TH!NK 3 - Developping World

TH!NK3 - Official Trailer from European Journalism Centre on Vimeo.

I cannot tell  how privileged I am to be invited to the third edition of TH!NK in Brussels this March! Very impressed with Diego's blog from last edition I applied to take part in this years competition which resulted in an invitation! I really hope Diego will be there this year too!

During the Like Minds 2010 yesterday I flagged up the difference between journalism and blogging as way of presenting facts, where bloggers focus on opinions, and journalists created edited and checked content (very, very simplified distinction, nonetheless valid when it comes to building trust around delivery of facts and looking at citizen journalism and where that fits in). In response to that I was faced with different look at it - where journalism is a profession, blogging is about the form of presenting content - I feel a bit weary of this distinction, but probably because I know more of blogging than journalism and somehow I feel my point was made based on content not form. Jeff Jarvis is writing a blog - yes, but its content is private and opinionated, as opposed to what he posts in press (yes, cheekily linking to someone who is actually posting about the issue himself;). Comparing profession to a form was not my intention, on the contrary I talked purely about content. When we talked about it with bloggers and journalists in Cairo it became apparent that journalists are worried about the impact blogging (as activity, not form) will have on press in those challenging times, when news needs to re-evaluate their business model. I am happy to see leading bloggers working with journalists and vice versa. I am happy to see increase in importance of trust in building on-line presence of a blogger. I am happy to see journalists involved in citizen journalism. And I am very happy that Global Voices is there providing quite unique twist channelling the citizen journalists and bloggers content, because mainstream media starts to refer to it to enhance the perspectives on events - which at the end of the day is the ultimate aim.

I am glad that my point generated discussion though! I am happy to see every single instance of questioning ones opinions and I really hope that TH!NK will give me a chance for more of that;)

Stay tuned for more updates!

GV Post - Poland: Government Approves Proposal to Create Registry of Banned Websites and Services

Yesterday (19.01.10) the Polish government accepted the proposal to create a Registry of Banned Websites and Services. We wrote about the lack of transparency surrounding the creation of this law earlier this year on Global Voices. Yesterday's decision has generated a wave of protests on-line. The leading voice on the case, Piotr Waglowski, aka Vagla, author of a blog devoted to law and Internet issues [PL], posted an article the same day, in which he explained the legal procedures the proposal still faces before it receives a final approval. At this stage, the creation of the Registry of Banned Websites and Services has been officially proposed, but still needs approval of several governing bodies. In order to position this situation on the global arena, Vagla also points his readers to similar cases of breach of human rights by governments of other countries. Finally, he mentions that prime minister can expect letters from the public on the topic.

Vagla writes [PL]:

Mr Prime Minister can expect also letters prepared as a result of co-operation of several non-governmental organisations. One of those letters points out the lack of consultation with specialists in the field, another one the need to respect the basic rights in the legislative process. What will the Prime Minister do with those letters, I have no idea. It seems to be only the beginning of “determined actions” on the government's behalf.

One of the commentators of the post, michuk, points out that this proposal has a strong chance to be approved, so protest is required:

The law will be most probably quickly passed by the chamber of deputies - so it's time to act. I have written a LETTER TO PRESIDENT of RP convincing him to veto the law.

He is linking to the letter [PL] he wrote to the President himself, posted on stopcenzurze.wikidot.com [stopcensorship.wikidot.com] website, along with signatures of the supporters (NGO activists, professors, businessmen, lawyers, politicians, editors and bloggers), who signed this version of the protest with their actual names and links to their sites. Protesters have set up a Facebook fan page named ‘Stop Censorship‘ [PL], joined so far by more than 200 fans.

Reactions to the developments appeared on blogs, Flaker.pl, in comments to mainstream media articles as well as on Facebook, where people who feel strongly about freedom of speech and free access to the internet unite in protests.

Norbertrabarbar's reaction [PL] on Gazeta.pl's forum reflects the general mood of the public:

One cannot gamble? Not even on foreign portals? And what, we will have a list of sites we cannot visit, like in China?

And 6 hrs to unplug the website…so companies must have 24/7 admins…

I start to be scared of this system. Soon in order to get access to Internet one will need to send in an application form…

Kylax1 points out [PL] the uselessness of the governmental proposal:

In most developed Chinese censorship even teenagers can avoid it easily. Ideas of Tusk will not stop anyone apart from accidental gamblers.

