Hello
people let me take you round the world of Blogging so tighten up your seat
belts and let’s ride.
Blogs get people excited. Or else they disturb
and worry them. Some people
distrust
them. Others see them as the vanguard of a new information revolution.
One
thing’s for sure: they’re rocking the foundations of the media in countries
as
different as the United States, China and Iran.
It’s
too soon to really know what to think of blogs. We’ve been reading newspapers,
watching
TV and listening to the radio for decades now and we’ve learned how to
immediately
tell
what’s news and what’s comment, to distinguish a tabloid “human interest”
magazine
from
a serious one and an entertainment programme from a documentary.
We
don’t have such antennae to figure out blogs. These “online diaries” are even
more
varied
than the mainstream media and it’s hard to know which of them is a news site,
which
a
personal forum or one that does serious investigation or one that’s presenting
junk
evidence.
It’s difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Some
bloggers will gradually develop their own ethical standards, to become more
credible
and
win public confidence. But the Internet is still full of unreliable information
and people
exchanging
insults. A blog gives everyone, regardless of education or technical skill, the
chance
to publish material. This means boring or disgusting blogs will spring up as
fast as
good
and interesting ones.
But
blogging is a powerful tool of freedom of expression that has enthused millions
of
ordinary
people. Passive consumers of information have become energetic participants in
a
new kind of journalism – what US blog pioneer Dan Gillmor calls “grassroots
journalism
…
by the people, for the people” (see chapter on “What ethics should bloggers
have?”).
Bloggers
are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is
censored
or
under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing
the
government
and sometimes courting arrest. Plenty of bloggers have been hounded or
thrown
in prison. One of the contributors to this handbook, Arash Sigarchi, was
sentenced
to
14 years in jail for posting several messages online that criticised the
Iranian regime. His
story
illustrates how some bloggers see what they do as a duty and a necessity, not
just a
hobby.
They feel they are the eyes and ears of thousands of other Internet users.
Bloggers need to be anonymous when they are putting out information that risks
their
safety.
The cyber-police are watching and have become expert at tracking down
“troublemakers.”
This
handbook gives advice on how to post material without revealing who you
are
(“How to blog anonymously,” by Ethan Zuckerman). It’s best of course to have
the
technical
skills to be anonymous online, but following a few simple rules can sometimes
do
the trick. This advice is of course not for those (terrorists, racketeers or
pedophiles)
who
use the Internet to commit crimes. The handbook is simply to help bloggers
encountering
opposition
because of what they write to maintain their freedom of expression.
However,
the main problem for a blogger, even under a repressive regime, isn’t security.
It’s
about getting the blog known, finding an audience. A blog without any readers
won’t
worry
the powers-that-be, but what’s the point of it? This handbook makes technical
suggestions
to make sure a blog gets picked up by the major search-engines (the article by
Olivier
Andrieu), and gives some more “journalistic” tips about this (“What really
makes a
blog
shine,” by Mark Glaser).
Some
bloggers face the problem of filtering. Most authoritarian regimes now have the
technical
means to censor the Internet. In Cuba or Vietnam, you won’t be able to access
websites
that criticise the government or expose corruption or talk about human rights
abuses.
So-called “illegal” and “subversive” content is automatically blocked by
filters. But
all
bloggers need free access to all sites and to the blogosphere or the content of
their blogs
will
become irrelevant.
The
second part of the handbook is about ways to get round filtering (“Choosing
circumvention,”
by Nart Villeneuve). With a bit of common-sense, perseverance and
especially
by picking the right tools, any blogger should be able to overcome censorship.
The
handbook has technical advice and tips about how to set up a good blog. But a
successful
one is harder to ensure. To stand out in the crowd, you must be original and
post
news
or opinions neglected by the mainstream media. In some countries, bloggers are
mainly
worried about staying out of jail. In others, they try to establish their
credibility as a
source
of reliable information. Not all bloggers have the same problems, but all of
them, in
their different ways, are
on the frontline in the fight for freedom of expression.
You want to get this book? Don’t
be afraid it’s free!!! Follow the link below, to get the book.
Please share this post to
let others know through the share buttons below this post or you can also
comment below this post. Happy Blogging
http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/handbook_bloggers_cyberdissidents-GB.pdf
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