#18DaysInEgypt Revolutionizes Multimedia Documentaries

January 23, 2012 Leave a Comment

Upon the first anniversary of the Egyptian revolution, a group of journalists and technologists have come up with an innovative way to document the historic events from the last few months online.  18DaysInEgypt is a new online, group storytelling module that allows anyone to submit any digital media they created while witnessing the beginnings of the Arab Spring.  Instead of filming a traditional documentary, 18DaysInEgypt co-founders Jigar Mehta and Yasmin Elayat are using their private beta site, Groupstre.am, to solicit submissions of tweets, video, pictures and other media to create an interactive product.

Participants can go to the website and register their own account or “stream” and invite friends in their online social circles to participate by submitting their own media to tell a story in a slideshow module.  Participants can also add tags and map locations for easier navigation.  Viewers are able to look at the stream and see other streams that took place at the same time or at the same location.  So far, many of the streams represent an array of the Egyptian experience, ranging from press freedom, women’s rights to even some underwater humor.  Pretty cool, right!

This project is supported by the Tribeca New Media Fund, and Mehta and Elayat are hoping to fully launch Groupstre.am in the next few months.

Filed under Entrepreneurship, Facebook, Films and filmmaking, Flickr, Middle East, Online Journalism, Twitter, Video, YouTube Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Final Thoughts on the Year in Digital Activism 2011

December 27, 2011 Leave a Comment

A milestone year in digital activism is finally coming to a close.  A few weeks ago we asked you what your thoughts were on the best acts of protest this year.  Below are the winners of our contest who will be receiving a Flip UltraHD Video Camera.

“The love in my heart I felt for my brothers in Tunisia was amazing.  Watching from far away, I felt I was right there with my brothers in the streets [on YouTube].  The images were powerful because it showed the frustration of the people and their determination to see political change immediately.  I am sad everyday that Mohamed Bouazizi is no longer with us and died the way he did, but I will always be grateful for him for starting the revolution for change.  Mohamed must remind us that it only takes one person to get the ball rolling.”

- Nassir El-Bahri, Beirut, Lebanon

“I was incredibly touched by the protests this year on behalf of the socially and economically disenfranchised.  When I learned about the story of Troy Davis, I was so profoundly touched by his story, that I told my friends and family on Twitter and Facebook and my blog to sign the e-petition to keep him alive.  It was the first time in my life I felt motivated to be an online activist because I knew deep down in my heart that he wasn’t guilty of the crime.  And I think watching the Arab Spring from my TV and following it on Twitter showed me how simple it was to stand up against injustice.”

- Monique Lynn Johnson, Mobile, Alabama, USA

“I was laid off and have been unemployed for two years, and I felt really angry at my government and big corporations right now.  So there was something about the Occupy Wall Street movement that moved me.  I visited the tent city in my area a few times on my way to my temp job and talked to people there who were also like me.  I wasn’t able to camp out there, but I stayed in touch with everything going on there on Live Stream, YouTube and Facebook, and felt like I was there in spirit.  I also talked with others online about my predicament, and felt I was doing my part in the smallest way I could.”

-Drew Fatton, Vancouver, Canada

“I am excited to see what happens on the Korean peninsula now that Kim Jong-Il has passed.  A major protest this year that went under the radar was the mass anti-FTA protest in South Korea.  I am originally from Seoul, but currently go to university in Washington DC, when protests began.  I was amazed to see such little attention the American media gave to KORUS because in my opinion, it is the worst thing in US trade policy since NAFTA.  Many of my Korean friends are worried about how the policy will affect both Koreans and Americans negatively in the long run.  However, when the video footage of the thousands of people protesting the FTA in Seoul got on YouTube, I retweeted them to my American friends to let them know how US policy decisions affect others around the world.  My American friends were shocked because they didn’t even know about the FTA.  This year in social media and revolution has really opened many eyes.  I want to see the next online battle go to North Korea.”

- Esther Lee, Washington D.C & Seoul, South Korea

Filed under Accountability/Transparency, Americas, Asia, Facebook, Global, Middle East, Mobile Phones, Online Journalism, Tech Life, Twitter, Video, YouTube Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Why Journalists Should Advocate for Digital Expression

December 13, 2011 Leave a Comment

Martin von den Driesch © 2011

Photo by Martin von den Driesch © 2011

Yemeni journalist and activist Tawakel Karman (above) won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize “for [her] non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights [and] full participation in peace-building work.”  She shares the award with Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee  for their equally deserved work on women’s rights.

Karman is the first Yemeni, the first Arab woman,and the second Muslim woman to win a Nobel Prize and the youngest Nobel Peace Laureate to date.  She is also possibly the first Nobel Peace Laureate to win through her advocacy of digital activism.  At the age of 32, Karman’s activism has not only made an impact on the Arab Spring, but she may have also set the tone for how journalists can support free speech.

In 2005 Karman co-founded Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC) to help protect the rights of other Yemeni women journalists.  She has been a target of the Yemeni government because of her refusal to accept the Ministry of Information’s rejection of WJWC’s application to legally create a newspaper and a radio station.  In 2007 her organization began supporting text messaging news services, which had been tightly controlled by Yemen’s Press Law of 1990.

WJWC released a report in 2007 that documented Yemeni abuses of press freedom since 2005.   In 2009, she criticised the Yemeni government for harassing journalists.  Since 2007 Karman has set up a tent and led weekly demonstrations in Sana’a (sounds like the first Occupy site?!).  She played an instrumental role in the Yemeni uprising, which called for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign.  After much protesting, Saleh signed an agreement in November that called for him to relinquish office by early next year.

The case in Yemen should remind us all to not take our liberties for granted, and to be a strong advocate for those who don’t have those same liberties.  For that, we congratulate Tawakel Karman for her digital activism.

Filed under Middle East, Online Journalism, Text Mesaging Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Arab Social Media Use Drastically Increased in 2011, Report Says

June 8, 2011 Leave a Comment

In the second edition of the Arab Social Media Report, produced by the Dubai School of Government’s Governance and Innovation Program, social media use – Facebook and Twitter specifically – has seen “exponential growth” in the Middle East since January. This is due largely to the many recent political uprisings in the region.

Key Findings:

  • The total number of Facebook users in the Arab world stands at 27,711,503 (as of April 5, 2011), up from 21,377,282 (January 5, 2011), having almost doubled since the same time last year (14,791,972 in April 2010).
  • Youth (between the ages of 15 and 29) make up around 70% of Facebook users in the Arab region, indicating a slight increase in the number of users over 30 years old since the end of 2010.
  • The estimated number of active Twitter users in the Arab region at the end of March 2011 was 1,150,292.
    Multiplying by the ratio of total users to active users above (an average of 200 million/35 million = 5.7), we
    get a total Twitter population of 6,567,280.
  • The most popular trending hashtags across the Arab region in the first quarter were #egypt (with 1.4 million
    mentions in the tweets generated during this period) #jan25 (with 1.2. million mentions), #libya (with
    990,000 mentions), #bahrain (640,000 mentions), and protest (620,000)
  • Female participation in Facebook usage remains glaringly low. Even though the percentage of female users has risenslightly in the region (to 33.5%), the percentage of female users globally still remains significantly higher (at 61%), andis growing at a faster rate.

“The role of social media in the uprisings sweeping the Arab world has been under assessment during 2011. The level of social media’s contribution to the buildup of the uprisings is still debatable… One thing that is certain is that given the region’s young population and increasing penetration rates, social media will continue to play a growing role in political, societal and economic developments in the Arab region.”

Filed under Facebook, Middle East, Text Mesaging, Twitter, Uncategorized, Video Tagged with , ,

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