droite
Enfin, le Social Media Group propose également une activité de conseil pour les organisations au travers de l’analyse de la communication, de services professionnels de blogging, de management et de diffusion de la connaissance.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Life Goes Mobile in the Arab World
دبي، الإمارات العربية المتحدة – حلّت شركة نوكيا، الشركة الرائدة عالمياً في قطاع الاتصالات النقالة، في المرتبة السادسة عالمياً في التصنيف السنوي الذي تقوم به كل من مجلة BusinessWeek ومؤسسة Interbrand لتصنيف الماركات الأعلى قيمة في العالم لعام 2005. وقد فاقت قيمة نوكيا المقدرة ضمن هذا التصنيف 26.4 مليار دولار أمريكي، مرتفعة بذلك بمقدار 10% عن تقييم العام الماضي، ومتقدمة مرتبتين عن المرتبة التي حلت بها في تصنيف 2004.
وقد وصِف الصانع الفنلندي للهواتف النقالة، الذي يبني رؤيته على مبدأ“Life Goes Mobile” في العدد الأول من أغسطس من مجلة BusinessWeek على أنه "يسعى إلى تحدي جهاز (iPod) الذي تنتجه شركة آبل بينما تجتمع وظائف الهواتف النقالة ومشغلات MP3 في جهاز واحد."
وقد وصِف الصانع الفنلندي للهواتف النقالة، الذي يبني رؤيته على مبدأ“Life Goes Mobile” في العدد الأول من أغسطس من مجلة BusinessWeek على أنه "يسعى إلى تحدي جهاز (iPod) الذي تنتجه شركة آبل بينما تجتمع وظائف الهواتف النقالة ومشغلات MP3 في جهاز واحد."
تونس تستعد لاحتضان القمة العالمية لمجتمع المعلومات
لطفي حجي-تونس
تبدأ في مدينة جنيف السويسرية غدا أعمال الاجتماع التحضيري الثالث والأخير للقمة العالمية لمجتمع المعلومات التي ستحتضنها تونس في الفترة من 16 إلى 18 نوفمبر/ تشرين الثاني المقبل بمشاركة وفود رسمية وممثلين عن منظمات غير حكومية عالمية وتونسية ستتولى ضبط المسائل العالقة التي لم تحسم في الاجتماعين السابقين.
تبدأ في مدينة جنيف السويسرية غدا أعمال الاجتماع التحضيري الثالث والأخير للقمة العالمية لمجتمع المعلومات التي ستحتضنها تونس في الفترة من 16 إلى 18 نوفمبر/ تشرين الثاني المقبل بمشاركة وفود رسمية وممثلين عن منظمات غير حكومية عالمية وتونسية ستتولى ضبط المسائل العالقة التي لم تحسم في الاجتماعين السابقين.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Top Ten Things You Can Do To Get Blogged
Our primary goal here at TechCrunch is to profile new web 2.0 companies. Finding and experiencing what new companies have to offer is exciting for us. It what gets us up in the morning. We are honestly deeply passionate about this stuff.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
From Blogger To Journalist?
Roland Piquepaille Becomes An Official ZDNet Blog Editor.
Roland Piquepaille is now one of the few bloggers of ZDNet, itself part of CNET, which is the largest publishing company about technology in the world.
Roland Piquepaille is now one of the few bloggers of ZDNet, itself part of CNET, which is the largest publishing company about technology in the world.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Arab Blog Tool Advances Freedom in the ARABLAND
Arab Blog Tool Advances Freedom in Middle East
Spirit of America and client iUpload bring “Viral Freedom” through Blogs to the Arab World. What a compelling and remarkable use of blogs. Now writers sitting in pajamas in the region can make an impact on the advancement of democracy. I'd like to see traditional journalists say their voice is not a serious and important one. Read on.
iUpload’s Blog Platform developed the Arabic Blogging Tool, and Spirit of America is funding the development effort, that will make Internet publishing and free expression in the Middle East easier and more accessible than ever before.
The Arabic blogging tool is available at no cost and Spirit of America will host Arabic blogs for free for those working to advance freedom and democracy in the Arab world. iUpload’s blogging software is being used in this important effort.
The Iraqi non-governmental organization Friends of Democracy is working with Spirit of America in using iUpload’s blogging tool to help pro-democracy groups and individuals create blogs and publish and share their thoughts on the Internet.
iUpload Personal Publisher is a platform for building branded, self-service, blog communities and can be developed for any company or community. In this case, iUpload has created an Arabic “skin” for Spirit of America, which can now offer people in the Arab region a place to communicate and share their ideas. This combined effort will create communities, providing people with an easy to way to contribute content, photos, thoughts and ideas through a network of blogs.
Every blog developed with the Arabic blogging tool will highlight the groups, individuals and news that advance freedom and democracy in Iraq. Each blog will therefore spread information encouraging freedom in the region and will make it easier for the supporters of democracy to exchange information and work together.
