|
|
|
|
Blog |
|
« December 2005 | Main | February 2006 »
January 17, 2006
Support Iraqi BloggersInterview with Cecile Landman Cecile Landman is a Dutch freelance investigative journalist, who specializes in the facts behind the news. One of the areas she researches and works in is Italy, a country she is passionate about. Cecile has often said to me that she was born in the wrong part of Europe as her energetic character does not resonate well with the cold, Calvinist Dutch, and their similar meteorological condition. Yet, the Italian language and lifestyle can also be a culture that one inhabits and carries around, no matter where you are. And that’s what Celice does, when she logs on the Net. Since mid 2004 Cecile is in daily contact with Iraqi bloggers. Together with founder Jo van der Spek, Cecile forms the spill of Streamtime, an international support campaign for new media initiatives in Iraq. The work of Streamtime goes back to the nineties ‘tactical media’ concepts and initiatives, in particular Press Now, an Amsterdam-based support campaign for independent media in former Yugoslavia, founded in 1993. The scene around Press Now, closely connected to Internet provider xs4all and cultural centre De Balie, is also known for its efforts to keep the Belgrade radio station/Internet initiative and cultural hotspot B92 in the air and online, in particular during the Kosovo war and the NATO bombings of Serbia in 1999. Fast-forward four, five years and the situation looks pretty different. Efforts to support independent media and Internet initiatives in Iraq after the US-led invasion of 2003 have been quickly aborted because of hostage taking, killings and car bombs. One year after their arrival, NGOs and aid agencies had to pull out. Government agencies and foundations refused to allocate financial resources because they judged the situation too risky. By late 2004 hardly any media support work could be done inside Iraq anymore, even for the cynical reasons that added to the risks involved and the paucity of financial support, travel insurance had simply (and perhaps ironically) become insanely expensive. Workshops like the ones done by the Berlin-based group Streamminister have been held in Amman, Jordan since. After initial funding which was provided by, amongst others, the HIVOS Foundation, Streamtime no longer has any financial support or funding. In response to the deteriorating security situation, Streamtime gradually started to focus on online support of Iraqi bloggers, inside or outside the country. What Cecile shares with many of her Italian friends and colleagues is a warm interest in power structures behind the media spectacle. In the case of Italy we only need to mention the mafia, banks, the army, the Vatican and the P2 loge, and not to forget as well, of course, various fascist leagues. Enough to investigate--and a good school for spin watchers. GL: Cecile, could you describe us how an average blogging day of yours looks? Do you visit sites and follow links? How do you store and process all the information you find? CL: When I get up I start up the computer and the coffee machine simultaneously. Firstly I’d check some sites of the various bloggers that I am most curious about and familiar with. I am interested in their personal lives, but also how they write, how they play with different writing styles, and concepts of what ‘information’ constitutes according to them. I am looking for amazing stories and styles, not necessarily those that are most likely to reach mainstream media, but stories that can give insight how 'the Iraqi soul' is developing through all they're being confronted with, the immense and so destructive daily economical, political, military and every day violence. On a daily basis I’d visit at least a dozen Iraqi blogs. In addition, I check some specific Italian as well as international media sites, or specific news sites, varying from the big press-agencies to GNN (Guerilla News Network) to some more personal preferred ones, just for fun. I occasionally visit a Dutch site. There are also days that I visit no more than ten sites and that's it. Visiting Iraqi blogs has become an evolving ritual, together with but not necessarily parallel to the developments in the broader Iraqi blogosphere. I know quite a few inside stories from the Iraqi blogosphere and not all of them can be shared. Secrecy is absolutely inevitable. Through chats and bloggers who I have met personally, my insights also change and as a consequence some bloggers, in my eyes, have become 'mainstream' bloggers who I rarely visit anymore. Others are starting to provoke, or in 'the beginning' had a serious blog, then developed more provocative sites, sometimes alongside their more mainstream and less personally informative blog(s) and started to write more provocatively. Through different ways of writing they're testing what reactions they get onto their posts. Given the history of Iraq, this is already incredibly surprising. To me it is as if someone who was not allowed to talk, or use his vocals cords, for long, long years is finding ways to begin to talk with the outside world. Now they started communicating with the outside. When I first joined Streamtime, in June 2004, I followed a lot of Iraqi blogs AND their comment sections. That seemed the place where it all happened back then. Comments on one posting could run into the hundreds. Daily. Or to be more precise: nightly. What was most striking were the violent tones and attitudes in those debates. I was flabbergasted, and at the same time most fascinated. Also horrified. I started to mingle and join these discussions, with the aim to promote Streamtime, get involved and make some waves. I stopped doing that. Most of the time it gave the feeling of being smashed on the head with a baseball stickbat. "Masochism" said Iraqi Raed Jarrar and his Irani girlfriend Niki to me, both bloggers when they visited Amsterdam in November 2004. However, I learned a lot from the comment sections, and from there I followed a lot of links, of which 75% were crap, but the rest were useful. I store most of what I find and shouldn't forget to mention that it is all publicly stored on the Streamtime site itself, although Streamtime doesn’t have a search option. Other stuff goes to the Xer-files-blog, private mailboxes and a ‘good’ folder. The rest is stored and processed in my mind, and comes back in chats with other I-bloggers. GL: How do blogging and investigative journalism relate? At a first glance, they look oppositional, potentially supplementary practices. Whereas the investigative journalist works for months, if not years, to uncover a story, bloggers more look more like an army of ants that contribute to the great hive called ‘public opinion’. Bloggers prefer to post comments and rarely add new facts to a story. How do you look at this relation from the perspective of the investigative journalist? You are one of a very few that combine the two activities. Is blogging a secondary activity? Is it is useful anyway to create such hierarchies? CL: Journalists, and certainly the investigative types, need to make a living too. They can't put just anything on-line. Bloggers don't seem to bother too much about this, and that does create a conflict. Indeed, I work in both worlds. On my Xer-files blog I link to jokes and side-information that I can't post on the Streamtime site. Rarely, however, do I write an entry on it. I use my personal blog as a ‘megaphone’ for issues that I find interesting to store, like a public library. I started my blog almost by accident. I wanted to leave a comment on an Iraqi blog, but to do that I had to identify myself as a blogger. Having obtained my blogger ID, I immediately had a blog of my own, which was (and still is) primarily read by Iraqis and linked to Iraqi sites. At first, I tried to use it to link information from ex-Yugoslavia, -- about cartoonists and humor from Belgrade, stories about first web-experiences and information exchange in ex-Yugoslavia during the 90s war -- and make this material and information available for Iraqi readers. The blog was also used as a back-up for Streamtime when this site was cracked. Interestingly enough blogging is changing existing formats for information dissemination. As people are increasingly bored and frustrated over a broader spectrum of conventional journalism, and traditional news formats; they don't catch up with the news anymore, it no longer glues on their cervical memory stick. It is like a song that you have listened to too often, or rather perhaps it is like an incessant commercial advertisement: you hear it, you can even sing the words, but they are without meaning. Mainstream media start to grasp this. They have begun to search for new formats in order to attract readers (read: advertisers). This is especially visible in the trend towards 'infotainment'. The impact of the advertisement industry on information is palpable. Taking, as an, and seen from for example the Italian media/political perspective this recipe doesn't make people more clever or intelligent. In fact, I heard (but didn't check, so I didn't post about it) that about 69% of the Italian populace has returned to being illiterate because they don't read anymore and only watch TV. Link this factoid with the fact that Italian TV is politically abused by premier Berlusconi and his mates and you get a strange picture, indeed. At the same time, blog-reading and writing has become popular because it is personal. I would say it is a positive development that people read each others commentaries on the news or on local developments. Because of the personal factor in blogging you don't have to bother about objectivity, a blog is subjective by its very nature. On blogs comments can be left, and by this, it leaves the one-way communication media-concept and becomes a tool for communication, discussions, quarrels, a lot of nonsense, and more. We have to distinguish between various 'blogospheres'. If you take a look around at Global Voices, the differences are obvious. There are for instance the so-called 'pajama-bloggers' in the USA. Whereas journalists are a kind of 'army' that (should) control the powers to be, bloggers started to 'control' the journalist-media. Given the conditions under which mainstream media operate this can, potentially, only be a good development. But who controls the quality of the blog posts? And where walks the journalist out and the blogger peeps in? I’d say, this occurs through research of the used sources. Bloggers I post about on Streamtime are nearly all people I chat and mail with regularly. I 'know' them. So I know their information can be trusted. I use my blog and the Streamtime site in every possible way to get information out that otherwise probably won’t be 'out' there. I don't bother too much about copyright. That’s luxury journalism and information on Iraq can’t afford. But I do my journalistic research over the sources and the information, and I mix bloggers information with articles by heavy-weight journalists that I consider valuable, and who are in the Iraqi region. So it is a two-way situation, the Streamtime blog is as well as much about making information available to 'the West' as it is about providing various information to Iraqi bloggers. I had one good experience in which journalism (good journalism is always investigative) and blogging came together. It was research on the 'nowthatsfuckedup.com' site. On this site porn pictures were put together with war images from Afghanistan and Iraq. One title for one of the war pics was 'cooked Iraqi' and indeed it was an image of a burned body with grinning US soldiers around it, holding their thumbs up. With Haitham Sabbah, a blogger on JordanPlanet, we (almost in an apart-together fashion) shared our research and information, and indeed, it was picked up, not long after, by mainstream newspapers in the US. That article, btw. did not refer to the bloggers who were source material for their article, because otherwise they would find themselves in trouble regarding copyright. I find that I am hip-hopping, trying to connect complex worlds. Giving feedback to the postings of Iraqi bloggers, and provide them with journalistic advice e.g. their writing and suggest subjects they could take up. I want the Iraqi bloggers to be as good as good journalists can be, while at the same time I don’t want them to lose their personal factor in their writings. I am not getting paid for this work, I simply find it too important. So money is not an item indeed for the blogger I've become... but the journalist in me is hungry! (A hungry journalist is an angry journalist). GL: The world of Iraqi blogging must be intense, tragic, encouraging, and pretty powerful at the same time. How do you and others deal with all the emotions on the line and to the surface? CL: