citizen media

News Headlines Via SMS

Posted by CorinneRamey on May 31, 2008

Dr. Joel Selanikio believes in the value of the news. "It's one of my core beliefs that the more people know, the better decisions people are going to make," he said. Selanikio, the director of DataDyne.org, was recently awarded a Knight News Challenge grant for a project that distributes news on mobile phones.

Selanikio sat down with MobileActive for a discussion about his project. Selanikio isn't new to mobile phones. As director of DataDyne.org, he has used mobile phones for data collection with EpiSurveyor (read more about this in Wireless for Social Change: Trends in NGO Mobile Use.) He is also part of a consortium on mobile data collection, OpenROSA.

Streaming Video From Your Mobile: When the Mobile Becomes a Television

Posted by admin on Mar 24, 2008

Streaming video from your mobile almost feels like magic. A video taken on your mobile phone appears, in real time, on the web and even allows users to interact with the mobile phone user through real-time chat functions. "It's immediate, it's there, and it's one click away," Flixwagon CEO Eran Hess told the BBC in a recent video interview. "It's very easy to do."

MobileActive tested two streaming video applications, Qik and Flixwagon, to see how they measured up for use by nonprofits and advocacy organizations that want to document and feature video content in real time. Lastly, we discuss how streaming video can be used for social impact.

Images from Tibet

Posted by KatrinVerclas on Mar 16, 2008

Pictures and video out of Lhasa and Xiahe are slowly emerging, yet again initially mainly taken with camera phones and transmitted clandestinely across the border to transmit to a global audience.

mobile photo Lhasa

According to reports, mobile networks and Internet access have been restricted for the last few days. Anti-Chinese protests led by Buddhist monks spread to other cities after a violent crackdown by Chinese troups on Friday that may have left as many as 100 protesters dead. Protests began peacefully last Monday but turned violent yesterday. Human Rights Watch alleged Chinese security forces "beating protesters, firing live ammunition and surrounding the Ganden Drepung and Sera monasteries."

Tibet has been occupied by China since 1950.

Update: From Chinese Twitter clones, comments about Tibet.

Images courtesy of Tibetan Center for Human Rights

Posted by on Jan 01, 1970

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SMS as Information Channel in Post-Election Kenya

Posted by CorinneRamey on Jan 21, 2008

Post-election violence has exploded in Kenya in the wake of the December 27 presidential elections. Ethnic killings -- which today's New York Times suggests may have been carefully planned -- have increased, and estimates of the death toll range from 650 to over 1000. In the midst of this, people both in and outside the country are using mobile phones in innovative ways to communicate political knowledge and circumvent the media blackout.

At Election Time It's Mobile Phone Journalism in Kenya

Posted by CorinneRamey on Dec 22, 2007

When most mainstream media report on Kenya's upcoming elections, they focus on the perspectives of people in cities or urban areas. However, since this October citizen journalists using cell phones have reported on news and political perspectives from rural Kenyan communities. A new collaboration between Media Focus on Africa and the Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN) gives mobile phones to "Community Information Volunteers" to use as a reporting tool.

Reuters/Nokia Collaboration Has Potential for Citizen Journalists

Posted by CorinneRamey on Oct 26, 2007

Reuters and Nokia Research Center have teamed up to advance the usage of mobile journalism with the release of a new mobile toolkit and reporting try-out. Although the initiative is currently aimed at professional reporters, the project has implications for citizen journalists around the world.

Posted by on Jan 01, 1970

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Posted by on Jan 01, 1970

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