Now, this is an incredible example of the 'true' power of blogs.
Spirit of America and client iUpload bring “Viral Freedom” through Blogs to the Arab World. What a compelling and remarkable use of blogs. Now writers sitting in pajamas in the region can make an impact on the advancement of democracy. I'd like to see traditional journalists say their voice is not a serious and important one. Read on.
iUpload’s Blog Platform developed the Arabic Blogging Tool, and Spirit of America is funding the development effort, that will make Internet publishing and free expression in the Middle East easier and more accessible than ever before.
The Arabic blogging tool is available at no cost and Spirit of America will host Arabic blogs for free for those working to advance freedom and democracy in the Arab world. iUpload’s blogging software is being used in this important effort.
The Iraqi non-governmental organization Friends of Democracy is working with Spirit of America in using iUpload’s blogging tool to help pro-democracy groups and individuals create blogs and publish and share their thoughts on the Internet.
iUpload Personal Publisher is a platform for building branded, self-service, blog communities and can be developed for any company or community. In this case, iUpload has created an Arabic “skin” for Spirit of America, which can now offer people in the Arab region a place to communicate and share their ideas. This combined effort will create communities, providing people with an easy to way to contribute content, photos, thoughts and ideas through a network of blogs.
Every blog developed with the Arabic blogging tool will highlight the groups, individuals and news that advance freedom and democracy in Iraq. Each blog will therefore spread information encouraging freedom in the region and will make it easier for the supporters of democracy to exchange information and work together.
Now, this is an incredible example of the 'true' power of blogs.
Vloggers get political in Norway
A video-blogger from Bergen in Norway is turning his camcorder on politicians, ahead of Norwegian parliamentary elections on Monday.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Web of Influence
Every day, millions of online diarists, or “bloggers,” share their opinions with a global audience. Drawing upon the content of the international media and the World Wide Web, they weave together an elaborate network with agenda-setting power on issues ranging from human rights in China to the U.S. occupation of Iraq. What began as a hobby is evolving into a new medium that is changing the landscape for journalists and policymakers alike
The Rise of Open-Source Politics
Never before had the top-down world of presidential campaigning been opened to a bottom-up, laterally networked community of ordinary voters.
Six degrees of interconnection
When we talk about 'distance', we are usually referring to the separation between places or objects in physical space. There’s a good reason for this association: in pretty much all of science and engineering, as well as in everyday problems like deciding where to live in relation to work, the notion of physical distance makes complete sense.
That Sneaky Exponential—Beyond Metcalfe's Law to the Power of Community Building
Bob Metcalfe, inventor of the Ethernet, is known for pointing out that the total value of a communications network grows with the square of the number of devices or people it connects. This scaling law, along with Moore's Law, is widely credited as the stimulus that has driven the stunning growth of Internet connectivity. Because Metcalfe's law implies value grows faster than does the (linear) number of a network's access points, merely interconnecting two independent networks creates value that substantially exceeds the original value of the unconnected networks. Thus the growth of Internet connectivity, and the openness of the Internet, are driven by an inexorable economic logic, just as the interconnection of the telephone network was forced by AT&T's long distance strategy. This strategy created huge and increasing value to AT&T customers, based on the same (then unnamed) law of increasing returns to scale at the beginning of the 20th century. In the same way, the global interconnection of networks we call the Internet has created huge and increasing value to all its participants.
The physics of the Web
Statistical mechanics is offering new insights into the structure and dynamics of the Internet, the World Wide Web and other complex interacting systems.
Blogs: powerful people, or people power?
In fact, it is only when those in tradtional media start to see blogging in their own framework of power (large audiences and revenues) that they start to sit up and take note of the phenomena as a whole.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Weblogs and the Public Sphere
Andrew Ó Baoill, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
In this essay I assess the potential impact of weblogs on the public sphere, using a model based on the work of Jürgen Habermas to provide an ideal against which we can measure the efficacy of weblogs as a public space. Specifically, I posit that inclusivity of access, a disregard for external rank, and the potential for rational debate of any topic until consensus is achieved are necessary criterion for meeting Habermas's model of an idealized public sphere. I assess the current standing of weblogs and suggest developments that could improve the ability of weblogs to meet this ideal. There are a number of structural impediments in the current implementation of weblogs-both in terms of production and reception-that seriously damage any claim of the blogosphere to be a strong public sphere. The time commitment required if one is to build reputation and integrate oneself into online debate serves to skew the distribution of those involved in blogging, and in particular of those who gain prominence within the blogosphere with academics, journalists and certain other professionals over-represented. The influence of personal networks and of an A-list of bloggers in shaping who gains future attention is problematic, as is an inability of current generations of reading and ranking technologies, such as search engines, to take account of negative appraisals of sites to which one links. Geographically-bound issues are less likely to gain ground than those with a general appeal. Future generations of reading, searching and aggregation technologies must address these problems if weblogs are to continue to develop as sites of public debate.
