I’m on holiday tomorrow, so thought to release the weekly mail one day early.
Ignoring Facebook’s 5th birthday and the launch of @Twestival (a charity raising event that is running on Twitter), diversity and nationalism are two big themes this week, so I’ve been trawling the web for some interesting examples. The three sites below will hopefully give you some food for thought.
Enjoy
A tribute to the freedom of speech (http://drc.ushahidi.com/)
I’ve just finished reading Blood River, which is an engaging story about how a journalist tries to recreate Stanley’s historic route following the Congo river to its source. Having spent time in Africa in my youth, the book is a healthy reminder of an incredible continent that showcases the best and worst of mankind’s idiosyncrasies.
Anyway, one of the biggest issues in the Congo has been the constant suppression of information by the various ruling bodies, which has made it incredibly difficult to understand the scale of anarchy and brutality that exists. This is about to change. Some bright spark has used a platform called Ushahidi to enable content to penetrate areas that are typically news blackout areas e.g. the Congo. Users can submit information by a number of means, including SMS (mobile penetration in Africa is vast and continually expanding) and the result is a live (and depressing) chart of a country that is tearing itself apart. Hopefully this information will help drive change in a region that desperately needs it.
Are virtual Haj pilgrimages a thing of the present? (http://pal.muxlim.com)
In December, the Telegraph announced the development of a Virtual World aimed specifically at Muslims. MuxlimPal (an offshoot of muxlim.com) aligns community values and standards that may not be acceptable in Second Life, which is banned in some Muslim countries. Through a cartoon avatar, members can control several “meters” governing happiness, fitness, knowledge and spirituality that change when the character carries out tasks in the social world. The idea grew out of observing what Muxlim.com’s 1.5 million monthly users spent most of their time on and while the site is in Beta, it will be interesting to see how it takes off. Muxlim Pal’s creators also hope that the site will engender understanding amongst non-muslims.
The official website of The British Monarchy (http://www.royal.gov.uk/)
The British Monarchy website has undergone a revamp and the output is pretty impressive. Follow the Royal of your choice through engaging content that is supported by Google Maps integration, YouTube integration, RSS feeds and image libraries, all supported by linguistic variants (Gaelic and Welsh). Did you know that the first ever mass communication from a reigning British Monarch was sent in 1918 by George V? Or that when the Queen allowed TV cameras inside Westminster Abbey for the first time in 1953, that over ½ million additional TV sets were sold in the weeks running up to the event? Or that the Queen visited Google last year and uploaded a video to YouTube? And who said the Royals were stuffy and outdated?