Rising Voices, kitengo cha uenezi cha Global Voices Online, kimetangaza fedha kwa ajili ya matumizi ya teknolojia mpya kama vile blogu, podikasti, n.k., kwenye masuala ya afya. Fedha, kiwango cha juu ni dola 5000 za Marekani, zinaweza kuombwa na mtu binafsi au shirika lisilo la kiserikali. Mwisho wa kuomba ni Juni 1:

Rising Voices, the outreach arm of Global Voices, in collaboration with the Open Society Institute Public Health Program’s Health Media Initiative, is now accepting project proposals for the third round of microgrant funding of up to $5,000 for new media outreach projects focused especially on public health issues involving marginalized populations.

Tangazo zima hili hapa.

Kuna nafasi ya kazi Global Voices Online ya mhariri wa masuala ya afya:

Global Voices is seeking to hire a Public Health Editor. He of she will be responsible for writing weekly articles which cover the latest discussions and topics related to public health and human rights in the developing world from citizen media like blogs, podcasts, and video-blogs.

Bonyeza hapa usome tangazo zima.

Mwanafunzi wa uandishi wa habari, James Buck, anashukuru teknolojia ya Twitter kwa kumsaidia alipotiwa ndani nchini Misri. Soma habari nzima kwenye Washington Post. Na kama hufahamu Twitter ni kitu gani, bonyeza hapa usome makala fupi niliyoandika kuhusu Twitter.

James Karl Buck says he has Twitter to thank for his freedom.
Buck, a journalism grad student, was arrested in Egypt last week, and his only communication to the outside world was through his cellphone, which he used to post a message on the micro-blogging site.
“Arrested,” he typed into his phone, a message that broadcast via the Web to his friends in the United States and bloggers in Egypt.

Habari kamili isome hapa.

Mwezi uliopita nilishiriki kwenye mahojiano ya dokumentari kuhusu Wikipedia na dhana ya ukweli pale kwenye chuo kikuu cha Western Cape, Cape Town. Dokumentari yenyewe imetolewa hivi sasa na inapatikana YouTube. Inaitwa The Truth According To Wikipedia. Inajadili mahusiano ya dhana ya ukweli na kamusi elezo ya mtandaoni, Wikipedia ambayo kila mtu anaweza kushiriki kuiandika. Walioiandaa ni Televisheni ya Uholanzi, VPRO Backlight.

Jamaa wa The Next Web wanaandika hivi kuhusu dokumentari hii na majina ya waliohojiwa:

On The Next Web we’ll show the premiere of a documentary that takes a better look at Wikipedia. Backlight plunges into the story behind Wikipedia. Is it a revolution, or pure hype?…Van Veelen managed to get some interesting and authoritative people for his camera. Of course the before mentioned Jimmy Wales, Larry Sanger (the since-fired co-founder of Wikipedia, now head of Wiki spin-off Citizendium), the infamous Andrew Keen (author of The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet Is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy), Phoebe Ayers (a Wikipedian in California), Ndesanjo Macha (Swahili Wikipedia, digital activist), Tim O’Reilly (CEO of O’Reilly Media, the “inventor” of Web 2.0), Charles Leadbeater (philosopher and author of We Think, about crowdsourcing), and Robert McHenry (former editor-in-chief of Encyclopedia Britannica).

Soma hapa.

Bonyeza hapa utazame dokumentari hii.

Zimbabwe ni nchi ambayo kwa miaka ya karibuni imekuwa ikiweka historia duniani. Ni nchi ya kwanza duniani kuwa na noti ambazo zina tarehe ya mwisho kutumika (expiration date)! Ukiwa na hela zako tarehe ikapita, umeingia hasara. Mfumuko wa bei ni mkubwa zaidi ya nchi ambazo ziko kwenye vita (leo hii Paundi 1 ya Uingereza ni sawa na dola milioni 200 za Zimbabwe). Pia imeweka historia kwa kuwa na uchaguzi ambao matokeo yake hayajatangazwa kwa karibu wiki tatu na huenda, usije ukashangaa, yasitangazwe kabisa! Kutokana na uchafu unaondelea hapo Zim, watu wengi wamekuwa wakifuatilia blogu za Zimbabwe. Katika kufuatilia huko, nimekutana na blogu ya Comrade Fatso. Huyu bwana ninachomsifu ni umahiri wake wa kuandika na kuelezea hali ya nchi hiyo kwa ufundi ule wa waandishi wa riwaya. Zaidi ya kuwa mwanablogu, Comrade Fatso ni mwanamuziki na mshairi. Albamu yake ya House of Hunger. Sikiliza shairi lake la Bread and Roses.