Through a great sense of humor, actually. One of them, The Konfused Kid, described it yesterday like this "sweet black humor, last defense." Without black humor I don't know if I would have been able to continue with Streamtime. It is essential. I make fun with Iraqi bloggers and I love their sharp observations, their wide-open minds. This also happens as well with the Iraqis that I have come to know in The Netherlands. They are poets, writers, painters, actors. Iraqis remind me of people from Naples who are theatrical, loud, rumor makers. They gesticulate a lot with their arms. They discuss and dance. They are warm people. They are also all harmed, scarred, violated. It is difficult. Sometimes I feel exhausted from having processed war information from this position since a year and a half. On the other side, I find it not only important for the Iraqi people I am doing this with. Observing developments in The Netherlands, and Europe, the Iraq-case is important for a number of reasons. I consider the communication between people in Iraq and 'our worlds' of extreme importance. How to deal with the emotions, though? I sometimes cry, or scream. At other times laugh about it all. But when I notice that people on the other side of the line are sinking into despair, I have no choice but to cheer them up. What is difficult is when I realize they tell me with not so many words that they don't talk about very rotten war events anymore, the chains of kidnappings, lack of electricity and so forth. In some way, maybe we are all afraid that it is all just the same story as yesterday and the days and weeks, months even years before. Who wouldn't get bored with that? Same number or more dead in one day, does it matter? Numbers are still not being counted. “Who cares?!” The thought that the Iraqis might become isolated once again is utterly unbearable. Sometimes, when someone in Iraq has a burnout, quits blogging and stops telling stories, I try to call them back, phone, mail, try to call in chat. And in the meantime I search for other stories on the web, in an attempt for other input that might be just a cartoon I put online. Some come back blogging, others don't, or they do so irregularly, but they do knock on my chat-door. GL: Is there a way to keep cool under so much stress of conspiracy, secret service activity and media involvement? CL: No, but I try to manage, although it can get on my nerves, like today. I just read a posting from Emigre. She started the Iraq Blog Count from Australia. Like me she is not Iraqi. So I do see some similarities with my situation. She wrote that she found a transmitting device in her home, that wasn't hers. If it is what she thinks it is, then I wouldn’t be that surprised, but the paranoia factor definitely gets reinvigorated. I can imagine being ‘followed’ by 'they know who they are'. On the other hand, not speaking up, not to continue doing this..., that would be a worse option. I can see mainstream media –in particular US, and UK-based newspapers and agencies- changing their attitude towards the bloggers. In The Netherlands however, Streamtime and its contacts in Iraq continue to be neglected, even though Dutch media complain that they don't have reporters on the ground. I hear from people in Iraq that they have been asked to write for US newspapers, which some of them would like to do. Tough hey remain fearful that this would become known in Iraq, which could mean their death. GL: Late 2004 Streamtime gave up to working in Iraq itself. It became too dangerous. What does that mean for you? Do you look at blogging as a last resort? CL: Yes and no. Switching from web radio workshops inside Iraq to blogging 'with Iraq' has shown itself to be a new starting point with unpredictable outcomes. The network of Iraqi bloggers is fragile, but it has begun to consolidated by now. Emigre's work on Iraq Blog Count proved to be essential. Streamtime played an important role in bringing some people together in- and outside Iraq, namely by supporting ideas of independent media inside Iraq, independent opinion forming, opening access points towards experiences in 'the West' with independent media, especially on the Web, which seems essential to me. GL: Could you give us an insight into what is being discussed in the Iraqi blogosphere, apart from responses to suicide bombs, military attacks by occupied forces and political events? CL: Sex, love and rock 'n roll. Ways to get out of the country, to build up another life. Ways of contacting each other. Styles of writing. Electricity and connectivity failures. The fact of just having escaped from an explosion or fire-fights on the street. Fast changes within the Iraqi society. Iraqi politicians, clerics and Americans. University practices. Random chats with taxi-drivers, in which the most important tension is not to make yourself known, or give a clear opinion, but occasionally a real discussion in a taxi does take place. Changing conditions for women. Religion. Fears and angers. Some young kids post pictures of cats. The behavior of children, or how parents can (not) protect their children. Tribal communities trying to organize on local levels. Media. The sandstorms. Or about humor, one of the bloggers recently told me this: "We are becoming more serious. Getting more gloomy and moody because of our unknown future. We joke but it's not as sincere as before. Jokes come out everyday. You should read 'Shalash al Iraqi'. You'll never find such black humor anywhere in the world though I doubt if you can understand it, even though it is translated. It contains heavy Iraqi slang." GL: What do you make of the fact that more and more Iraqis are blogging from outside of the country? So many Iraqis live in exile, and have been for so long. Blogging and Diaspora communities seem to almost operate in tandem. CL: More and more Iraqis are trying to leave, or have already left the country after the post-invasion rid-of-the-dictator enthusiasm has faded away. Exilees went back to Iraq, to visit family and friends, to be involved in poetry festivals, or making theatre festivals for and with children in Iraq. But a lot of them are returning less and less to their former home-country. It is very dangerous and there's not so much reason for optimism. The country could be closing again, but now in war, religion, and sectarianism. "We don't want a racist government", I just heard in a chat, while right now in Baghdad big