The requested resource (/editor/default/) is not available
ISSUES
Blogs & Wikis: Ushering in an Era of Change |
 Since 2004, blogs or weblogs, once limited to a technology-savvy community, started gaining popularity with the masses. In addition, wikis, which allow anyone to edit content, have further opened up the internet to the public. Nowadays there are a plethora of tools, sites and content management systems available for blog and wiki enthusiasts.
Blogs and wikis are thriving in developing countries, presenting tremendous untapped potential. With innovations like local-language blogs and wikis, there are many new questions to consider: How are blogs and wikis changing the role of traditional media and intellectual property rights? With the proliferation of blogs, how do we distinguish signal from noise? How do we prevent vandalism and ensure accuracy of information in an open content environment?
Photo Courtesy of ITU |
|
|
The requested resource (/editor/default/) is not available
Some languages in developing countries take longer to work out. Creating the Wikipedia in Hindi was complicated because in India most current contributors speak English and work on English keyboards. You can’t type Hindi on an English keyboard, so that needed to be resolved. Many African languages have only about 1,000 articles entered. Another example is Arabic, where it took us more than a year to develop the right-to-left reading and writing functionality. We now have about 5,000 articles in Arabic. Within the next year, Wikipedia is planning to hold a conference to promote contributions from Arabic academics and users in Arabic-speaking countries. Read Full Interview
Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales, Founder of Wikipedia
Putting Wikipedia to Work for Developing Countries
Now is a time that is ripe for blogs and wikis. What South Asia needs--and this argument has been put forth earlier--is a public space for development wikis and development blogs. Alternate campaigners need to be given the space to write easily, without tech hurdles, on issues that are relevant and important. Without having to worry about the yearly renewals of domain names, making payments in dollars, and the like. Side by side, there's also need for crashcourses to encourage content to get online in a context where oral cultures dominate. Is anyone out there listening? Can South Asia please have a yahoogroups equivalent and a blogger.com for the alternate world, providing wikis and blogs and one that combines the ease of mainstream use with the commitment of the campaign network, maybe?
Frederick Noronha, Co-Founder of Bytes for All Blogging and Wikis for Development: An Unreal Dream in South Asia?
Blogging can possibly emerge as a tool for individual or grassroots journalism. Whether it can make social or political changes would depend on the level of reach. In a highly connected society, feedback to a blog could be enormous while in other countries where connectivity is not that wide-spread, people may not even have access to such blogs. As with any other digital divide proposition, another barrier is language and literacy. If majority of people do not know how to read or write blogs, this tool might not have a significant impact. But there’s reason for optimism. Inclusion of audio materials, now known as podcasting, has added a new dimension to blogging- RSS feeds are now being processed to blogs or sent through mobile phones, which many enthusiasts have termed as 'mobcasting'. I think with speed and connectivity available to the masses, blogs can play a role not only in socio-political change but also in development efforts. Read Full Interview
| |
|
|
|
The requested resource (/editor/default/) is not available
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The requested resource (/editor/default/) is not available
|
 How did Development Gateway members respond to our Information
Society Survey questions?:
|
- Nov
3, Fill-the-Gap!, Netherlands
- Nov 9-Nov 11, World Summit of Cities
and Local Authorities and the role Information Society, Spain
- Nov 10 -11, Libraries and the
Information Society in Action, Egypt
- Nov 13-15, Past, Present and Future of
Research in the Information Society
- Nov 16-18, World Summit on Information
Society, Tunisia
- Nov
17, Creating Transformations: Intel at WSIS, Tunisia
- Nov 28-Nov 30, IEEE International
Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education, Japan
- Nov 28 - Dec 5,
GKP/MSSRF South-South Exchange Traveling Workshop 2005, India
- May 25 – May 26, First
International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and
Development, USA
|
|
|
|
|
Email this page 
Sign-up