Katika blogu yake anaandika, Bread, Milk and Toilet Paper:

The parallel realities we live in have become the only reality now. The other one is paralysed. So bread is now hustled on street corners for two US dollars. Like an illegal drug. Milk has also joined the list of ‘goods’ that are sold in our parallel economy. Not in the shops but on the streets. And if you’re looking for toliet paper then just drive to the nearest ‘Give Way’ sign, a Zimbabwean ‘Stop’ sign.

In our country survival was criminalised a long time ago. We don’t know what is upside-down or downside-up. Normal means no electricity and a drop of water from the tap. Yet our rulers fill the news with talk of the need for a re-count before Zimbabweans know the-count. Filling the news like cramming empty shop shelves with toilet paper. A disgusting illusion. A lie.

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Jiunge na FotoBraza. Lakini FotoBraza ni nini?:

Fotobaraza ni jamii ya wapenda picha na wapenda soga, wazungumzao Kiswahili, waliosambaa ulimwenguni mwote. Jamii inaunganishwa na tovuti ya fotobaraza. Tafadhali jiunge nasi kwa kubofya SIGN UP pale kulia. Kama wewe ni member tayari bofya SING IN.

FotoBraza imetengenezwa kwa kutumia huduma ya Ning ambayo inawezesha watu kutengeneza “facebook” zao! Neno Ning kwa Kichina ni amani. Jina zuri sio?

Ning is the only online service where you can create, customize, and share your own Social Network for free in seconds.

Lazima ucheke. Vichekesho na kebehi vimekuwa vikitumiwa kwa miaka mingi duniani kama moja ya harakati za kisiasa. Tembelea ukurasa huu wa Mwai Kibaki wa Twitter. Kama hufahamu Twitter, bonyeza hapa usome niliyoandika huko nyuma kuhusu teknolojia hii. Kwenye ukurasa huo, Kibaki anasema:

Hakuna cabinet. Kazi iendelee.
about 2 hours ago from web

Hawa Njaruo wanataka nini? Raila amepata kiti ya waziri mkuu. Wacheni vita. Hapana. Sisi tuko hapa hapa. about 22 hours ago from web

Time to take a nap. This reminds me, I should have a bedroom built at Harambee house. 03:03 PM April 08, 2008 from web

Kama ODM hapana taka ministers, kazi iendelee. 07:54 PM April 07, 2008 from web

Wapi huyu Alfred Mutua? Pumbavu yeye. Anarega rega kama kihii. Tell him to issue another press statement. 04:38 PM April 07, 2008 from web

Umuthi utiri silly games. I am the duly elected president of Kenya. Raila ni mtu bure kabisa. 07:07 AM April 07, 2008 from web

Kila mwaka huwa kunakuwa na mkutano uitwao Wikimania, ambao unahusu miradi mbalimbali iliyo chini ya Wikimedia Foundation. Mkutano wa kwanza ulifanyika Ujerumani mwaka 2005. Wa pili ulikuwa Cambridge, Marekani mwaka jana. Mwaka jana, Wikimania 2007, ilifanyika kule Taiwan. Mwaka huu Wikimania 2008 itakuwa Alexandria, Misri.

Habari kubwa ni kuwa kuna skolashipu. Bonyeza hapa kwa taarifa zaidi za skolashipu hizo. Ukipata utanikuta nikinywa kahawa pembeni ya piramidi!

Bonyeza hapa usome habari za mikutano ya Wikimania niliyohudhuria.