In this essay I assess the potential impact of weblogs on the public sphere, using a model based on the work of Jürgen Habermas to provide an ideal against which we can measure the efficacy of weblogs as a public space. Specifically, I posit that inclusivity of access, a disregard for external rank, and the potential for rational debate of any topic until consensus is achieved are necessary criterion for meeting Habermas's model of an idealized public sphere. I assess the current standing of weblogs and suggest developments that could improve the ability of weblogs to meet this ideal. There are a number of structural impediments in the current implementation of weblogs-both in terms of production and reception-that seriously damage any claim of the blogosphere to be a strong public sphere. The time commitment required if one is to build reputation and integrate oneself into online debate serves to skew the distribution of those involved in blogging, and in particular of those who gain prominence within the blogosphere with academics, journalists and certain other professionals over-represented. The influence of personal networks and of an A-list of bloggers in shaping who gains future attention is problematic, as is an inability of current generations of reading and ranking technologies, such as search engines, to take account of negative appraisals of sites to which one links. Geographically-bound issues are less likely to gain ground than those with a general appeal. Future generations of reading, searching and aggregation technologies must address these problems if weblogs are to continue to develop as sites of public debate.
The Blogging Phenomenon: An Overview and Theoretical Consideration
This is an excellent theoretical consideration on BLOGGING.
Monday, September 05, 2005
Joichi Ito (Technorati.com): "Les blogs se rapprochent de l'idée d'une vraie presse"
A votre avis, "la blogsphère" est un nouveau pouvoir face à la politique et aux médias?
Je pense que c'est très important pour les citoyens d'avoir une voix. Certes, voter est un acte important mais avoir la possibilité de s'exprimer librement l'est tout autant. La vision est différente si l'on habite dans des pays développés ou des pays en voie de développement où la libre expression n'existe pas forcément. Il suffit de regarder le cas de l'Iran. Les weblogs se rapprochen de plus en plus de l'idée que les gens se font d'une vraie presse dans un contexte de démocratie. Je vois vraiement apparaître un fossé dans ce sens. Dans les médias traditionnels comme la télévision, je vois davantage de business de contenus que de traitements réellement journalistiques.
Personnellement, votre consommation de l'information a changé avec le développement des blogs ?
Je lis régulièrement deux journaux : le Japan Times et le Herald Tribune. Je lis les articles, ce qui sert ensuite à alimenter et enrichir mon blog. Ma consommation de média est devenue plus internationale puisqu'il m'arrive de lire une vingtaine de journaux en ligne en simultané, compte tenu des liens qui se développent entre weblogs. Mais je n'aurais jamais consulté ces sources d'informations sans cela.
Je pense que c'est très important pour les citoyens d'avoir une voix. Certes, voter est un acte important mais avoir la possibilité de s'exprimer librement l'est tout autant. La vision est différente si l'on habite dans des pays développés ou des pays en voie de développement où la libre expression n'existe pas forcément. Il suffit de regarder le cas de l'Iran. Les weblogs se rapprochen de plus en plus de l'idée que les gens se font d'une vraie presse dans un contexte de démocratie. Je vois vraiement apparaître un fossé dans ce sens. Dans les médias traditionnels comme la télévision, je vois davantage de business de contenus que de traitements réellement journalistiques.
Personnellement, votre consommation de l'information a changé avec le développement des blogs ?
Je lis régulièrement deux journaux : le Japan Times et le Herald Tribune. Je lis les articles, ce qui sert ensuite à alimenter et enrichir mon blog. Ma consommation de média est devenue plus internationale puisqu'il m'arrive de lire une vingtaine de journaux en ligne en simultané, compte tenu des liens qui se développent entre weblogs. Mais je n'aurais jamais consulté ces sources d'informations sans cela.
Traditional media eagerly eye blogs to boost revenues
03 May 2005 08:33
Traditional media such as newspapers and radios are casting an increasingly covetous eye over the growing number of internet blogs, hoping to cash in on a slice of the action
Read ful article:
http://www.mg.co.za/articledirect.aspx?articleid=236850&%3barea=%2finsight%2finsight_online%2f
Traditional media such as newspapers and radios are casting an increasingly covetous eye over the growing number of internet blogs, hoping to cash in on a slice of the action
Read ful article:
http://www.mg.co.za/articledirect.aspx?articleid=236850&%3barea=%2finsight%2finsight_online%2f
Blogs and Social Software
Arab Bloggers: If you have interest, check this
Les Blogs thanks and feedback
LesBlogsCoverage
notes, audio recordings, video interviews, media coverage
What should I do better next time
Schedule
8h - Registration
9h - 9h15 Opening remarks - Loïc Le Meur
9h15 - 9h45 Keynote: Joi Ito
9h45 - 10h30 Where are we going ?
