This will be the online discussion topic for November, check back in the coming week for more details.

Our discussion will happen on 26/27th of November. See you then!:)

We will start the discussion at 1PM GMT today, hope to see you here;)

OK, let's try to kick off...once you join the discussion please shortly introduce yourself;)

Hello all =)

hi Diego, how are you?:)

I'm fine, and you? =)

Where are all the people? hehe

well, it usually takes few minutes to kick off;)

I know some of our last panel attendees are on the way..

I am fine, thank you, just saw Jakub (the new Polish GV contributor kicked off a community around climate change - it's Polish but the idea might interest you

And I see Mac-Jordan is joining as well?

I hope so, yes:)

Oh, it surely interests me! I just got  my flight schedule to Copenhagen actually =)

Hi everyone! What's up?

Great stuff! I wish I could go to Copenhagen too...but I am sure you will report on that

Hi Paulus, how are you?

Hi everybody! How are you?

Not too bad

I'll arrive for the last couple of days of the COP15, but I'm sure it'll be worth paying a visit to them

Here is the Polish site I mentioned: http://klimatolubni.pl/ project for climate change, done with Polish Ministry of Environment

Ah, talking of Poles, hi Dawid:)

Hello Dawid!

gr...my connection seems to be slow today, sorry...:(

Do Poles always 'v' for 'w'?

Hi Dawid. How are you?

What are you guys working on nowadays?

gee, *always replace

haha, yes, we usually do, 'v' is always in foreign words like 'video'

Im fine thank you. The world is very small, because I have just recruited people (students) for Ministry of Environment to work on this project that Sylwia showed you. I think this project;)

Did you really? Do you know @kosmo is working on it?

talking of which, are there any climate change related initiatives in Netherlands and Brazil?

Some international NGOs are present in Brazil, and they often add a local flavor to their projects. =)

But I personally think we lack involvement in this topic. We wait a lot of initiative from the government and don't take action.

The question in Holland is: are there any initiatives NOT related to the climate?

hahahaha

@Sylwia, I've recruited people for internet project by Minitry of Environment via my Social Networking Site. Didn't even know that was this particular project;). Have to contact kosmo;)

People are not very eco-friendly in Brazil, despite out carbon emissions come majorly from deforestation.

@Dawid What is "your Social Networking Site"? Is it ABOUT social networking?

@Paulus maybe it is boring in your country, but we would like to have that kind of boring situation in Poland;) Climate is still a niche topic here. Nobody likes to talk about it, because it costs money.

That's why I think COP15 will act as an catalyst to Brazil's initiatives in Climate Change.

Diego: hence why I am happy to see Polish government involved!

it is a Social Network Site for students and alumnus of Warsaw School of Economics.

Dawid, I'd risk to say in Brazil it is not all about money, but about lack of involvement from people.

Diego: Is it because in Brazil other issues are more important to tackle first? (that was the case with Internet taxation in Mexico, no?)

I always say Brazil needs to stop thinking it is a poor little country. We hide under this argument, since we do have the necessary money to invest in new technologies.

But it's also about closing factories, introducing CO2 limits. Green energy;) Still money somewhere...

Sylwia, I'd say this is one of the issues. But you agree with me that green technologies and a green lifestyle can help tackling poverty and other social issues

@Paulus - it's good to have countries like yours, where the topics do not need a big push - other regions can always count on support from activists there, I think

Sure, a lot of people involved in environment topics have a very global outlook.

Brazil has a huge potential for solar and wind energy. Still we waste all this potential when we prioritize oil as a source of wealthy for the country.

@diego @dawid I am personally very new to the climate change issue in terms of my expertise, so I do apologise if I sound naive, however there must be scope for need of workforce even in green technologies..I think the issue is the governments do not tend to see it's a question of well planned re-structuring...or maybe there is corruption involved...

@Paulus what do you think?

Even though we have biofuels and stuff there's no intention from the government subsidize many of these technologies for the common citizen or companies.

and in all this how do you guys see social media as means to raise awareness?

@sylwia I also consider myself newbie in this topic, even though I'm going to COP15 lol

The problem is that you will have corruption at both sides, as the East Anglia Univerisity mails show.

@diego yeah, but you did some at least passive research doing the blogging contest no? how did it go, btw - want to share your experience with others?;)

As we've seen in previous alarming situations, social media can help spreading local news worldwide. So, I think its contribution is to help raise awareness and report on relevant issues regarding this topic.

