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Alan Beazley

Voice tweets sidestep Egypt web ban. (February 1, 2011). ABC News online. Retrieved A... - 2 views

www.abc.net.au/...3126626.htm

Egypt Twitter SayNow Google uprising Net308 revolution social media

shared by Alan Beazley on 14 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • Alan Beazley on 14 Apr 11
     
    This ABC online article highlights some important aspects about the use of social-media and the role it played organising, coordinating and documenting Egypt's 2011 uprising. Firstly, the initial ban of web services such as Facebook and Twitter was an indication of the Egyptian government recognising the power, connectedness and participatory nature of social-media . In an attempt to silence the demonstrators and to avoid a repeat of the 2009 Iran revolution, Egyptian authorities took it one step further and not only blocked certain web site but completely shut down access to the entire world-wide-web (Stone, 2009). This act alone illustrates the fragility of the Internet, despite its decentralised design. Literally, with the flick of a switch, Internet Service Providers acting on government instructions blocked web access within the country. It can be argued the political protesting in Egypt would occur with our without a social-media influence; however, it is still important to examine the length Egyptian demonstrators went to in order to circumvent the Internet block and continue to take leverage from popular social media services. An example is the use of 'voice-to-tweet' - a cooperative development by Google, Twitter and an online voice provider called SayNow. This innovation allowed Egyptians to call a telephone number and leave a message which would automatically be converted to text, published on Twitter and tagged with #Egypt. This example highlights Twitter and new media being used for collaboration and participation; specifically between citizen activists and journalists around the world. Much like the Internet, news media was also blocked within Egypt and reporters faced the same communication challenges as everybody else, this workaround however was an effective way for Egyptians to stay connected and ensure their stories were continuing to be voiced to the eagerly listening global audience. Stone, B. (June 15, 2009). Social Net
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  • alio S on 15 Apr 11
     
    This article dated 1 February 2011 announced a new service whereby voicemail sent to several mobile numbers could be converted into text messages and subsequently posted to twitter with a special hashtag appended. The hashtag #egypt served to organise the received tweets into a searchable topic. The service was developed by Google in consultation with Twitter and a third application, a social online voice platform called SayNow. It aimed to bypass the Egyptian government's shut down of the Internet and to facilitate the free speech of Egyptian protesters and the dissemination of information. In an article written for the Guardian on 3rd February 2011, Patrick Kingsley mentions the Egyptian government shutting down both Internet and mobile access. Egyptian protesters, however, refused to give in and "improvised by using dial-up connections"(Kingsley 2011) that continued to enable this new "speak to tweet" technology" (Kingsley 2011). There appears to be a dialectic at play whereby protesters make use of new technologies to communicate and collaborate and the government responds by blocking access to the technology being thus used. Protesters then find alternative ways to access the technologies that facilitate their communication and collaboration. The Egyptian government's actions to stifle what it considers dissent, led Shervin Pishevar, founder of the Open Mesh project, to begin work on developing small, easy to conceal, mobile routers that can create "mesh networks between people with computers or other wifi-connected devices and others with these pocket-sized routers, so the information can hop along until it can find someone near enough an uplink to the outside world to get the information through" (Meadows 2011). Open Mesh routers are still in development, but promise to create an alternative avenue for protester communications, one that will be more difficult for governments to shut down.
  • alio S on 16 Apr 11
     
    REFS: ABC News (2011). Voice tweets sidestep Egypt web ban. Retrieved from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/01/3126626.htm Kingsley, P. (2011). Inside the anti-kettling HQ. Retrieved from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/feb/02/inside-anti-kettling-hq?INTCMP=SRCH Meadows, C. (2011). Open Mesh Project seeks to use mesh networking to promote freedom. Retrieved from: http://www.teleread.com/net-related-tooks-from-search-engines-to-blogware/open-mesh-project-seeks-to-use-mesh-networking-to-promote-freedom/
  • anonymous on 16 Apr 11
     
    Don't call it a Twitter revolution just yet is the message from Kravets in his article on recent protests in Egypt. "It's about years of repression and dictatorship. Revolutions existed before Twitter and Facebook," said Issandr el-Amrani, a Cairo writer and activist, said in a telephone interview from Tunisia. These important statements bring closer a situation in the Egypt and what role played Twitter during recent protests raging through Egypt. It is known fact that the technology has always been linked to political activities. People always find new ways how to communicate as long as it is fast and reliable for the information to get out to public either locally or worldwide. It is no surprise the Twitter provided communication link to people in Egypt and between Egypt and the rest of the world while Egyptian government shut down the Internet and its attached SMS and VOIP phone coverage services during the protests. As stated by Cairo writer and activist, 'revolutions existed before the Twitter' which is correct and revolutions will exist after the Twitter's life is over and will be replaced with something new that may offer its communication services when needed.
  • tim findlay on 17 Apr 11
     
    The events that unfolded during the uprising in Egypt are a good example of how flexible and mobile social networks can be in relation to effective communication between members of society. Through the Egyptian government shutting off all Internet connections collaborative efforts were made by both Twitter and Google to still allow information to be distributed throughout the country. As stated above, the speak-to-tweet services were available in which voicemail messages were left and then converted into text messages, which were then posted via twitter (ABC News, 2011). This is a great example of how devices can be implemented and used to adjust to the situation at hand. In one of my previous posts I talked about the United States becoming concerned around social media's effectiveness in relation to social protest, in which they have made plans to impose legislation to create a 'kill switch' to re-create what the Egyptian government previous did, cut all lines of Internet communication in times of political disturbance (Grubb & Moses, 2011). The elements that unfolded in Egypt after the lines of Internet communication were cut is a good example of how other devices can be implemented for information to be distributed amongst society. It is not as simple as cutting off an Internet connection and assume that collaborative communication will cease. Just as the US government has seen the warning signs of the power of social networks, society has also seen the weakness in relying on a national Internet service. 'Mesh' Networks as I previously stated in another post are currently underdevelopment for mobile phones in which there is no central device, instead each node is equipped with radio communications which acts as a relay point to other nodes, placing the pressure off obtaining a connection from a main server (Gedda ,2010).
  • tim findlay on 17 Apr 11
     
    References: ABC News (2011). Voice tweets sidestep Egypt web ban. Retrieved April 17, 2011 from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/01/3126626.htm Grubb, B; Moses, A. (2011). As Egypt goes offline US gets Internet 'kill switch' bill ready. Retrieved April 17, 2011. From http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/as-egypt-goes-offline-us-gets-internet-kill-switch-bill-ready-20110131-1aah3.html Gedda, R. (2010). Mobile Phone Coverage Expanded Via 'Mesh' Networks. Retrieved April, 17, 2011. from http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/352948/mobile_phone_coverage_expanded_via_mesh_networks/.
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