demonstrations are being organised going on by (secular) Sunni and Shia together, driven by anger over the elections, and fears for a new isolated and repressed society. Lately I get the impression that the Iraqi diaspora is silencing. Now, this is an observation from Amsterdam, maybe there are places where Iraqis in the Diaspora manage to stay involved with developments in Iraq. But the machineries of war are so big, that also from the outside people are becoming more pessimistic. Bloggers outside Iraq are still active, like Raed Jarrar, who now lives in the USA, or his mother from Amman. Even taking the diaspora into account, comparing Iraqi to other Arab blogospheres like the Jordanian, or Lebanese, there are big differences. What is also notable is that other Arabic blogospheres sort of 'stay out' of the Iraqi one. From what I see these spheres don't really mix, or connect very well. GL: You're not reading or speaking Arabic. How do you, and others, deal with that? CL: One cross-checks by reading multiple sources and by asking different Iraqis their opinions and explanations of what is being written in Iraqi / Arabic media. I inform myself by using all my possible sources, and all the possible means I am aware of; Iraqis in and outside Iraq are close to me, here in The Netherlands. I ask them, until they get bored, to explain to me what I don't understand. I rarely shut up. I get stuff translated, in chats, when I ask for it. Iraqi slang used in black humor stories is difficult to translate, but sometimes it is done for me, and it is the best back entrance to get an insight into a culture. GL: Do you encounter fundamental islamists or traditional religious groups online and how do you deal with this? CL: In the Iraqi blogosphere I haven't encountered any fundamentalist approaches. On the contrary, perhaps with the exception of hidden comments in a few blog comment sections, where sometimes you can find comments of about a meter in length with texts from the Koran, but most of the time these are ignored. Most of the bloggers are secular or gently religious, mainly Islam-oriented, but there are also Assyrian-Christians. The closer you look, the smaller divisions you can see inside Islam. The tribal structures become more significant. Sometimes I do get mixed up in discussions (during chat sessions) about religion, even though I promised myself not to do so. They end up in declarations about what specific prophets said and what they meant. I am not religious, and never have been. I grumble about old dusty ideas of existentialism, and 'do-it-yourself' practices and that religion, like politics is all about 'power-systems', with in most cases men on top. To me, as a woman, seeing the results, religion doesn't make sense. During such discussions I take the freedom to voice my opinion just like I am 'normally' used to doing. But in order to 'be equal' it is necessary to be aware of the different histories, actualities, and cultural diversities; the world certainly is not that flat. It is complex and bumpy. I consider myself fairly ignorant regarding matters of 'religion', and also Arabic cultures. Because of that I consider it very crucial to listen very carefully to what is really said, and to try to ask the right questions. Religion is some sort of magic, so (my) 'rationality' probably isn’t suitable to provide a better interpretation. Another aspect is that there are more Sunni's blogging than Shia. Together with some Iraqi bloggers I'm trying to find out why, because we are searching for more Shia people that are blogging, or want to get involved. GL: A previous aspect of Streamtime dealt with web radio and poetry. Another is the promotion of free software. What responses have you heard from Iraqi bloggers about such ideas and activities? CL: The Iraqi poets, and journalists we became friends with in the Netherlands invite us when they organize or are involved in a cultural event, and there is always the option to stream what they do. When we streamed Iraqi poetry from Amsterdam 'to Iraq' in October 2004, the poets and listeners were emotional, and it was a great success. We also streamed as well from Amsterdam in January 2005 when the first Iraqi elections took place. We transmitted telephone conversations we had with people in Baghdad and other places in Iraq, plus with Iraqis in the Diaspora, this was all transmitted. And indeed, we stream with the Dyne:bolic software (FLOSS) and we try to promote that. We are in dire shortage of funding, otherwise we would probably have done workshops in Jordan or elsewhere in the region. Ideas on workshops with the bloggers and the ideas and options to stream from Iraq meet with enthusiasm with from the bloggers; there are some small developments from this point of view. There is a great IraqiLinuxGroup. Very active, intelligent, open minds, they just go on through all the war, and we have very good contacts with them. ILUG people are in Baghdad and abroad. They are very committed to the promotion of Free Open Source Software. I try to stimulate that IraqiLinux and bloggers will seek to cooperate together. And there is of course the fact that in war time many things are 'not available' but in all the chaos what is there could be considered 'open source'. People use and copy everything they can get their hands on. We have to bear in mind that the Web, free software and similar developments are young in Iraq. GL: In December 2005 you attended a meeting of the Global Voices project in London. Global Voice is a ‘meta blog’ that monitors so-called ‘bridge blogs’, “people who are talking about their country or region to a global audience.” How do you judge such US initiative? Like Streamtime they also support bloggers. What's the difference compared to your approach? Is it important that you are continental European? Can you explain us the subtle differences how professional journalism, activism and blogging operate on both sides of the Atlantic. CL: I am glad an initiative like Global Voices (GV) exists and am fascinated by it. But I can't grasp to my satisfaction the nature of GV. I can’t see in which direction it wants to develop, if it has got a direction at all. "Who will finance Global Voices over time?" Iranian blogger Hoder asked during the London conference, while I was asking myself whether GV is about blogging the blogs and quantities of blog writing, or is there more—content—to it? It didn't seem appropriate to