'blog a life, live a blog'

Sylwia Presley

January 2010
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THINK3

..to see what they think of us! I have spent most of my free evening time today on reading posts on TH!NK3 and prepare[Continue]

Basically what you need to do, is to record your daily life tomorrow and upload it to YouTube. Sounds like a piece of[Continue]

I do not think I looked at the role of arts in expressing protests on-line, so here is an action worth mentioning:[Continue]

Social media inspirations weekly #3

Written by admin on 22 January 2010

This week I was busy and very, very troubled…I guess there was only few topics that actually grabbed my attention and if you look at my blog posts from this week, you will find only one topic: the protest of Polish blogosphere against proposal to create Registry of Banned Websites and Services. See, I even disregard my fresh, but settled structure of this post…anyway. Here are the posts that inspired me the most when it comes to this particular issue. Apart from all the initiatives I already described in previous posts, there were few creative reactions to proposed censorship in Poland. This is a visual representation of what the history of Polish web might look like, faily soon (author Tomasz Smykowski):

And here is a song on the topic by Martin Lechowicz, basically saying

‘You who care for our safety and protect our dreams,

We would like to express our gratefullness,

We – your faithful dogs!

So thank you, good lord, for you put the muzzles on us, like on dogs,

Thank you, big thanks to you…’

Another song, very short one, posted by strong voice in the entire issue - VaGla‘, refers to a melody from old Polish film called ‘Banned Songs’:

First two words are there to allow anyone add any text and create a song, so it goes like this:

An axe, a mattock, a keyboard, who will get to the second term [refering to political career],

An axe, a mattock, a seal, a knife, Registry of Banned Sites is just behind the corner.

I set up a Twitter list for people involved and I am sure that there will be more posts from me on that, as tomorrow is the day of protest in Warsaw, but somehow I was surrounded by posts on freedom of speech this week – maybe we get to notice those, not others, once we get stuck in a topic?

My fellow GVer based in Bahrain experiences blocked website on a daily basis, and this time she became very upset about it calling her post ‘Shut down the Internet…Please‘. @Euan pointed me to this post talking about whether we get involved in fund-raising for fame, and if so – is it really so bad? Rebecca MacKinnon put it nicely in her blog post on Google in China:

‘If having a free, open and just society depends on purity of motive, God help us all.[...] I’ve got a suggestion: Why don’t we focus on figuring out how to maximize the incentives for a lot more CEO’s and government leaders around the world to support a free and open global Internet – for selfish reasons? Reasons like brand reputation, market share, long-term profit, voter support, political legitimacy, economic competitiveness, and geopolitical influence?’

I personally agree with the statement that fund-raising can be, actually should be motivated by some kind of incentive – not pure willingness to help. Why? Because everything in this world has a reason and consequence! Because if each of us, crazy volunteers spends all day helping others for free, our children will starve and we won’t be able to do it for long! And because it would lead to chaos. Finally, as Chris MacDonald points out mentioning another aspect of donations writing about credit cards companies resigning from their own charges from Haiti donations: charitable actions are not obligations! It pretty much applies to any type of charitable commitment, don’t you think?

There were two ‘celebrity’ mentions that caught my eye. One – related to charity actually – was Obama’s first REAL tweet, which made me smile. Second, Bill Gates joining Twitter, follower by a huge Twitter crash – which also made me smile, as I missed the whale;)

Less amusing Twitter story was related to a joke posted by Paul Chambers, followed by his arrest (“Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!”). I must say it did generate a bit of discussion in GV community, and reminded me of a day when I was pretty upset about a bag left in the Didcot Railway Station’s main hall. I remember being very paranoid about it, even though if was pointed out to a local employee, who did not react, as it belonged to his colleague. I would like to know what you think…it’s obviously a new cultural meme we are living, related to all the terrorist attacks and strong propaganda against terrorism globally. Would it upset you that you cannot watch a DVD on belly dance on your laptop on the way to the States because the guards assume it’s related to Muslim culture? It would upset me, and I kind of feel bad when a similiar alerting thought strikes me.

On a less serious note! Someone actually bothered counting this> (If you printed Twitter…) I like those Twitter stories, but I found the newest one a bit..boring?;) But hey, sometimes it is worth looking at things from different points of view. Specially if you are addicted, like our GV collegue, Jillian who decided to go for Twitter detox this week. Following the trend as well as inspired by the new viral, I decided to leave FarmVille (to great distress of some of my very close friends – seriously!). I think I even joined Anti-FarmeVille FB page…

I think it was also result of the sudden change in my work pattern – rather shocking! I am able to work and enjoy the view o f our lovely garden, in pyjamas and YES, without make-up. I did have a little bit of a mix up, but I think it’s all a question of time management. Which also leads to another piece I want to show you, as some of you asked me how I manage ‘all this stuff’.

There is also a new, good copy of social media ethics code, prepared by “Federal Association of Digital Economy” in Germany, basing ethics on respect, objectivity, accessibility, credibility, honesty and legal matters. Do read it, it’s a good study of how social media marketers should and should not think.

I would like to finish with a small tribute to a Polish blogger, whose copies always, but always move me deeply. She has posted on Haiti this describing her reactions to the earth quake but also pointing out the fact that it has not been the most beautiful and appreciated place in the world even before the crisis! Now, if you click here, I will send you to the Google translation of it – worth a read – but please note: some of the photos are shocking…from before the hell kicked off. I hope that this ‘Tear for Haiti‘ will make you think!

Have a light weekend!