Weegee touches upon [PL] the global nature of censorship thread:

I think the problem is deeper than our stupid authorities. And the worst bit is the fact there is no one we could report to on the breach of human rights, since this behaviour is becoming a trend and standard globally, so international tribunals will not do a thing (they would not risk creating a precedent of this type).

Witchinster opposes [PL]:

Poles will not give up if Tusk introduces censorship. There is TOR, there are systems allowing people to create an underground Polish Internet. It reminds me of the situation during the Second World War, when young adventurous Poles had to fight for what was theirs. It's a pity, though, that now a Pole is fighting a Pole.

Already yesterday heads of three Polish Internet associations - the Polish IT Association, the Polish Chamber of IT and Telecommunications, and Modern Poland Foundation - sent an open letter to Prime Minister Tusk, referring to the planned Internet censorship. Document is publicly available here (in .pdf format, PL).

Blackout Europe Polska is promoting freedom of the Polish internet and is planning [PL] a demonstration for Jan. 23 in Warsaw:

Demonstration: 23.01.2010 – 12:00 – Castle Square in Warsaw. Demonstration will most probably move to the Parliament. We welcome everyone, and most of all those who care for the future of the Polish Internet.

They are currently spreading the word on their blog [PL], but also on Twitter [PL] and Facebook [PL]. The poster with info on the demonstration circulates on the web and starts appearing on blogs [PL].



Wykop (the Polish version of Digg) welcomes its readers with three links on their main page related to the issue: here [PL] (272 digs), here [PL] (315 digs) and here [PL] (280 digs). Blackout Europe's call for demonstration on Wykop [PL] alone has generated 483 digs. All of those links are followed up by comments entirely supporting the protests and expressing disagreement with the government's proposal.

Facebook users gather at the ‘Government Should Leave the Internet Alone' fan page [PL] and are feeding links related to the issue.

Ewelina Dziubińska  sums it all up [PL] on her blog when inviting her readers to take part in the demonstration in Warsaw [PL]:

Together we can really achieve more, all we need is the desire to do so. Lack of reaction is really a sign of acceptance, so let's show that this generation will not allow manipulation and censorship.

For the next few days, if not weeks, we can expect more reactions on the topic from the Polish blogosphere.

This post has been originally written for and posted at Global Voices Online.

GV Post - Poland: Charity Initiative Criticised by a Catholic Radio Station

Today is the day when Poland unites in an enormous charity event called The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity [referred to as WOŚP], organized for the 18th time by Jurek Owsiak to help children with cancer. The Orchestra organises a series of events, on-line auctions and other fund-raising activities all around the country, but also outside of Poland (here is the list of its official centres). All this is to enable the management of medical programs, donation of medical equipment, and general support of children who suffer from cancer.

The beginning of 2010 was marked by preparations to the next great charity weekend, which is held yearly. However, this time there was also strong criticism of its transparency by listeners of Radio Maryja, a Catholic radio station led by Father Rydzyk. Accusations of money expenditure and other aspects of the fund-raising event were posted on the blog [PL] of Radio Maryja fans recently.

The first quoted listener was Zofia from Krzeszowice [PL]:

And once again in January they will start Owsiak's Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (…) And when it comes to Owsiak he never really clarified what he does with the rest of the money, apart from buying a few bits of equipment. And what about the rest of the money? - Well, he should admit what he does with it, because it's corruption, just like now where we have this criminal committee. He could do with one too. Someone should finally do something about it, because it's unacceptable, this whole playing up. They ask kids to get out of schools, those kids freeze, and secondly - it's a misuse of those kids. So this man could re-think it and simply stop.

Another listener, Daniel from Sochaczew, phoned the radio station, saying [PL]:

We do know what is going on out there. For example, Sochaczew received a new ambulance. So what? Quite recently a woman died, she called an ambulance, which did not arrive on time.

The blog post quotes other examples of negative criticism, as well as a few positive comments, adding that those occurred rarely. It also generated a series of comments on the blog itself.