pose such questions. GV is an experiment, like Streamtime, but on a grander scale. GV gives a ‘massive’ impression. And in a way the description I just heard of a glaze layer over GV seems to fit. The question is whether this will grow into a serious network, able and willing to challenge, in practical ways, issues, like for example the 'digital divide'? Could an initiative like GV transform into a cheaper way for big media corporations to collect information? Is it the fate of blogs to provide big media with free content? Will blogs become mainstream itself? Will information 'flatten' instead of being given more 'relievo' or inside depth? What will happen with Reuters' wish: "We want to work more with the bloggers." And how can GV find ways to discuss such issues in a serious manner with the associated relevant bloggers? I told myself several times that I shouldn't let myself - because of the form - distract from content at the GV summit, but the way co-founders Ethan Zuckermann and Rebecca MacKinnon led the summit was done in a tight format, in such a way that I felt it would perhaps be intimidating for some. From my European eyes it seemed pretty American. It got to on my nerves when Microsoft-blogger Richard Scoble was introduced. Just walked in for the moment that he would talk about himself and the company he works for. So I really wondered whether he had come to listen as well? Was he really interested in what anyone else there had to say's around? Why did he turn up? He is on the Microsoft pay-roll, and therefore perhaps he was the only paid blogger at the conference. Zuckermann and MacKinnon admit that it's a problem that big companies control too much of the Web-practices, but I felt a bit of cold breeze when I raised my questione to Scoble on “corporate fantasies” and whether Microsoft wasn’t more about blocking the Internet than blogging the Internet. Luckily, I saw Iranian blogger Hoder smile from ear to ear, which eased my nerves. Instead of connecting blogging dots from all over the world,. Streamtime zooms in at Iraq. Of course 'Iraq' more or less involves the whole world, but Streamtime focuses on getting access to people's information that we don't know or hear about that easily. This is mainly done through direct contacts. Making direct contacts in the Iraqi context is not an easy thing to do. It takes time and a lot of attention to get through, to gain trust. And 'trust' in the Iraqi context is a very precious good. Our information is not only gathered from existing (Iraqi) blogs; the information is actively, and journalistically searched out, collated, and verified with various Iraqi people in Iraq and among its Diaspora, backed up with stories of journalists like Seymour Hersh and Patrick Cockburn. Especially the ‘low-to-no-literacy’ and ‘multi-linguality’ are essential for Streamtime. The flow of Streamtime is determined by shared needs, skills, knowledge and experiences of all involved. The design is guided by openness, free publishing (copy left), easy access, low-to-no literacy and multi-linguality. Free software is preferred and its use is stimulated. The Web is a powerful and accessible structure, but web content remains fragmented. Streamtime aims to research, indicate, point to and excavate the amazing stories of people that, against all odds, are building a new Iraq. We want to help break the media barriers, provide people with the tools and knowledge to build their own radio broadcast stations, make programs and exchange content. GL: Apart from Streamtime you're involved in an international network of investigative journalism. What do you work on besides Iraq? Can you imagine one day integrating blogging and journalism and making a living from it? The economics of blogging is very high on the agenda of the A-lists bloggers. They all seem to be millionaires, or what? Blogging is more and more becoming a fulltime activity for some, but how they will make a living remains a mystery. CL: I worked, and still work, on Italian issues. A number of years ago I was a newspaper correspondent in Italy for Dutch media. I have also worked for Italian media. Recently I wrote a report about the state of investigative journalism in Italy. The study was presented at a recent event, here in Amsterdam where over 450 participants from 30 countries participated in the “third Global Investigative Journalism Conference.” For ages I have had a special interest in media restrictions, economies and its political dimensions. In Italy this is a big issue (one you won't find on TV). The influence of American media corporations throughout the Western Hemisphere is huge. Its commercial significance is similar. This also counts for applies to the Web. Concerning to blogs, I am looking into possibilities of setting -up a similar-to-Streamtime-but-different project for Zimbabwe. We know that Zimbabwe bought a web filter system from China, in which Google, Yahoo and Cisco are involved. While researching Zimbabwe I accidentally got involved in a Darfur blog--invented only a week ago, and already mentioned in the Washington Post. Old-fashioned newspaper journalism is still where my heart is, even though I like the mix of old and new media. I still follow the developments in the Italian G-8 court case. During the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa anti-globalists were beaten up ‘Chilean style’. One demonstrator died, the police violence was brutal. I monitor what happens in the turbulent, but oh so quiet Netherlands, but it is difficult to find publishers for my findings. Mainstream media is running after its own tail. The other day a colleague, working at Dutch national public radio told me about an experience with his editor: He had researched and gathered some fine facts to scoop with. The answer he got from his editor was that no-one had come up with this information yet. So my colleague responded him: “Indeed, isn’t that what News is all about?!" Recently, after proposing an article to a national newspaper I was told: “We don't have a freelancers budget.” Later that day they phoned me, and asked to interview me on the subject I had brought up earlier in the day. I agreed to be interviewed for PR reasons. I can't imagine making money from all of the work I do and do not have the slightest clue how bloggers will make money out of their activities, even despite the fact that I did hear stories of extravagant wedding parties being paid from the revenues of blogging. (edited by Amanda McDonald Crowley) Links: Cecile Landman’s blog: http://xer-files.blogspot.com/ Posted by Sabine at 09:32 PM