Je unafahamu mtu yeyote mwenye lori nchini Zimbabwe?
Vichekesho vya kisiasa vimetawala simu za mkono nchini Zimbabwe kama ilivyotokea Tanzania baada ya waziri mkuu wa zamani kugundulika kuwa alikuwa akituibia. Vichekesho hivi vya kisiasa husambazwa kama virusi.

Anyone know someone with a truck? There’s a guy wanting to move all his stuff from State House to Zvimba. The jokes spread as text messages refer to our aged dictator relocating to his rural home.

Soma hapa.

Halafu inasemekana kuwa kuna kampuni ya Israeli imehusika na wizi wa kura Zimbabwe:

On Friday, March 28th, an online newspaper called “Zimbabwe Online” published an article accusing Cogniview, an Israeli startup company, of helping Robert Mugabe rig the Zimbabwean elections.

Soma hapa.

Ukiwa na wasaa, shiriki kwenye mkutano wa Kamusi Project utakaofanyika mtandaoni. Bonyeza hapa usome jinsi ya kushiriki. Ni kesho.

Wanasema:

We are pleased to announce that we are about to begin work on PALDO: the Pan-African Living Dictionary Online. PALDO will build on the Kamusi Project architecture to create an interlinked multilingual dictionary for African languages, creating a powerful communications tool that will be useful throughout the African continent.

The first step for PALDO will be to program the database, multilingual tools, and enhanced user interface. This work will begin on April 2 with our partners at Kasahorow (kasahorow.org), at a meeting in Accra, Ghana. This meeting will be simulcast LIVE ONLINE, and the transcript will also be posted on this page (www.kamusiproject.org/paldo)

WE INVITE YOU TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MEETING by logging into the live chat session or commenting on the blog, beginning at 9 a.m. on April 2. The timezone for Accra is GMT.

Wanaharakati wa Sokwanele Zimbabwe wametumia Google Map kuonyesha madhambi yanayofanywa na serikali ya Mugabe katika uchaguzi uliofanyika jana (Tsvangirai anadai kuwa ameshinda. Tutaona tena Kenya ikijirudia Zimbabwe?):

Sokwanele has mapped a sample of breaches logged under our Zimbabwe Election Watch (ZEW) project using Google’s map function.
The interactive map aims to give a visual impression of the scale and many ways in which the Zimbabwean government has breached the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections. Elections are a process, not an event, and the same applies to rigging: the scene has been set for unfree and unfair elections on March 29th, and the conditions on the ground have been developed through many months of non-compliance with regional electoral standards.

Tazama hapa.

Obama. Kama ni kipaji cha kuzungumza, Obama amejaliwa. Kwa watu weusi hili sio jambo jipya. Watu weusi wana kipaji kikubwa sana cha kuongea hadharani, jambo ambalo linaweza kuwa limetokana na utamaduni wa miaka mingi miongoni mwa watu weusi wa kujenga uwezo wao wa kuongea hadharani kwa matumizi ya juu ya lugha, sauti, lugha ya mwili, n.k. Utamaduni huu umepewa na wahubiri weusi. Mtu mweusi akienda makanisa mengi yenye wahubiri weupe anaweza kusinzia. Hujaona mahubiri hadi umetembelea makanisa yenye wahubiri weusi. Mila hii ndio ilitupatia watu kama akina Martin Luther King, Al Sharpton na Malcolm X ambao wote ni wahubiri. Obama naye ameonyesha uwezo mkubwa sana wa kuongea ndio maana Hillary Clinton akaanza kusema kuwa “maneno ni maneno tu hayaleti chakula mezani.”

Sasa inasemekana kuwa hotuba za Obama zina nguvu za kimiujiza! Wameanza kumwita Obamasiah (wakijumuisha jina lake na neno mesiya kama Yesu alivyokuwa akiitwa). Eti anapohubiri watu huanguka na kuzimia. Wimbi hili la watu kuanguka na kuzimia wameliita “Obamania.”