Barak Berkowitz, Six Apart
Meg Hourihan, consultant & co-founder, Blogger.com
Caterina Fake, Flickr
Charlie Schick, Nokia
10h30 - 10h45 networking break
10h45 - 11h45 Corporate blogging, external communication
Andrew Carton, Treonauts (is this what a brand should do ?)
Halley Suitt, Worthwhile Magazine
Paolo Valdemarin, Evectors, Italy
Darren Barefoot, InsideBlogging and Capulet Communications, Canada
11h45 - 12h30 Corporate blogging and wikis, internal communication
Lee Bryant, Headshift
Euan Semple, the BBC
Ross Mayfield, SocialText
12h30 - 14h lunch
14h - 15h30 Nanopublishing and vertical blogging, moderated by Dominique Busso, VNUNet
Gaby Darbyshire, Gawker media
Jason McCabe Calacanis, WeblogsInc
Julio Alonso, Weblogs SL
Christophe Labédan, The Social Media Group
Ludovico Magnocavallo, Blogo.it
Stowe Boyd, Corante
15h30 - 15h45 The blog readers and the blog advertising market
presentation of the Blogads survey by Miklos Gaspar, Blogads.
15h45 - 17h00 Traditional media innovates and strikes back, moderated by Jeff Clavier - SoftTech VC & Buzznet, Inc
Yann Chapellon, Le Monde
Neil McIntosh, The Guardian
Jochen Wegner, Focus Magazine
Pierre Bellanger, Skyrock, 1.5 million weblogs on skyblog
17h00 - 17h30 networking break
17h30 - 18h00: Yossi Vardi, founder of ICQ
18h00 - 18h45 Blogs, social software and their impact in the Middle East and China
Yat Siu, Outblaze, China
Hossein Derakhshan, hoder.com - "Bio"
18h45 - 19h15 Open Thought: Doc Searls - Senior Editor, Linux Journal
19h15 Closing remarks
20h00 - Six Apart VNUNet and NOKIA nightcap at THE ALCAZAR. (only for the registered participants of the day at the Senate, thanks).
Restaurant l'Alcazar
62 rue Mazarine
75006 Paris
tel +33 1 53 10 19 99
Les Blogs thanks and feedback
LesBlogsCoverage
notes, audio recordings, video interviews, media coverage
What should I do better next time
Schedule
8h - Registration
9h - 9h15 Opening remarks - Loïc Le Meur
9h15 - 9h45 Keynote: Joi Ito
9h45 - 10h30 Where are we going ?
Barak Berkowitz, Six Apart
Meg Hourihan, consultant & co-founder, Blogger.com
Caterina Fake, Flickr
Charlie Schick, Nokia
10h30 - 10h45 networking break
10h45 - 11h45 Corporate blogging, external communication
Andrew Carton, Treonauts (is this what a brand should do ?)
Halley Suitt, Worthwhile Magazine
Paolo Valdemarin, Evectors, Italy
Darren Barefoot, InsideBlogging and Capulet Communications, Canada
11h45 - 12h30 Corporate blogging and wikis, internal communication
Lee Bryant, Headshift
Euan Semple, the BBC
Ross Mayfield, SocialText
12h30 - 14h lunch
14h - 15h30 Nanopublishing and vertical blogging, moderated by Dominique Busso, VNUNet
Gaby Darbyshire, Gawker media
Jason McCabe Calacanis, WeblogsInc
Julio Alonso, Weblogs SL
Christophe Labédan, The Social Media Group
Ludovico Magnocavallo, Blogo.it
Stowe Boyd, Corante
15h30 - 15h45 The blog readers and the blog advertising market
presentation of the Blogads survey by Miklos Gaspar, Blogads.
15h45 - 17h00 Traditional media innovates and strikes back, moderated by Jeff Clavier - SoftTech VC & Buzznet, Inc
Yann Chapellon, Le Monde
Neil McIntosh, The Guardian
Jochen Wegner, Focus Magazine
Pierre Bellanger, Skyrock, 1.5 million weblogs on skyblog
17h00 - 17h30 networking break
17h30 - 18h00: Yossi Vardi, founder of ICQ
18h00 - 18h45 Blogs, social software and their impact in the Middle East and China
Yat Siu, Outblaze, China
Hossein Derakhshan, hoder.com - "Bio"
18h45 - 19h15 Open Thought: Doc Searls - Senior Editor, Linux Journal
19h15 Closing remarks
20h00 - Six Apart VNUNet and NOKIA nightcap at THE ALCAZAR. (only for the registered participants of the day at the Senate, thanks).
Restaurant l'Alcazar
62 rue Mazarine
75006 Paris
tel +33 1 53 10 19 99
Flooding Stops Presses and Broadcasts, So Journalists Turn to the Web
With their offices and presses flooded, news media outlets in New Orleans mostly abandoned newsprint and television broadcasts yesterday and set up shop on the Web.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
blogs offer Katrina insight
The web has once again proved its worth as a news source as blogs offered a vivid description of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Read full article
Read full article
Friday, September 02, 2005
What is a Weblog?