January 16, 2006
ICT for Development in India: The Constant Process of a Changing CulturePaper by Matthijs Rutten Matthijs Rutten is graduate student Integrated Communication Management at the Professional School of Communication Management in Utrecht, the Netherlands. He worked as a communication and research intern at the Institute of Network Cultures for the international work conference Incommunicado 05. This event was organised by the INC, in cooperation with Waag Society and De Balie in Amsterdam and the Delhi-based media centre Sarai. The international character of the Incommunicado project corresponds with his international orientation; before and during his study Matthijs spent several months in South America, South East Asia and the Middle East. For this research, in which he reveals the threats and opportunities of the engagement of private capital in ICT4D Matthijs has travelled to India. A PDF of the research paper can be downloaded here. The author can be contacted through the Institute of Network Cultures, info(at)networkcultures.org. Introduction “Are the Intels, the Nokias and the big boys in IT seeking ways to track / bluetooth (--as a verb), systemize, and then capitalize? Are the new targets P2P, open source? Secondly, are these all a part of a larger effort to map 'innovative' terrains that may threaten their own products and markets? Are these trends reflective of new ways of social control when inter-linked with GIS based mapping? (….)Thus, one of the main issues is seen as to how to 'map culture', as a way to transform these into new markets – but not before the 'designers' had a go at it, adding that special touch.” My internship at the Institute of Network Cultures (research institute of the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Interactive Media) introduced me to the topic of ICT for development. The internship consisted of the production of the working conference Incommunicado 05. This research is conducted as part of the internship. During my internship I’ve learned to understand that there is no common definition of the term ‘ICT for Development’ (ICT4D). In order to generate a better understanding of my research essay it’s important to outline and describe my vision of ICT4D. ICT4D is the application of different types of ICTs to contribute to the elimination and/or reduction of the growing digital divide between the North and the South. It builds the view that access to information and knowledge is a major precondition for improving the position of the poor and - at a higher level - for creating properly functioning democracies, as formulated by Hivos. Access to information and knowledge is becoming an indispensable tool for poverty reduction and development aid for societies in development areas. Because of my economical background (student Integrated communication management, former professional school of economics HEAO) I am especially interested in a more economical approach of the contemporary development aid. Can a sustainable outcome of development aid be realised, and does the interference of private capital bring self-sustainability? The open letter to John Thackara (director of Doors of perception) by Solomon Benjamin, stimulated me to start this research. Benjamin questions the motive of multinationals in the world of ICT4D. Are they providing a certain form of development aid, or are they just mapping new cultures in order to transfer them into new markets? (Benjamin: 2005) This question emphasizes my exact personal motive to conduct this research. What is their true motive to get involved in ICT4D projects? Are they merely transforming cultures into new markets? Or will the interference of private capital contribute to sustainable development aid? Does their interference affect the local culture in a harmful way? To investigate this topic I travelled to India. To achieve my objectives I conducted interviews with Solomon Benjamin and Aditya Dev Sood and other people in the field ICT for Development and visited different types of ICT for Development projects. The current rise of ICT for Development (ICT4D) is becoming an increasingly important program line for several governments and institutions. Providing people with access to information and knowledge through the implementation of ICT in development areas, is being globally applied to improve the living standard of communities in development areas, and is seen as an indispensable component of a thriving democracy. An additional tendency shows an increasing number of multinationals emerging in the field of ICT for Development. At the same time governments and institutions involved in development aid, often regard the local culture as an important resource, or starting point for development aid. The fact that these two program lines occur simultaneously, feeds the assumption that ICT and ICT4D shouldn’t affect the local culture in a harmful way. But is this correct? Or do the different strategies of poverty reduction hinder each other? And is there a difference to distinguish, when it concerns a (commercial) sponsored project? Which role should private capital play in the process of development aid? Is the increasing number of multinationals involved in development projects creating new opportunities (access to new capital) or are they just mapping new cultures in order to transform them into new markets, and should we be suspicious about these developments? Matthijs Rutten, January 2006 Posted by Sabine at 04:04 PM Urban Screens 2005 ReportUrban Screens 2005: discovering the potential of outdoor screens for urban society Geert Lovink and Mirjam Struppek met in 2004, by way of Struppek's thesis on the subject. They thought of organizing an expert meeting of one day in the Rietveld academy, but were confronted with an overwhelming response. Within no time the mailing list counted 200 people. With this conference the growth of a network was facilitated. Mirjam Struppek - Urban Screens - www.urbanscreens.org Geert Lovink - Institute of Network Cultures - http://www.networkcultures.org/ During the conference “Someone tried to ask the question - which seemingly no-one on the panel understood - essentially asking: ‘How do you write graffiti on an LED billboard?’” – Anthony Auerbach Amongst the density of