Arab reacts saying [PL]:

Exactly…they pick on Owsiak and Farther Rydzyk himself does not explain how the yearly donation money is spent…on his cars and travels…if Owsiak would buy himself an Audi a6, everyone would shout for the Orchersta's money…but Rydzyk can afford it, just as he did not explain where the money from dockyard collections go

There are also voices, like Anita, supporting [PL] the tonality of this post:

You do not have to be smart to know that EVIL WAS ALWAYS LOUD and what Mr Owsiak does and how loud and too colourful and too evil manipulating people's and teenagers' innocence is..!!!

Two mainstream media articles published by Gazeta.pl generated approximately 800 comments so far, the majority of which harshly criticises Radio Maryja's post.

Oghana7's statement supports the criticism of Radio Maryja, writing [PL]:

Are episcopacy and bishops not ashamed to have a radio of this type and that type of a brother? Congratulations to the sect, which poisons hearts and brains of naive Poles.

pan_i_wladca_mx reacts [PL] to accusations that the Orchestra is not delivering enough of medical equipement:

Just one question, the adjustment of hospitals to EU standards seems to be the government's duty, no? and not the Orchestra's? Did Owsiak ever promise to do so? Let's not confuse tasks of the Orchestra with those of our state! The fact that the Orchestra would buy a little bit of equipment does not mean it will finance the national health system.

I generally do not know if it's a scam or not, but I go for the argument that other countries follow him, and when my friend's son was in a hospital unit for newborn pathologies in Lublin basically half of the equipment was marked with the Orchestra's heart-shaped stickers.

Blogger Grzegorz Piechuła responds [PL] to the criticism towards the Orchestra's high expenditure on marketing:

WOŚP collects a huge amount exactly due to advertisements. It's a commercial undertaking. Hence the lights and the light to the skies. But as far as I know, this is the best way to use modern marketing, branding and consumer culture. Not because of the generated cash, but the good cause. This is why with all my heart I do encourage everyone to drop at least a few coins into the WOŚP boxes.

You can follow live updates and the current amount of donations on the Polish website of the Orchestra [PL]. They are also present on Facebook, where you can donate money via a dedicated application. To learn more about their activities, check out the About section here.

This post has been originally written for and posted at Global Voices Online.

I Media, Skopje, Macedonia

The reason why I travelled to Skopje was a very kind invitation from GVers – @ieli and @razvigor (working on a daily basis for Metamorphosis Foundation) to I Media conference dedicated to discussion around state of traditional and new media in Macedonia. First day was based on panel discussions, whereas second gave all attendees a chance to actually discuss the state, challenges and future of media in the region.
To cut the story short I will only share my own observations and learnings, as you can find the rest on their site here. I do apologise if I am wrong at any point – do correct me. I only had one day to come to those initial conclusions.
First of all I am honoured that I witnessed the times when Macedonian media is just at the verge of social media revolution in a very unique way: opening itself to the global arena, sharing regional developments and passion for spoken/written word. I saw a country where old media sees the revolution coming, is weary of full usage of  the new tools as – sadly for some – they will advocate freedom of speech. I do not think that (mentioned by a local worker of press industry) manipulated photos posted in newspapers will be accepted without comments for long. I do not think ladies like @Arheoblog will need to face potential difficulties with their brave initiatives to disclose unlawful behaviours, this without network of strong, supportive voices from her community and from outside of it. I do not think global, English speaking social media will appear distant and slightly patronising for long. As soon as the regional voices, organisations, NGO's and other initiatives enter the space with strong commitment to make a change – and realise the true power of social media -we will all see the big shift some are so scared off, and others impatiently await.

From the discussions during the conference my first impression was that the is a strong feeling of passiveness – for instance why would a young generation of users expect Wikipedia to come up with ideas on how to improve the content of the site it this particular project is based on open, public contributions and almost per definition is there to take ownership of it?
I felt it was crucial to remind everyone the main characteristics of social media there and then, and luckily I had a second during the open discussion on the second day of the event:

• Social media is open and transparent – there is no space for pretending to be who you are not.


• Social media requires you to be genuine, thus gives you power to use or misuse the potential of building trusted voices and brands – you can easily, for free show the local and global community who you are, what you do, what are the things you are passionate about and what are our opinions. As NGO you have a great potential to introduce your work, and if you link it to activities for your cause you can  promote the transparency of your spendings. You can join the discussion, you can listen to the needs or your target audience and establish a dialogue with your audiences.