Please note: I am not the author.
The Author is Anthony V Parcero Jul 11, 04
According to Dave Winer, author of what many consider one of the first successful weblogs on the Internet (Scripting News), a weblog — or "blog" — can be characterized as a Web site which:
"points to articles elsewhere on the Web, often with comments, and to on-site articles. A Weblog is kind of a continual tour, with a human guide who you get to know. There are many guides to choose from, each develops an audience, and there's also comraderie and politics between the people who run weblogs, they point to each other, in all kinds of structures, graphs, loops, etc." (Dave Winer, The History of Weblogs)
Originally started by programmers and Web designers who worked full-time in the fledgling Internet industry of the mid-nineties, the first blogs showcased the research, coding, and organizational skills of their authors. Often hand-written and featuring short commentaries which linked users to other Web sites, these blogs were designed to help people filter out the increasing amount of detritus on the Web. Immersed in Web culture and possessing site-design skills, these early blogs became the center of ever-growing communities of fellow bloggers and their readership. The social interactions and connections associated with blogging differentiate it from other forms of content on the Web and the framework they established is still in use today.
At their heart, all blogs are based on the relationships formed by an author's use of regularly-updated, pithy commentary and elaborate cross-linking. Starting in 1991 with Tim Berners-Lee and the first Web site, the promise of the Internet was that anyone could have a voice through which they could communicate and connect (via hyperlinks) with others. By transforming the traditional roles of active writers and passive readers into one of participatory peers who can actively and freely express themselves, blogs provide a venue for open self-expression free from the crippling effects of our media-saturated culture.
No matter what their format or focus, all blogs organize their date- and time-stamped content in reverse chronological order so that the newest content appears most prominently on the Web site's home page. As new content is added to a site, older posts are archived to a static Web address (called a "permalink") which other blogs can precisely refer to and comment upon. Due to the fact that anyone with Internet-access can start a blog, it is the individuality of the commentary (and they're associated links) that distinguishes blogs from more traditional electronic clipping services and news media. Based on short, informal, and richly-hyperlinked content that is frequently updated, the blog "post" is free from the traditional, formal constraints of the printed-page. Thus, blog posts represent self-contained topical units which are characterized by a conversational (and sometimes controversial) tone that distinguishes them from more formal essays or articles.
Sometimes as short as one sentence or, more often, running for several paragraphs, the totality of the posts which make up a blog form an accurate representation of the personality of their author (or authors). Thanks to tools like Blogger, online journals and diaries are now the most dominant form of of blogs on the Internet. Due to the fact that many of these sites are tightly integrated into the daily lives of the author(s) and their audience, an online ecosystem called the blogosphere has emerged.
Thanks to constant improvements in the underlying technologies — along with the enormous proliferation of blogs following the launch of Blogger in 1999 — many Web sites and tools have sprung up to help authors create, maintain, search, and analyze various aspects of the Internet and the blogosphere. Using different metrics to analyzing the content of blogs, sites such as Technorati and Blogstreet focus on aggregating and tracking the popularity and influence of specific blogs. Through the use of full-text searches across posts, Blogpulse extends upon simple aggregation to provide users with the ability to track current trends, key people, and key phrases within the blogosphere. No longer passive recipients of information, individuals have embraced the freedom inherent in the framework, commonality, and organization of blogs in order to position themselves as key influencers at the center of a communications revolution many of us are still working to understand.
Read full article
The Author is Anthony V Parcero Jul 11, 04
According to Dave Winer, author of what many consider one of the first successful weblogs on the Internet (Scripting News), a weblog — or "blog" — can be characterized as a Web site which:
"points to articles elsewhere on the Web, often with comments, and to on-site articles. A Weblog is kind of a continual tour, with a human guide who you get to know. There are many guides to choose from, each develops an audience, and there's also comraderie and politics between the people who run weblogs, they point to each other, in all kinds of structures, graphs, loops, etc." (Dave Winer, The History of Weblogs)
Originally started by programmers and Web designers who worked full-time in the fledgling Internet industry of the mid-nineties, the first blogs showcased the research, coding, and organizational skills of their authors. Often hand-written and featuring short commentaries which linked users to other Web sites, these blogs were designed to help people filter out the increasing amount of detritus on the Web. Immersed in Web culture and possessing site-design skills, these early blogs became the center of ever-growing communities of fellow bloggers and their readership. The social interactions and connections associated with blogging differentiate it from other forms of content on the Web and the framework they established is still in use today.
At their heart, all blogs are based on the relationships formed by an author's use of regularly-updated, pithy commentary and elaborate cross-linking. Starting in 1991 with Tim Berners-Lee and the first Web site, the promise of the Internet was that anyone could have a voice through which they could communicate and connect (via hyperlinks) with others. By transforming the traditional roles of active writers and passive readers into one of participatory peers who can actively and freely express themselves, blogs provide a venue for open self-expression free from the crippling effects of our media-saturated culture.