Call it the Barack Obama traveling salvation show – campaign rallies and speeches that seem like the secular counterpart of tent-meeting revivals and evangelistic sermons common in the U.S. a century ago. And, in apparent similarity to the religious enthusiasm of that bygone era, some of those coming to hear the Democrat presidential candidate “preach” his message are fainting as he speaks.

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Blogu wakati mwingine zinaweza kuwa kama moto unaokuchoma vidole. Wiki iliyopita hasira za Watanzania zilimfanya mwanablogu Pernille atake kuacha kublogu:

Pernille is a well-known blogger from Denmark. She entered the African blogosphere scene when she started working in Uganda and blogging at “I’ve Left Copenhagen for Uganda”. She is now lives in Tanzania and blogs under a new name, Louder than Swahili. Last week she decided to put her blog on stand-by following comments she received via email, SMS, and phone calls, which made her uncomfortable. The issue that has generated such comments is the image of Tanzania she is displaying on her blog.

Bonyeza hapa usome kisa chenyewe.

Kila mwaka jumuiya ya wana Global Voices Online hukutana. Mkutano wa mwisho tulikutana New Delhi, India. Mwaka huu tutakutana Budapest, Hungary. Ni nafasi nzuri ya kutazama kazi zetu hasa ukichukulia kuwa ofisi zetu ziko kwenye Intaneti hivyo sio sawa na kazi ambazo mnaonana ana kwa ana kila siku. Nina furaha kuwa baada ya miaka mingi sana, mimi na Mwandani (Tunga) tutakutana ana kwa ana hapo Budapest:

Join us in Budapest, Hungary on June 27-28 for the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2008! Supported by the McCormick Tribune Foundation, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and MediaHungaria, this year’s event will bring together the members of the Global Voices citizen media project and its wider community with a diverse group of bloggers, activists, technologists, journalists and others persons from around the world. Read on for more information about our exciting program of public discussions and workshops around the theme “Citizen Media & Citizenhood”

Malizia kusoma juu ya mkutano huu.

Sokari Ekine hakuwa amesoma Azimio la Arusha. Ila sasa amelisoma na kusema:

I had never read the Arusha Declaration and only have superficial knowledge of Julius “Mwalimu” Nyerere in terms of his role in the struggle for independence in Africa and as a Pan Africanist along with Nkrumah. But reading it now I realise what a revolutionary document the Arusha Declaration (AD) was and still is. One example of the AD which has since been dismantled in Tanzania was the removal in 1992 of all restrictions that had previously prevented Tanzanian leaders from participating in business activities. Nyerere believed it was not possible for those in leadership positions to serve both the public interests and their own private commercial interests and to do so would lead to corruption.

Inaelekea kuwa Nyerere alijua kuwa kuna viongozi mafisadi kama Lowassa ambao wakiingiza mikono yao kwenye biashara na utumishi wa umma, basi nchi imekwisha. Soma habari nzima aliyoandika Sokari aliyoiita The Spirit of Nyerere.

Kwa maneno yao wenyewe:

In 2007, a group of Kenyans decided to start thinking about ways in which our country’s demi-centenary, in 2013, could be approached. We thought that one of the ways in which it is important to mark Kenya’s 50th Birthday is by telling the inspiring story of Kenyan achievements in the last fifty years. We wanted to celebrate ordinary every-day heroes, in a variety of fields of endeavour who have taught us and challenged us as Kenyans, by their lives. Indeed, we would focus specifically on those Kenyans whose life-spans have mirrored that of this wonderful country of ours: Kenyans born since 1963. We would document these lives through beautiful fine art photographs, and attempt to put down a record of our times through the recounting of these extraordinary and well-lived Kenyan lives in well written socio-biographies by professional writers. This was the idea behind GenerationKenya, the project.

Bonyeza hapa uende kwenye tovuti yao.

Watu wenye fikra za kuanzisha miradi yenye kulenga kuwezesha wananchi kuwa maripota wanaweza kujifunza toka kwenye mradi toka nchini Ecuador uitwao “My Mobile Voice.”

