January 3rd, 2009
Welcome to Gauravonomics Blog! Subscribe to my combined feed in a feed reader or by e-mail and you'll never miss a single post. Thanks for visiting!
On December 27 2008, Israel launched a series of air strikes, known as Operation Cast Lead, against targets in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 400 Palestinians and injuring more than 2200 over the week (Wikipedia/ NowPublic/ Mahalo/ Global Voices/CrisisWire).
The Israel-friendly Help Us Win blog (Facebook/ Twitter) says that “the war is not only on the ground - but also in the international media” and encourages Israel’s supporters to “tell Israel’s side of the story” and “ensure that the international coverage of the Campaign Against Hamas is balanced”.
In fact, the Israel propaganda machinery is in full flow to ensure that everyone gets to hear Israel’s side of the story. The Israel Defense Force has a blog and a YouTube channel, the Israel consulate in New York held a press conference on Twitter and summarized the discussion on their Israel Politik blog, and the Likud prime ministerial candidate Benjamin Netanyahu is active on both Twitter and YouTube.
CNN quotes Israel consul of media and public affairs Davi Saragna on the Twitter press conference –
January 3rd, 2009 |
Posted in Citizen Journalism, Internet, Mobile, Noteworthy, Social Media
| Tagged with 2008 Gaza Bombing, Al Jajeera, Gaza, Gaza Bombing, Global-Voices, IDF, Israel, Katrin Verclas, mahalo, MobileActive, NowPublic, Palestine, Propaganda 2.0, Twitter, Twitter Press Conference, Ushahidi, War 2.0, Wikipedia, YouTube |
November 19th, 2008
As I work on my MobiChange application for the second round of Knight News Challenge 2009, my thoughts return to two recent posts on building social mobile applications.
Ken ‘Kiwanja’ Banks wrote a great post last week on the mistakes techies make in developing social mobile applications for the emerging world –
Progress in the social mobile field will come only when we think more about best practices in the thinking and design of mobile projects and applications, rather than obsessing over the end products themselves. By then most of the damage has usually already been done.
Ken gave some great advice, based on his own FrontlineSMS experience: understanding the need gap before entering development, learning from other tools/ players, prototyping early and cheap, partnering with grassroots non-profits, staying lean, being flexible, encouraging local customization, focusing on text and voice, starting small, working closely with early users, and building conversations and community over time. My own approach to MobiChange is similar and I’ll try to follow most of Ken’s advice in the months to come.
It reminded me of another great post in which Russel Southwood critiqued the social mobile space (via Katrin Verclas) and raised several important questions around usability, impact, scale and sustainability –
November 19th, 2008 |
Posted in MobiChange, Mobile, Social Change 2.0, Technology
| Tagged with Katrin Verclas, Ken Banks, Kiwanja, MobiChange, Mobile, Mobile for Development, MobileActive, Prakelt Foundation, Social Mobile |