No matter what their format or focus, all blogs organize their date- and time-stamped content in reverse chronological order so that the newest content appears most prominently on the Web site's home page. As new content is added to a site, older posts are archived to a static Web address (called a "permalink") which other blogs can precisely refer to and comment upon. Due to the fact that anyone with Internet-access can start a blog, it is the individuality of the commentary (and they're associated links) that distinguishes blogs from more traditional electronic clipping services and news media. Based on short, informal, and richly-hyperlinked content that is frequently updated, the blog "post" is free from the traditional, formal constraints of the printed-page. Thus, blog posts represent self-contained topical units which are characterized by a conversational (and sometimes controversial) tone that distinguishes them from more formal essays or articles.
Sometimes as short as one sentence or, more often, running for several paragraphs, the totality of the posts which make up a blog form an accurate representation of the personality of their author (or authors). Thanks to tools like Blogger, online journals and diaries are now the most dominant form of of blogs on the Internet. Due to the fact that many of these sites are tightly integrated into the daily lives of the author(s) and their audience, an online ecosystem called the blogosphere has emerged.
Thanks to constant improvements in the underlying technologies — along with the enormous proliferation of blogs following the launch of Blogger in 1999 — many Web sites and tools have sprung up to help authors create, maintain, search, and analyze various aspects of the Internet and the blogosphere. Using different metrics to analyzing the content of blogs, sites such as Technorati and Blogstreet focus on aggregating and tracking the popularity and influence of specific blogs. Through the use of full-text searches across posts, Blogpulse extends upon simple aggregation to provide users with the ability to track current trends, key people, and key phrases within the blogosphere. No longer passive recipients of information, individuals have embraced the freedom inherent in the framework, commonality, and organization of blogs in order to position themselves as key influencers at the center of a communications revolution many of us are still working to understand.
Read full article
Global PR Blog
The first edition of the Global PR Blog Week 1.0 is now over. During one week, 35 practioners published more than 60 articles and interviews on the impact of personal publishing on Public Relations. Enjoy the reading - and stay tuned for version 2.0.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Blogs from Egypt: Manal and Alaa Fattah
A good news from Egypt: The Egyptian blogosphere is growing rapidly: A very good signal that Arab blogosphere may take off.
Egypt's growing blogger community pushes limit of dissent
Egypt's growing blogger community pushes limit of dissent
Despite a crackdown on the Net by other Arab countries, Egypt's bloggers are leading antigovernment protests.
By Charles Levinson
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
Despite a crackdown on the Net by other Arab countries, Egypt's bloggers are leading antigovernment protests.
By Charles Levinson
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
Blogs, SMS, e-mail: Egyptians organize protests as elections near
The nascent Egyptian blogosphere seizes its freedom of the press opportunity, posting photos of police beating protesters and taking hard stances against Mubarak. But will their freedom last beyond elections?
By Mark Glaser
By Mark Glaser
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Blogs, Journalists and Politics in the Arab world
Blogs and journalists: how Arab media is embracing blogs?
Blogs and politics: how do Arab political civil society groups use blogs for their activism, and do these groups treat political bloggers the same as the press?
Blogs and politics: how do Arab political civil society groups use blogs for their activism, and do these groups treat political bloggers the same as the press?
Maghreblog was launched
A group of bloggers from the Maghreb have launched a new project under the name of Maghreb Blog.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
BLOGS: The new magic formula for corporate communications?
Deutsche Bank Research, Frankfurt am Main Germany, has published a report about Blogs:
http://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/DBR_INTERNET_EN-PROD//PROD0000000000190745.pdf
http://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/DBR_INTERNET_EN-PROD//PROD0000000000190745.pdf
Emergence of the Progressive Blogosphere: A New Force in American Politics
Table of Contents
Overview
I. Blogs and Public Life: Background
II. The Right-Wing and Blogs: An Integrated, Top-Down Approach
III . The Left-Wing and Blogs: Building Digital Communities
IV. Early Conservative Dominance
V. The Emergence of the Progressive Blogosphere
VI. All Blogs Rising
VII. Blog Sprawl
Appendix
I: Engaging Bloggers In a Local Campaign
Appendix
II: Progressive and Conservative Netroots’ Advantages
Appendix
III: Top Progressive Blogs (available only in PDF version)
Appendix
IV: Democratic Institutional Blogs (available only in PDF version)
Appendix
V: Top Conservative Blogs (available only in PDF version)
References
Overview
I. Blogs and Public Life: Background
II. The Right-Wing and Blogs: An Integrated, Top-Down Approach
III . The Left-Wing and Blogs: Building Digital Communities
IV. Early Conservative Dominance
V. The Emergence of the Progressive Blogosphere
VI. All Blogs Rising
VII. Blog Sprawl
Appendix
I: Engaging Bloggers In a Local Campaign
Appendix
II: Progressive and Conservative Netroots’ Advantages
Appendix
III: Top Progressive Blogs (available only in PDF version)
Appendix
IV: Democratic Institutional Blogs (available only in PDF version)
Appendix
V: Top Conservative Blogs (available only in PDF version)
References
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
"The BOBs - Best Of The Blogs"
Hi Arab Bloggers. http://thebobs.com/thebobs05/bob.php?language=ar
Your new chance to be among the best bloggers.