presentations of futuristic streamlined architecture in the sphere of mainly big ‘Public Screens’ a simplest ad-hoc billboard out of sticky green and yellow office-notepapers was created on a wall during the Urban Screens Conference in Amsterdam. On these notes one could read: More artists, less companies. Or: Screens in Africa… Convivial technology solutions for 3rd world projects. One can ask if these officenotes were in their tiny presence representing the essence of the conference, or if Urban Screens, once erected in the huge sizes as most of them were presented at the conference (on a normal video screen though), will ever have an impact of intimacy and personal involvement like the smaller ‘officenotes’. Or like now is happening in the recent initiative of Qui Vive! that came to existence during the recent riots in the Paris banlieus. Qui Vive! are public newspapers glued on the walls. This is an attempt for public communication exchange in a ‘Public Space’ that has disastrously failed. Or is PS not at all about ‘intimacy’ but about reachability of numbers and masses? And can the big urban screens escape from a passively watching public, in a ‘receiving-only’ modus’? Just after the conference words echoed in my head like: ‘big, many, much, high, huge (costs), impressive’. The night following the two-day seminar I jumped straight into the last hours of the always impressive Robodock festival taking place in the same days in Amsterdam; and there I wondered if the robotic inventions of the Robodock people will possibly intermingle with futuristic – some interactive – sculpture versions of concepts of the urban screens. How can (and will) the two integrate in near future to the maximum effects architecturalized spaces where – many - people pass by, or stay? What could this mean for interactivity? The Urban Screens conference was an inventarisation of ‘what’s out there’ and an attempt to challenge the search for content combined with the search for the soul of the -mass- public, combined with financial costs of the big and space-conquering new artefacts. Theories and artists’ presentations, some of them surprisingly playish with content, mixing patterns of headscarfs with taped images of the Bold and the Beautiful - images that were disturbed while taping, by an Australian electric storm - and psychologies of televised and terrorised societies, like artist Linda Wallace did, making those characters talk about the murder on Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, with as result an unpredictable ‘does it by itself’ artwork. Wallace: “Sometimes you really don’t know if it’s something you already heard and saw before, or that the conversations in the device are completely new.” New media have reached a major influence and reach people in many places, first of all in their homes. This could change with the developments of growing numbers of Public Screens in the Urban Space. The latest developments take these technologies out of the house, to streets and squares. Like the ‘Public Space’ in the past when megaphones served to reach the masses. In Sicilian villages they’re still present at some squares. Many people are on the move and millions have changed habitat. Urban Public Space is changing, but is at the same time globally more and more becoming ‘the same’. In architecture from the 1920’s on ‘Controllable domesticity’ became visible through the growing invisibility of people, not sitting on the front steps of their homes anymore but in the garden, at the back of the house. The exclusive privacy of cars -versus public transport- is another significant separative element. Electronic media integrated in the house turned it into a solitary interaction exchange media centre for many. The dominant political media still remains TV, a medium that knows no past or future, and that so easily reduces policy to just an image, that suggests the idea of intimacy and at large redefines all social relations. TV stays caught in its aim: people must stay tuned and watch. Manovich introduced the term ‘augmented space’ from ‘augmented reality’ as opposed to ‘virtual reality’. Or: virtual simulation versus working on actual things in actual space. In his speech Manovich addressed the significance of art in churches, compared to a near religious, intensive experience that future ‘augmented spaces’ could bring, by taking the example of the Prada building by Rem Koolhaas. Manovich: “By creating a flagship store for the Prada brand Koolhaas seems to achieve the impossible. He made an ironic statement about the functioning of brands as new religions. But how is our experience of spatial forms influenced by media? How is the relation between the spatial form, our body and the screen and the connection between architecture and media?” Video surveillance is nowadays so accepted that people even seem to feel flattered seeing themselves observed by these cameras being used to ‘make cities safe’, and to moderate people’s behaviors. Spaces where Public Screens do pop-up consider places where people pass, where money passes; from shoppingmalls to squares, to trainstations and airports. How will Public screens develop in a possible role as instrument for mass-moderation? Is it a joke or not, to think that big Public Screens above all seem to be projected in similar spaces as preferred by actual terrorism? “What is concealed by the screen, one could argue, are exactly the shifts in the relations of representation which have occurred since Noam Chomsky analyzed network television”, said Auerbach, pleading to remove the protection from institutions such as TV, and open up. But: “The screen acts as if it is a passive receiver of content. As one agency claims, outdoor advertising is the ‘last remaining truly broadcast medium’. So what is the ideological function of the screen? And how do artists define themselves?” While television stations and networks are concerned to maintain audience ‘flow’ levels in order to run advertising ratings and revenue, companies strive to qualify for advertising interest. The costs of the screens are so huge that big players will always be necessary. The ‘Big Screen’ in Manchester, for example, bears the local authority, RBS, BBC and Philips permanently branded on the installation. Auerbach: “Close examinations of complicated subjects are not so wanted (for funding) by big companies. What is around is an ambush of all kinds of image (re-)productions.” Who