Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents

[jason]

Something interesting for us all...

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. Because they allow and encourage ordinary people to speak up, they’re tremendous tools of freedom of expression.
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.
Reporters Without Borders has produced this handbook to help them, with handy tips and technical advice on how to to remain anonymous and to get round censorship, by choosing the most suitable method for each situation. It also explains how to set up and make the most of a blog, to publicise it (getting it picked up efficiently by search-engines) and to establish its credibility through observing basic ethical and journalistic principles.

http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=542

Comments

[jumpinjulia.livejournal.com]

Blogs get people excited. Or else they disturb and worry them.

I wonder why the author thinks it's an either/or situation. Can't a blog excite AND disturb you? I mean, they do that to me, that little I know for sure.

[pryde7.livejournal.com]

Very interesting. I'm quite convinced that the humble blog has the potential be relevant and important as a medium for communicating information, especially in parts of the world where power is in a state of flux or simply out of the hands of the common man.

K

[complicittheory.livejournal.com]

Well, if you ask me. There's only two sides to every argument. Mine and the wrong side ;)

[complicittheory.livejournal.com]

Guy's only, eh? ;) A friend of mine (hoder.com) has been pushing blogs in iran, but I wonder about us exporting western radical individualism. Is it just another hegemonic form of oppression?

[(Anonymous)]

Guys and girls, of course. Simply a figure of speech.

I was actually thinking about that the other day. Universalism and individualism had its opposition in their heydey in the late 18th-or-so Century, but speaking against such things (outside of the academic discourse community) now seems to be borderline heresy. As important as the individual is, it almost seems forgettable in this day and age that, by nature, we are social creatures by nature and not all cultures are compatible with the Western brand of humanistic individualism.

Ah, but sigh, this is a tedious subject of a complex and touchy nature. I've gotten into people's bad books with bringing this topic outside of the discourse community and into real life.

K

[(Anonymous)]

I keep forgetting to sign in, so excuse the anonymity.

K

HTML Version RSF Handbook for Bloggers And Cyber-Dissidents all-in-one Version 1.0

[(Anonymous)]

Re: Reporters Without Borders Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-dissidents

http://thewall.civiblog.org/rsf/

I have just completed and released an all-in-one html version of Reporters Without Borders Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents, browseable at the above location. I tried to keep the spirit and flavor of RSF's pdf version as much as possible, while adding additional sources and art. It is about 8mb, so will take a couple of minutes over dialup to load, but should be just great over broadband connections.

The release notes and download page for a local copy is here:

http://thewall.civiblog.org/rsf/ReleaseNotes_HBCD_110205.html

In addition to the Handbook, there are a couple of other files there for download as well. http://thewall.civiblog.org/cdcp.zip tells the story of how the story of China's blocking of all Typepad-hosted weblogs in March 2004 reach the world press after spreading throughout the Blogosphere; and another file includes a collection of spinning orb and throbbing herald gif animations created for this html version, and released under the GPL.

Only the Civiblog site is completely set up so far, but downloading should be possible from http://rsfhandbook.tripod.com/ within a few days.

I actively solicit feedback on ways to improve this document, and welcome any and all comments, criticisms, corrections, rants, etc.

I hope you enjoy it.

- David C. Manchester