Selection criteria :
The blog must be kept by an Internet user or a small group of Internet users. It must not belong to a governmental or non-governmental organisation. It must have existed for more than six months and must be updated regularly. It must use a specialised publishing tool such as typepad, blogger.com, blogspirit or an equivalent. Sites that do not use a standard online publishing tool but function in an identical manner to a weblog will be considered on a case by case basis. The blogs of professional journalists will be accepted. All blogs will be considered, whatever their language.
Nomination submissions should be sent by e-mail to internetdelete@rsf.org. They should include the web address or addresses of the blog and a short description of its activity. The blogger does not have to be identified.
*A weblog or blog is a personal website on which information is posted chronologically, as in a personal diary.
http://thebobs.com/thebobs05/bob.php?site=suggest
Your new chance to be among the best bloggers.
Selection criteria :
The blog must be kept by an Internet user or a small group of Internet users. It must not belong to a governmental or non-governmental organisation. It must have existed for more than six months and must be updated regularly. It must use a specialised publishing tool such as typepad, blogger.com, blogspirit or an equivalent. Sites that do not use a standard online publishing tool but function in an identical manner to a weblog will be considered on a case by case basis. The blogs of professional journalists will be accepted. All blogs will be considered, whatever their language.
Nomination submissions should be sent by e-mail to internetdelete@rsf.org. They should include the web address or addresses of the blog and a short description of its activity. The blogger does not have to be identified.
*A weblog or blog is a personal website on which information is posted chronologically, as in a personal diary.
http://thebobs.com/thebobs05/bob.php?site=suggest
Monday, August 22, 2005
Sunday, August 21, 2005
How to search Bahraini bloggers
To search Bahraini Bloggers, follow this link: http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=l&loc0=BH
Wikimania 2005
ويكيمانيا 2005: المؤتمر الدولي الأول لويكيميديا سيتم عقده في فرانكفورت، ألمانيا من 4 اغسطس 2005 إلى 8 أغسطس 2005.
يشكل مؤتمر ويكيمانيا فرصة ذهبية للقاء والتحدث مع الأعضاء البارزين في مجتمعات ويكيميديا، والمطورين القائمين على برنامج ميدياويكي. الباحثين والمتحدثين سيقدون دراسات وتلخيص لخبراتهم في ويكيبيديا ومشاريع جمعية ويكيميديا, حول مجتمعات ويكيميديا، والتقنيات المستعملة، وعالم المعرفة الحرة. سيشتمل برنامج المؤتمر على مجموعة من المواضيع، وحلقات العمل، والدورات التي تستهدف كلا من القادمين الجدد على عالم ويكي والمستخدمين الخبراء على حد سواء. وسيقدم المؤتمرلأول مرة عرض للأبحاث حول الويكي والمعرفة الحرة.
شارك مجتمع ويكيميديا في جمع الأفكار حول التطبيقات النظرية والعملية لمبدأ الويكي في بناء المحتويات. الهدف الرئيسي من المؤتمر هو جمع الأعضاء في مشاريع الويكي المختلفة، وتعزيز الفهم المتبادل ما بينهم. لا تدع هذه الفرصة تفوتك، إذ أن هذا المؤتمر من الفرص النادرة للقاء مجموعة من الأفراد القادمين من مختلف أنحاء العالم، الذين يعملون على توفيق المعرفة الإنسانية بشكل حر.
ستكون أغلب جلسات المؤتمر باللغة الإنجليزية، وسيتم ترجمة المؤتمر لعدد من اللغات الرسمية.
__________________________________________
This book is going to be the Proceedings of Wikimania 2005 - The First International Wikimedia Conference See the Wikimania wiki and the official programme for more about the conference.
For images and other media see the Wikimania galleries on the Commons.
[edit]
يشكل مؤتمر ويكيمانيا فرصة ذهبية للقاء والتحدث مع الأعضاء البارزين في مجتمعات ويكيميديا، والمطورين القائمين على برنامج ميدياويكي. الباحثين والمتحدثين سيقدون دراسات وتلخيص لخبراتهم في ويكيبيديا ومشاريع جمعية ويكيميديا, حول مجتمعات ويكيميديا، والتقنيات المستعملة، وعالم المعرفة الحرة. سيشتمل برنامج المؤتمر على مجموعة من المواضيع، وحلقات العمل، والدورات التي تستهدف كلا من القادمين الجدد على عالم ويكي والمستخدمين الخبراء على حد سواء. وسيقدم المؤتمرلأول مرة عرض للأبحاث حول الويكي والمعرفة الحرة.