will be the owners of the Public Screens? Costs for the screens as is the case with a two-minute movie, can rise to a 150.000 Euros. Artists from Serbia (Valentin Tomic, Valerija Tomic, Serbia / Montenegro) want to connect three cities through LED screens, and by use of devices like mobile phonecameras facilitate personal contact and direct cultural exchange in an emotive way. They urged for open devices: “The devices should be open to people in the Public Space, in order to create interaction between these tools. People can make a ‘together-story’ by use of the camera’s and their interaction. Galleries over the world can be connected. This could be between Iraq and the USofA. The interactive exchange must be shown. The emotion has to be within the technology.” With the quite recent Serbian media-history, they couldn’t be more serious when saying: “These media could also be quite important tools for politicians. I hope you understand this.” Jason Lewis - with a background in the emotional art of graffity - creates software for digital graffity. Under the title ‘From private expression to public performance’ he explained a ‘Text-organ’ functioning like a spray-can full of texts, which was applied to a library of visual effects with texts coming in from all different sources. Lewis explicitly addressed that “compared to audio or video, text is relatively easy to move around.” A grassroots project with community groups of Staten Island reminded in some way of the old concept of the ‘Cinema Paradiso’. A screen was set-up in the back of a truck showing on its outside images of stolen art objects from Baghdad’s museums. Perry Brard: “The main question was since on the screens we see mainly ‘models’: Where are the people?” On Enoshima Island people probably go to the square of the spectactular Dragon Tower. A twenty minute video show ends with the Dragon Tower spitting fire, water and pixel power. Mythology is involved here. The Tower with fountain shows a continuous video-parade of faces, nature etc. Not at all surprising, Doha has a huge tower too. A phallical building, with an ‘electric draped over it. Could this be the third stage of psychosexual development of the screens in Doha? The conference itself was triggered by the newly planned Urban Screen, at the Zuidas in Amsterdam, ‘a new kind of city-center’. “This ‘south-screen’ is planned to be huge, and so are the costs involved,” assured curator Jan Schuijren. Although he stated that “one has to carefully seduce the public, and that there has to be a notion of relationships between people”. However, there shall be a first struggle with the neighborhood; a tree has to be cut since it stands in the way of the future 40 square meters screen. With souplesse Schuijren took TV logics for granted: “The screen will be divided in prime time – peak hours- and quality time.” It sounds familiar: Quality time for the few, prime-time for the masses. Façades of buildings are always a 'talking' medium. Public Space can come alive through interaction, but an idea of 'democratic real interaction’ is not shown through the façades; it is merely a question of bigger firms occupying more space. Like Michelangelo worked for the church, now artists work for big companies, and in between the brands some art still can be put. But fear exists for the disappearance of the Urban Public Space. During the lectures, returning comparisons were drawn between old painted arts in churches, and places like Times Square, the latter one being recalled by a rough 2/3 of the speakers. Despite future fantasies in architecture and art - buildings with no straight forms at all and future buildings moving in a landscape - screens still remain flat, and do not leave the ‘skin’ or ‘hairnet’ concept. And how will screens be used for religious purposes?
I can't see your soul soul through your eyes << An example of a big historical ‘screen’ in a public space: Mexican painter Diego Riveira’s pupil Mozzillo created ‘La Preistoria’ in Vinales, Cuba, Pinar del Rio. http://www.havanatur.it/Turnat_2005/Images/murales.jpg >> Posted by Sabine at 01:54 PM
January 15, 2006
Internet: Espace Public et Enjeux de ConnaissanceInternet: Espace Public et Enjeux de Connaissance L'Internet n'est pas seulement un espace communicationnel favorisant l'échange d'information, de biens culturels ou de consommation, il contribue également au redéploiement des forces sociales, économiques, ou politiques. Il semble ainsi constituer un continuum pratique allant de l'expression privée des opinions à la revendication de l'action publique, que les verrous classiques de la coutume et du droit ne suffisent plus à baliser. Bien plus, la puissance appropriative des outils informatiques fait coïncider, mais sur un mode conflictuel, la tradition du partage des savoirs et celle de la sécurité des biens ou de leur propriété. De fait, la disponibilité immédiate des oeuvres scientifiques ou artistiques et les bouleversements liés à leur mode de production pourraient profondément remodeler les processus de création, de diffusion, et d'appropriation des connaissances. Ce colloque cherche à approfondir les questions qui se posent à la jointure des contraintes objectives pesant sur les réseaux (technostructure, systèmes juridiques multiples, etc.) et des processus d'autonomisation culturelle et politique qu'ils semblent favoriser. Entrée libre et gratuite dans la limite des places disponibles Posted by Pieter at 06:09 PM
January 10, 2006
23 januari: X-Media Club in de HvADe multimedia huiskamer: professionals over mediaconvergentie, laidback interaction en de rol van de gebruiker.
IPTV, P2P TV, VoD, Time-Shifting, EPG, Delay TV, PVR, Streaming, Pod/Vodcasting, Media Centers, TV to go, allemaal nieuwe (voor velen nog onbekende) ontwikkelingen op mediagebied. Hoe gaan al deze ontwikkelingen ons leven in de huiskamer veranderen? Met ondermeer Paul Naber (Director Home & Entertainment Division Microsoft), Krijn Schuurman (trendwatcher), Johan Pouwelse (onderzoeker peer 2 peer aan de TU Delft) en Monique de Haas (Dondersteen Media) gaan wij op zoek naar het antwoord! Dit is voor jou dé kans om up-to-date te blijven van de nieuwste ontwikkelingen. Tegelijkertijd hopen wij ook op jouw input: hoe denk jíj over al deze zaken? Voor meer informatie bezoek onze website: http://x-mediaclub.blogspot.com We hopen je te zien op 23 januari, in de X-Media Club! Charles Friedrichs Posted by Sabine at 05:35 PM |