Mi Voz Móvil (My Mobile Voice) is a project in citizen journalism from the newspaper Ultimas Noticias in Quito, Ecuador. The mobile van travels to neighborhoods where they conduct workshops for aspiring citizen journalists. In many cases, individuals that have submitted news see their stories side-by-side with the professional journalists.

Soma habari hiyo.

Halafu ule mzozo unaotokana na picha ya Muhammad umeingia hadi kwenye Wikipedia. Umeingia vipi?:

Another storm is brewing in the Arab world regarding the depiction of Prophet Muhammad in drawings after Wikipedia refused the demands of more than 180,000 people who called for the illustrations to be removed.

Bonyeza hapa.
(more…)

Dan Schultz ameandika kwenye blogu ya Media Shift, Idea Lab, juu ya tukio moja ambalo amelitumia kuonyesha nguvu ya Intaneti kuleta mabadiliko nje ya Intaneti. Tukio hili ni lile ambalo limeelezwa kuwa ni vita dhidi ya Kanisa la Scientology. Vita hii inaendeshwa na watu wasiojulikana ni akina nani (akina anonimasi) kwa kutumia wiki, blogu, video za mtandaoni, n.k. “Vita” hii wameiita Project Chanology. Mwezi uliopita walielekeza mashambulizi yao kwenye tovuti ya Kanisa la Scientology na kuizima tovuti hiyo na nyingine za kanisa hilo. Watu hawa hawana kiongozi na wanasema “wako kila mahali.” Wikipedia inawaelezea hivi:

Project Chanology, also called Operation Chanology, is a protest against the Church of Scientology by the Internet-based group Anonymous. Project Chanology also refers to a website of the same name, used by the group to chronicle ongoing and planned actions by Anonymous, who state they are “everyone and everywhere”, with “no leaders”. The project was started in response to the Church of Scientology’s attempts to remove material from an exclusive promotional interview with Scientologist Tom Cruise from the Internet in January 2008.

(more…)

Ukipata nafasi uwe unatembelea blogu ya AfriGadget. Kila ninapozungumza juu ya blogu Afrika lazima niitumie kama mfano mzuri sana wa jinsi blogu zinaripoti habari ambazo huwa zinatokea kwa nadra sana kwenye vyombo vya habari vya jadi. Au blogu zenye kuripoti mambo ya msingi katika maendeleo ya Afrika. AfriGadget inaonyesha ubunifu na “uanasayansi” unaoendelea Afrika. Soma habari hii kuhusu baiskeli zinazotengenezwa kwa kutumia mianzi! Soma pia na habari nyingine kwenye blogu hiyo.

AfriGadget imeanzisha mradi unaokuhitaji. Unaitwa The Grassroots Reporting Project.

One of our goals at AfriGadget is to find more stories of African ingenuity. The Grassroots Reporting Project is our plan to find, equip and train more AfriGadget reporters in the field throughout Africa…A combination of mobile phones and computers will be assigned to individuals in 10 African countries for the purpose of getting more on-the-ground reporting of stories of African ingenuity to the world. An AfriGadget editor will be in charge of identifying the best candidates for inclusion in the program. This editor will also travel to each country to train and equip the new AfriGadget reporters for the program.

Waliohudhuria mkutano wa TEDGlobal 2007 mjini Arusha watakwambia kuwa watapenda kuhudhuria kila mwaka. Tuliohudhuria mwaka jana (kupitia skolashipu zao), tulipata kompyuta mpya za mapajani na redio za satelaiti. Muulizeni Mwenye Macho atawaambia umuhimu wa mkutano kama huu.

Sasa mwaka huu TEDGlobal inafanyika Cape Town. Na kuna nafasi 50 za skolashipu. Omba, huwezi kujua. Ukitaka jina la kuunga mkono maombi yako unaweza kunitumia LAKINI BAADA YA KUNIULIZA NAMI KUKUBALI. Na pia ni vyema nikiwa nakufahamu au najua kazi zako. Bonyeza hapa uende kwenye fomu ya maombi (wamesisitiza kuwa waombaji wawe wanaishi Afrika). Pia unaweza kusoma hapa niliyoandika kuhusu TEDGlobal 2007 pale Arusha.