Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales http://1001tales.posterous.com tracing the roots & tendrils of storytelling today posterous.com Sun, 27 Feb 2011 08:30:00 -0800 Smart Take on a Changing World: Humans Are The Routers http://1001tales.posterous.com/smart-take-on-a-changing-world-humans-are-the http://1001tales.posterous.com/smart-take-on-a-changing-world-humans-are-the
Media_httptctechcrunc_ixdoq

Excerpt from Shervin Pishevar's article on TechCrunch:

On January 7, 2010 I was ushered into a small private dinner with Secretary Hillary Clinton at the State Department along with the inventor of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google and a few others. We were there to talk about technology and 21st Century Diplomacy. As we mingled I noticed next to me the small table that Thomas Jefferson wrote the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence. I was inspired by the history around us as we discussed the unfolding history before us. I was sitting in front of Secretary Clinton and when she asked me a question I said, “Secretary Clinton, the last bastion of dictatorship is the router.” That night seeded some of the ideas that were core to Secretary Clinton’s important Internet Freedoms Speech on January 21, 2010.

Fast forward almost exactly one year later to January 25, 2011—a day that shall live in history in the company of dates like July 4, 1776. Egypt’s decision to block the entire Internet and mobile telecommunications network was one of the first salvos in a war of electronic munitions. In this new frontier humans are the routers and armed with new technologies they can never be blocked or silenced again.

I was staying up for days sharing and tweeting information as they happened. I had two close personal friends of mine in Egypt who were passing me information when they could. The day Egypt blocked the internet and mobile networks my mind went back to what I had said to Secretary Clinton. The only line of defense against government filtering and blocking their citizens from freely communicating and coordinating via communication networks was to create a new line of communications technologies that governments would find hard to block: Ad hoc wireless mesh networks. I called the idea OpenMesh and tweeted it.."

read the full post on techcrunch.com

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/2024188/Screen_Shot_2012-06-07_at_5.01.45_PM.png http://posterous.com/users/3sOfsD8qBu5X Siobhan O'Flynn narrativenow Siobhan O'Flynn
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 04:33:00 -0800 Brilliant: Crowdsourced translations get the word out from Libya - tech - 25 February 2011 - New Scientist http://1001tales.posterous.com/brilliant-crowdsourced-translations-get-the-w http://1001tales.posterous.com/brilliant-crowdsourced-translations-get-the-w

The oasis town of Al Khufrah lies deep in the Sahara desert in the far south-east of Libya. Lying almost 1000 kilometres from its nearest sizeable neighbour, it is not somewhere foreign journalists tend to visit.

But on 23 February, news from the town reached the English-speaking world. "Greetings this is an urgent message from Kufra," said the anonymous source. "Young people have taken complete control of the city, they hoisted the flag of Libya and Gaddafi down the flag."

The message arrived by an ingenuous route. It started with a voice message in Arabic left on a phone line operated by Google. Software managing the line published the message on Twitter, from where it was picked up by the website Alive in Libya. The tweet went out to Alive's army of volunteers, who provided an English translation for the site. It is just one of around 170 reports, from videos to tweets to audio recordings, that Alive in Libya has translated since it started on 19 February.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/2024188/Screen_Shot_2012-06-07_at_5.01.45_PM.png http://posterous.com/users/3sOfsD8qBu5X Siobhan O'Flynn narrativenow Siobhan O'Flynn
Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:47:00 -0800 We Live in Amazing Times: Crowdsourced Documentary 'One Day on Earth' Yields Footage Out of Libya http://1001tales.posterous.com/we-live-in-amazing-times-crowdsourced-documen http://1001tales.posterous.com/we-live-in-amazing-times-crowdsourced-documen

“One Day On Earth,” an online project designed to capture video footage of life around the world on a single day — October 10, 2010 — is now turning into a host for videos and photos documenting current events in Libya. The country, which has become a hotbed of violence amidst a revolt against leader Muammar Gaddafi, is largely closed off from foreign media outlets, meaning submissions from Libyan members of the “One Day On Earth” community provide unique perspectives of what’s taking place within the country’s borders.

Executive producer Brandon Litman says those behind “One Day On Earth” reached out a couple of weeks ago to community members in areas of conflict, asking them to report back with any information they could provide.

“Literally within 30 minutes of engaging the community, we heard back,” Litman says. “And we started getting information in within a couple of hours.”

Litman has blogged some of the footage that has come out of Libya so far. This includes a conversation between those organizing the Libyan uprising, images and video (embedded below) of a mass burial in the nation’s capital, Tripoli, and additional images of violence. The “One Day On Earth” team has used its media connections to its advantage, feeding some of the videos and images it receives to various outlets.

“We were in touch with a number of news sources as we were producing the 10-10-10 event,” Litman says, adding that the crew had contacts at the likes of Reuters, the BBC, CNN and more. “I actually saw the [Tripoli mass burial] clip on CNN’s [Anderson Cooper 360°].”

In fact, Litman says the burial footage has received the most traction out of the photos and clips “One Day On Earth” has sent to the media — based on the number of hits the blog post received, it seems that people in at least 93 countries have viewed the clip. And now, more people are signing up to join the site. In a February 24 e-mail, Litman said, “In the past 24 hours, we have had people from over 30 countries sign up to the ‘One Day On Earth’ community.” He feels this is a sign that the platform is going to evolve into a community where people share perspectives and stories on a more regular basis — not just stories that take place within the same 24-hour period.

Litman and his team are staying in touch with Libyan contributors through a variety of means, including via telephone and the Internet. They’re also trying to get satellite connections.

“I would say that the success ratio is about 50 to 1 for every attempt to actually get through. But we’re staying vigilant in making sure we’re in touch every single day in getting information about what’s happening,” Litman says, adding that they’re expecting more uploads and encouraging Libyan community members to continue feeding information and videos as long as they can do so safely. He also says it’s interesting that social media is usually first to knock down the walls placed in front of traditional media outlets.

“Social media, local filmmakers and citizens armed with cameras are a key source of information in today’s media, especially in situations like what is happening in Libya and the Middle East,” Litman says. “With filmmakers and video enthusiasts in every country in the world, we are uniquely positioned to help break that wall down when it comes up.”

Image courtesy of One Day On Earth

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/2024188/Screen_Shot_2012-06-07_at_5.01.45_PM.png http://posterous.com/users/3sOfsD8qBu5X Siobhan O'Flynn narrativenow Siobhan O'Flynn