@paulus and a lot of weak commitment form world leaders too:/

Haha Sylwia! I'm among the three bloggers chosen to go to COP15 for the European Journalism Centre

Well, I did some research but nothing academic or highly advanced. I'm more of an inspirational writer when it comes to these issues. I think we need to inspire people into fighting climate change. It is not all about politics nor business after all

Congratulations!:) How will we see your updates - are you going to blog on your site or on a common platform somewhere?

That is right. It can even be on the scientists side. I like the green movement on the primary level. Have you watched this video from Ted Talks? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ-cZRmHfs4 It is about greening the Bronx. It is an example that even  Al Gore can get it all wrong;)

Thanks! I'm flying to Copenhagen on 14th december and start blogging at 16th on thinkaboutit.eu (the same platform we did blog during these three months of competition) =) I still don't have the details yet though, but we'll surely be inside the Bella Center accredited by the EJC and 350.org =)

@dawid Didn't see that one. Thx, will check out. Btw - did you hear we had a Ted event in Amsterdam, last week?

Thank you @dawid, it's new for me too!

I didn't! I watch Ted regularly on daily basis on my way to work;) This one I saw yesterday. but I never know when it actually takes place and where. They upload it to the internet with a time gap.

I thinks some of the Amsterdam talk might make the major league, eventually. There were also some talks by the usual suspects, like Kevin Kelly. Inspiring, nonetheless.

@diego - great stuff, I will keep an eye on it!:) so good to have someone there:)

I follow TED on FB, so I watch the daily updates, a lot of inspiring people there...

Yeah, they have a good FB presence.

I think MacJordan from GV is also going to CPH =)

I think GV will be heavily present there...

I love TED speeches =P Have you watched Solana's speech in TEDxCopenhagen, @sylwia?

No, have to watch it! Is it difficult to be to the audience?

Just before I start a new topic: talking of Al Gore reminded me of a great book put together by some GV leaders, another GV initiative http://www.amazon.co.uk/Worldchanging-Users-Guide-21st-Century/dp/0810970856/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259242530&sr=8-1

ah, link might not work: title is Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century

@diego no. I haven't do you have the link?

it was made by GVers?

well, contributed by;)

I'll look for the link. just a sec.

Can we shift back to social media a little bit?:)

What do you think of URLs available in Cyrillic letters? Russia started registering those...

sure.

here's a good article on it http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/11/25/russia-begins-registering-domains-in-cyrillic/

it will make those pages impossible to find by people like me. I dont think this is a good idea. However on the other hand, Im not a visitor of Russian websites very often.

I see it as a next step in fragmenting of social media really...but it will have it's positive and negative effect...

do you think there will be site aggregating available to enable other regions to find Russian sites easier?

* is answering a phone call from a client *

@dawid do you not think it will actually contribute to the development of regional social media?:)

It will be positive for Russians, as it might be easier for some of them to enter the Web. On the other hand, this complicates web browsing. Google Tranlsator can help with site content so it is understandable, but have to own a different keyboard in order to type a cyrylic name in URL.

Hello

Hi Ahmed, how are you? Ages since we talked;)

I'm great, and I know!!! too much stuff to do at uni. :S

Hi Ahmed

Hello

We are just talking about Russia registering URLs in Cyrillic letter and how this will affect developments in social media

And Egypt is to be first country to register domains in Arabic, how do you feel about it?

Well, I don't believe that its a smart idea, since the whole world is going English nowadays, doing so "registering URLS in languages other than English" would create smaller worlds within the main social media world..

hahaha. I have just reveiced an email (30 seconds ago), that I am allowed to attend Russian language lessons (4 hours a week) for free at my university;). Maybe I will be able to browse those Cyrillic websites after all;)

lol dawid

lol

haha, cool @dawid:) you can help out the rest of us...although I did learn Russian, so might be ok

I don't think it'll be very interesting to have websites in other languages like Cyrillic or Arabic. I wonder if they'll do the same with Japanese and Chinese websites =P

@ahmed in your case the Arabic speaking world is huge though...

yes but it would be limited to Arabic speaking users...

going global is the best for any website

I know nothing about this language, but maybe it's a destiny;). Anyway, remember that 90% of internet users don't really spend much of their time on websites in different languages than their own. At least in my country.

I'm back. Sorry, guys.

interesting point @Dawid

@dawid I also think that wider access to the web on regional level can speed up a lot of developments I just worry how will those local ideas feed through to the global arena...

I guess projects like TED mentioned above must step in...

IMHO a lot of these issues will disappear with automatic translation. Google has just started subtitling videos by speech recognition etc.