• Social media is social – you build personal, hopefully long term relationships with people representing themselves, but also organisations and brands, so you can use it for networking, informing, searching information, or co-operation.


• Social media is about contributing and sharing – you need to put a side the financial motivation here, because this community is build on social capital; you are almost expected to share openly and to contribute meaningfully to the discussion. Take a test: take 10 bits of information you own and put it on paper – look at the list and decide which one can you give away easily? Which one would be the second? Can you give away the 5th one without any expectations to gain smth back? Can you give away the 10th, the most unique and valuable idea of yours? Why not? Yes? Why would you do it? Why would you not mind to do it? Why would you loose on sharing it? Once you get used to the idea of giving away the 10th idea you are just about there to join this community;) You will also be expected to cooperate – to comment on others blogs with valuable opinions, to add content and to commit your skills to projects where those can be needed. Why? Because if you do so, you will become a respected personality and trusted voice – and when it is you who needs help, you can count on the rest of us!


• Social media is free but might need a financial injection – when it comes to NGO's in social media I totally understand that we are tempted to think of grants and donations, however vast amount of social media branding, communication and cooperation can be done for free. Actually if you use free tools, those tend to be used by large communities and are enhanced with more and more networking options. This should b enough for a start. Once you have your on-line presence and community you can use it for projects which do involve financial investment to enhance your brand and activities (events, self-hosted platforms or simply fees for maintaining your presences). But when you're at this stage you should have a clear idea of how much money you need because you are using the tools already and know which bit of your project needs further development so it should be easier to put a proposal together and pitch for money as well as predict results, measure risks.


• Social media is not a monster – I am preaching about social media because yes, I do believe it's extremely powerful world with very appealing mechanisms and so far the most supportive, creativity and achievement focussed communities I have seen. But please do not forget there is always a human being at the end of the line. It

So learn to listen, talk, share, contribute and co-operate. Join global arena (not because it's better, but because it is there to listen and contribute to your great ideas too!). Do it openly. Be brave in your honesty and goals. And do not forget: social media is tools to empower us, at the end of the day it's always about people – incorporate this virtual reality in to your every day life and use both wisely.

I really trust the ambitious bloggers from Macedonia are gradually heading towards those realisations and with their initiatives will change the face of local traditional media and support their NGO's in their wonderful work. Mind me - some of the local bloggers are now aware of the fact IT IS ALREADY HAPPENING THERE;)

Thank you for the invitation!

Update: here is an article on the conference from Macedonian press (here in Macedonian).

Retrospective

For the last few weeks I was working on few things - a blogger interview, though this time on the other side - I was interviewed by my dear fellow GVer, Juan Arellano, in series featuring people working for Global Voices. I poested already about the site, community and how it enriches my life, so I am happy that celebration of 100th post on GV Polska we could collaborate on this text. It's good to have all my current initiatives in one piece, and good to know that others share my thoughs. Here is the entire post.

As a result of this post I was pointed to this OSI initiative and suggested some new, brilliant ideas for Barcamp Transparency! Amazing, how blogging makes my life more exciting.

I have also met and had a chat with a great ethics blogger, Emmanuel Tchividjian. It all started with my comment under his post on recent arrest of Roman Polanski, but since we are in touch now I hope we can collaborate. I will try to think of few interesting posts for you, but in the meantime I strongly advise you to check his blog! It's worth it!:)

I usually do not post about topics directly related to work, but as this one has many of my friends involved and is interesting for everyone to some extent involved in social media, I decided to link you to it. It's called WOM Expert Groups and is a monthly chat about social media in different regions. It's open, friendly and fun! It's a great place to learn about events and developmemnts happening in different parts of the globe. You can always see the recent discussions here.

Tomorrow evening and on Thursday morning I am in London representing Global Voices and meeting specialists of media, journalism and citizen journalism to discuss few opportunities for government to move to the new levels of communication on-line. I am really interested in this one, and in the fact I will meet personally another GVer and listen to Skype session with Jeff Jarvis (whose posts on ethics were my starting point when I decided to move in the direction of social media ethics, whose words prepared me for presentation in Cairo, and whose attitute towards blogging is an example of what transparency is about). Promise to post my thoughts on Twitter while it happens or later here!