Translation of Blogs and Society Presentation

Blogs and Society: Cases and stories of how blogs have changed the lives of some human beings. Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

A need to tell Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

Reasons to blog 1. To communicate with others 2. To vent 3. To inform 4. As a journal of notes 5. As a record of progress 6. As an information tool for an organization 7. To maintain contact with other people 8. To meet new people 9. To receive feedback on what we write 10. As a personal diary 11. To discuss a hobby and generate a community around it 12. For money 13. For activism and to make denouncements 14. For fun 15. For product marketing 16. And many more ... Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

Who Blogs? Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

An 8-year-old from Bolivia Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

A 95-year-old Spanish woman Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

Young people in prison Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

A girl who lives in Iraq Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

A fashion aficionado Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

Universities Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

NGO’s and Businesses Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

The “mother” of Harry Potter Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

Google Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

The President of Iran? Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

Darth Vader Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

Me Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

Us Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

You? Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

In order to …

New hobby (or addiction)

Learn from what has happened to others and ask them about their experiences

Sensation and creation of community independent of distance

Creative venting

Dissemination of information in real time

Global Awareness

Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

Hobby (or addiction) Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

To share experiences Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

Communities Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

Information in Real Time Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

Even in places where information is censored Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

Even if it’s in another language Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

Impact

We all discovered the Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton scandal, thanks to Matt Drudge, in his blog “The Drudge Report”

Coverage of catastrophes (Asian Tsunami, Katrina, Earthquakes) from a human point of view.

Campaigns to free political prisoners

To discover unofficial versions of world events that offer information from diverse perspectives.

Campaigns to gather funds or goods for a common goal

Discovering stories without the intervention of local media

Citizen Journalism Juliana Rincón MedalloBloguero 2007

What to blog about?

What makes your life different from others

Some event you've attended

To comment on local, national, or international news

What you like or don't like about where you live

What you're passionate about

Your hobbies

Poems

Photos

What you found on another web page

Whatever topic comes to you

Cases:

The freeing of Tasneem Khalil in Bangladesh last week following the pressure of bloggers around the world at embassies, national newspapers, and via protests: more than 100 posts were written demanding his freedom in less than 24 hours while the major media hadn't written anything about it. One blogger, Jason Paz, commented:

It is of the utmost importance that we ordinary bloggers speak out against the injustice done to Tasneem Khalil.

Each of us may only have a small readership, but the effect can be worldwide and have an impact on Bangladeshi officials. Oppressors thrive picking off individuals in the darkness of the night. We want them to know the whole world is watching.

We want their kids to confront them over breakfast. “Daddy, did you do this?”

From a Blogger in Prison

You know something? Even though I can't see you, I feel that you can all hear us when we write. This fills us all with something strange that I can't define with words, but it makes us feel good. The truth is that you all calm us down a little. You make us forget some of the things that happen to us here inside [prison].

Thanks to all of you for reading us and supporting us in all of this. Thanks for giving us advice. I'll give a piece of advice to all of you who are passing by my situation: be strong! This is the end of the road and every day it is closer to when this penitence is over.

http://www.dabura8.blogspot.com/

In Egypt

Bloggers have put name and face to state security torturers and therefore the battle became personal. We demonstrated in the streets with posters of high rank security officials who supervised sexual harassment of female protesters in May 2005 and those who tortured micro-bus driver Emad el Kabir, and the ones who tortured blogger Sharqawi, and other notorious torture video heros. Their photos and videos were all over the web, their names became public.

http://norayounis.com/2007/05/11/240

Nepal

Radio Free Nepal maintained a journal of what was happening in Nepal during the taking of power from King Gyanedra in February 2005, when the government decided to block all media transmissions, blocking not just the ISP's, but also stopping all telecommunication services. Eight days later, basic telecommunications were working again. Many people used email to ask about what had happened and the entries from this journal were made into an anonymous blog published remotely with outside support to tell what the government did not want to say.

http://freenepal.blogspot.com

Bahrain

For example, when the three moderators of Bahrainonline.org were arrested in February of 2005, we wrote about it in our blogs so that the news would be disseminated both around the world and faster within Bahrain. Reporters without Borders had already written about it a day after the arrests. I think that all of the international attention focused on the case had to do with the case had to do with the decision by the government to free the three a couple of weeks afterward. But more importantly, our blogs have broken the monopoly of the government in communicating the news of Bahrain to the outside world.