I am simply worried about what @dawid mentioned - typing the URLs when we cannot use different characters;) the only way to find out about local social media will be to receive a guidance, aggregation

see http://afrigator.com/ for Africa

IMHO leaders have to browse the "world wide" web and than apply solutions in their regional Social Media. I agree with Paulus, I said it before: tralnslation software diminishes difficulites, but still there are differences of context, culture, tradition, history... so things aren't that easy after all. Read that YouTube introduced automatic subtitles (created automatically from voice reconition soft).

I agree, and I think the human factor will always be relevant!

*have to attend a meeting*

@ahmed is there a lot of talk in Arabic about new domains?

Bye @Dawid

papa @dawid thx for your input!

Sorry for the away.

check out this TED vid: http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/williamkamkwamba/photos.html

have you heard of him?

@diego - you might have

of course i did!

I love his story! =)

New to me - looks like a great story / example!

I also like the way social media is build around it...

Yes, it's cool.

@Ahmed what is happening in Egypt at the moment...any meet ups?

@Paulus I think we are all also waiting for Twestival announcements, are you getting involved in the next one?

@Diego - I will ask you the same: any events in your area?

you mentioned COP15 but how about local ones?

@Sylwia Yes, I'm pretty sure I will be involved in the next Twestival. Have there been no announcements yet?

no, I think there will be at the beginning of Dec

We just had the Brazil's Forum for Digital Culture International Seminar sponsored by the Ministry of Culture

The government is investing a lot in the digital culture debate and in a new form of addressing public policies online and a way to built specific policies for the internet

They invited bloggers to the event, including me =)

is it online too?

I mean does it have an event site:)

they built the social network for the forum =) http://culturadigital.br/

I remember writing a post on GV about it. And I'll do the same about the actual events today or tomorrow

thank you @Diego!:)

Here is the previous post: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/08/14/brazils-forum-for-digital-culture-reaches-out-to-the-blogosphere/

going back to social media in Africa - what is your experience of it?

I obviously have a different view since I read Global Voices and see mainly activist perspective..

Is there any truth in the idea that social media in Africa is very dependent on mobile / SMS?

I might have the same view as you, Sylwia, because of GV.

oops sorry guys was away, there are some talks about the Arabic domain, and I'm organizing a meetup sometime in dec.

But I see they have specific social media poles, like Angola, Madagascar and North and West Africa,

Oh, and Mozambique!

@ahmed what type of meet up?

I think when it comes to Africa it's unique to see a lot of expat blogs too, people who blog about project fighting poverty for instance

hello friends, this is Francisco...willl be jumping in and out as I'm a bit busy..:) but nice to read about WOM in Africa

although Afrigator has a wide range of blogs and I love the trending topics bit http://afrigator.com/topics/summary

hola!;)

@Francisco do you have experience with African blogs?

@Ahmed how much do you see of Southern part of your continent in social media space?

@paulus yes, there was an interesting piece on it here http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14483880

I found a bookmark I made a year ago when RWW featured a series on African social media: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/social_media_in_africa_part_1.php

not much...some but not much

I'd love to sahre some of these blogs here in Brazil. But you see, not many people speak English here.

@Paulus I remember that I think there were 3 posts on it...

thx for sharing!:)

In the state I live in we have the largest population of African descendants outside Africa itself. these blogs would be a tool to approach many people to the different African cultures I think =)

@diego - our GV friend Ethan has a blog which is ranked top 5th on Afrigator: http://afrigator.com/profile/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ethanzuckerman.com%2Fblog

@Sylwia Wow, that's a cool link, too. Thx for sharing.

@Diego very valid point, language will always remain a barrier:(

@Diego are there people in your region in African community who blog?

Sometimes I get upset with the local blogosphere. We only have a bunch of journalists and copywriters who only blog about advertising and making money in the web. It is pretty annoying.

Not that I'm aware of, Sylwia. But as I said, the local blogosphere here is quite egocentric.

@diego from what you are saying money is the only inscentive to blog in your region? strange...

is your culture very conversational? is it a question of access to technology?

Sad, but true. I even discussed this topic with some activist bloggers in CulturaDigital.BR. That many bloggers only care for money. They call themselves probloggers. It is said, because we know, specially we from GV, that blogging can be much more than that.

I think the access to technology is a issue, but also there is a lack of understanding from people to what blogging really might mean for political and cultural perspectives.

well,, @diego, I think it's subjective -some could say it's better to have at least paid bloggers than none...question is how to encourage different, other types of bloggers...

the problem is: many of these bloggers only care for their bellies

and them mass media depicts netizens as if all of us were probloggers

*then

I think blogging could be use to approach people to other cultures. So, instead of only using it to earn money, why not approach other Portuguese bloggers from Africa for instance? There is this gap of communication between Brazilian bloggers and African bloggers, I think.

tweetup

@ahmed  good to see you are organising things like that;) I never did a tweet up - does it take a lot of time to put together?