شارك مجتمع ويكيميديا في جمع الأفكار حول التطبيقات النظرية والعملية لمبدأ الويكي في بناء المحتويات. الهدف الرئيسي من المؤتمر هو جمع الأعضاء في مشاريع الويكي المختلفة، وتعزيز الفهم المتبادل ما بينهم. لا تدع هذه الفرصة تفوتك، إذ أن هذا المؤتمر من الفرص النادرة للقاء مجموعة من الأفراد القادمين من مختلف أنحاء العالم، الذين يعملون على توفيق المعرفة الإنسانية بشكل حر.
ستكون أغلب جلسات المؤتمر باللغة الإنجليزية، وسيتم ترجمة المؤتمر لعدد من اللغات الرسمية.
__________________________________________
This book is going to be the Proceedings of Wikimania 2005 - The First International Wikimedia Conference See the Wikimania wiki and the official programme for more about the conference.
For images and other media see the Wikimania galleries on the Commons.
[edit]
How to search Emirati bloggers
To search Emirati Bloggers, follow this link: http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=l&loc0=AE
How to search Egyptian bloggers
To search Egyptian Bloggers, follow this link: http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=l&loc0=EG
How to search Moroccan bloggers
To search Moroccan Bloggers, follow this link: http://www.blogger.com/profile-find.g?t=l&loc0=MA
Sunday, August 14, 2005
The Power of Networks and Blogging in the Arabland
The role of bloggin is increasingly growing, so its importance for democratisation in the Arab world.
The movement of the bloggers, could be, the 21st century interconnected silent revolution in the Arab world. Political and social actors are blogging for power.
Arab regimes have no idea what does a blog mean?
The movement of the bloggers, could be, the 21st century interconnected silent revolution in the Arab world. Political and social actors are blogging for power.
Arab regimes have no idea what does a blog mean?
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
50 million visiting the blogs in 2005
According to comScore blogs are quickly approaching the status of a mainstream media.
read report:
http://www.comscore.com/blogreport/comScoreBlogReport.pdf
read report:
http://www.comscore.com/blogreport/comScoreBlogReport.pdf
Berners-Lee on blogs and wikis
Berners-Lee said "When you write a blog, you don't write complicated hypertext, you just write text, so I'm very, very happy to see that now it's gone in the direction of becoming more of a creative medium".
Read the full interview:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4132752.stm
Read the full interview:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4132752.stm
Monday, August 08, 2005
Network Society in the Arab World: What a Future!
If you want to know the future of the Internet in the Arab world in the context of its 10th anniversary, please browse this website.
Allah with you Arabs.
http://www.smsitunis2005.org/plateforme/index.php?lang=ar
Allah with you Arabs.
http://www.smsitunis2005.org/plateforme/index.php?lang=ar
Worldwide wonder
A worldwide wonder, except for some parts in the Arabland.
The Internet is still in its early infancy in most part in the Arab world.
The Internet is still in its early infancy in most part in the Arab world.
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Calling all Lebanese, Syrian & Jordanian Bloggers Out There...
This is a very nice step to study Arab blogsphere.
Hi Arab blogers, please do take part in this survey. It will help us to understand our life in this new virtual world.
http://thesuffragettes.blogspot.com/
If you are a Blogger from Lebanon, Syria & Jordan or happen to be living there, I would really appreciate it if you could take a few minutes of your time to fill out this questionnaire in order to help explain and find out more about the blogging phenomenon in this region. This is part of my Masters reserach at the University of Westminster and your replies are crucial to helping in my evaluation. Most people are able to complete the questionnaire in less than 8 minutes.ALso your responses and any comments will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. The results of this research should be very exciting and, by the end of august, I will be sharing them with you all!
If you have questions at any time about the survey or the procedures, you may contact, myself, Maha Taki on +44(0)7916161035 or email me at the email mahataki@gmail.com.
Thank you very much for your time and support and please do SPREAD THE WORD.Start with the survey now by clicking
Click Here to take the survey
Hi Arab blogers, please do take part in this survey. It will help us to understand our life in this new virtual world.
http://thesuffragettes.blogspot.com/
If you are a Blogger from Lebanon, Syria & Jordan or happen to be living there, I would really appreciate it if you could take a few minutes of your time to fill out this questionnaire in order to help explain and find out more about the blogging phenomenon in this region. This is part of my Masters reserach at the University of Westminster and your replies are crucial to helping in my evaluation. Most people are able to complete the questionnaire in less than 8 minutes.ALso your responses and any comments will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. The results of this research should be very exciting and, by the end of august, I will be sharing them with you all!
If you have questions at any time about the survey or the procedures, you may contact, myself, Maha Taki on +44(0)7916161035 or email me at the email mahataki@gmail.com.
Thank you very much for your time and support and please do SPREAD THE WORD.Start with the survey now by clicking
Click Here to take the survey
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
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