@diego I see your point...

not really, you send out a poll to find out the date, then ask for suggestions and done.

suggestions for locations I mean

* dropping a link * This is a brilliant talk by Mariéme Jamme. She speaks about empowering people in Africa through mobile phones. It will give you a good feel for what's going on in Africa at grass root level: http://blip.tv/file/2639886/

@Paulus thank you, it's awesome!:)

@Ahmed we thought about doing something very spontanious, just not sure if it would work - tweeting your location and asking others to join?

Interesting @paulus. You see, in Brazil we have about 120 million cellphones, but we don't have a culture of using cell phones to political uses or to blog.

that won't work very well, people might be busy, and if someone shows up, it would be more like 2-3 people

@sylwia, you should create a twitterlist called "womdiscussions" lol =)

@ahmed if it's 3 people I call it a success:) but if done on a day when people are usually off and in town, might work...maybe, I need to try it out...

ah, valid point, @diego, will do!:)

@Diego That's the big difference. In Africa they have SMS-powered social networks etc.

I know! The point is: why we don't have the same thing in Brazil?

I think people like Oxfam look at SMS campaigns in Africa more and more..I think Oxfam posted about it somewhere, let me check..

@diego as for that: is there an agency or institute actually researching web usage in Brazil?

maybe a good study could show why things work this way and how to develop more?

maybe, good luck @sylwia

hmm @sylwia, good point. I'm not sure about it. I'll certainly look for that.

@ahmed, thank you:) good luck with yours, alhough I am sure you do not need it

@Diego Don't you think mobile internet will be driving that in Brasil?

lol

oh btw one of my professors is trying to create a website that uses new media, social media and mapping. Maybe mobiles to tell stories. any suggestions?

Sure it will. But we lack a good service. There are many 3G and EDGE networks in Brazil, but the service is awful.

Where the service is good - like in Indonesia - the hole thing explodes. But the first thing people start doing is using Facebook form their mobiles. Social networking comes before (micro-)blogging.

We tweet a lot from mobiles =P

@ahmed - what would be the topic of the site?

@diego @paulus I agree, you need a cheap, easily accessible technology first, as for social networking - I think it always works as your friends by using the site motivate you to join it too

news

'cheap' is a magical word, and it is not available in Brazilian telecoms' dictionary =P

@Diego

@diego indeed...

Hey guys, I have to leave. @Sylwia thank you so much for facilitating this. CU next time (probably not tomorrow).

@paulus thank you for joining us today!:)

Bye!

See you next time, Paulus! =)

@ahmed did you try to look at what http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ does? they use social media solutions to deliver local news in a nice way;)

@diego how long are you staying at COP15 for?

I'll arrive in CPH on December 15th. So I think we'll report from 16-18. The last days of it. =)

but I'll only leave CPH on December 21

ok, I out those dates in my diary;) I will be at Social Media Camp London on the 17th hopefully, otherwise I can follow you on-line;)

one more link for you: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/nov/12/copenhagen-activists-climate-change

oh, thanks a lot!

I have to leave right now! =) Lunch time, than heading to the bank \o\

It is always wonderful to talk to all of you

interesting

thanks @sylwia and it seems like I've got to leave too :S keep up the amazing job

Cheers!

@ahmed thank you for joining us, I think some our attendees might join tomorrow, although this month seems to be busy for everyone, so let's see;)

@diego - shall we wrap it up? I think we slowly can, and take it from here tomorrow:)

Just back from the looong meeting. Will try to join you tomorrow and talk about Africa for a change;)

hej, thank you @dawid:)

I will slowly wrap up! We have not talked a lot about African social media however we have touched upon few points here, and we have talked about few current issues too. I am happy to see you back and I hope we will continue with more or less insightful conversations:)

Do have a nice rest of the day!:) And if you can, join me tomorrow at 1PM GMT:)

Hi all, we can start nay minute - please as you join say hello;)

Sylwia, I found the link and I am in.  What is happening tomorrow?  Why tomorrow?  You want to invite @afrineurs (John Karamba) from Oxford to this forum.

Nothing happening?

Hi Jo, tomorrow is the Conquers meet up, I will DM you the link ok?

Here we are talking about social media in different regions, although I am not sure if we will have the discussion today, as I had a lot of feedback from people not being able to make it today. We had a chat yesterday - see the history.

http://conkertu.com/ here is the url;)