Checkdesk training begins in Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon
We’re extremely excited to announce that our Checkdesk training programme is firmly underway in four countries across the Middle East. Led by our regional partners (Welad El Balad Media Services - Egypt, 7iber – Jordan, Ma’an – Palestine, Annahar & SMEX – Lebanon), and in close cooperation with our research and training partner Birmingham City University, the training program aims to develop citizens’ journalistic skills in the way they consume and analyze media, to nurture verification and fact-checking best practice, and to introduce trainees to the Checkdesk platform. Over the coming 6 weeks,... Read The Rest →
Reporting breaking news online: Lessons from #BostonBombing
As we at Meedan followed the tragic and dramatic events as they unfolded today in Boston through both mainstream media (BBC, CBS Boston) and social media (Twitter) we noticed a couple of things that are worth recording: - If you Googled the name of the second suspect, which was first announced by the AP at 11:45 UTC then there was plenty of information to be found right away. Within 60 seconds of the name coming out, we could see where the 19 year old had gone to high school, that... Read The Rest →
Translatedesk: Social Translation for Social Media
co-written by Ed Bice, Tom Trewinnard and An Xiao Mina When Barack Obama made his first visit to Israel as president, the whole world, and especially the Middle East, paid attention. And as he took to lectern before a packed hall of students at the Jerusalem International Convention Center, the world watched. And they tweeted. They tweeted in Arabic, in Hebrew, in English, commenting in real-time and in dialogue, using Twitter for what it’s so well designed for. We saw a variety of tweets, like the ones below, that discussed... Read The Rest →
On the Meedan Radar – April 2013
Journalism & Tech - Meedan-translated post from the Witness blog (shared last bulletin) now published: فيديو المواطن للصحفيين: التحقق http://meedan.org/ar/2013/03/citizen_video - Two good references on the amazing work carried out by British amateur newshound Elliot Higgins aka @Brown_Moses who has made some important findings using YouTube videos to research weapons proliferation in Syria: Guardian report: How Brown Moses exposed Syrian arms trafficking from his front room - BBC College of Journalism post on searching social media for news: It is a bit like playing the piano. On an average day... Read The Rest →
*RESCHEDULED* New media and translation – public lectures by Meedan CEO Ed Bice
Note: This event was originally scheduled to take place in December 2012, but has now been rescheduled for March 2013. As part of his upcoming visit to Cairo to lead the next “House of Translation” series of workshops, Meedan CEO Ed Bice will be giving two public lectures, hosted by the American University in Cairo’s Center for Translation Studies and the National Center for Translation: Social Media Translation: Real-Time Media, Network Culture and the Translator Tuesday, March 12, 2013 7pm AUC Zamalek Dormitory Social Media Translation and Technology Monday, March... Read The Rest →
On the Meedan Radar – February 2013
Journalism & Tech - Blog by general manager of French newspaper Les Echos on the need for a Digital “New Journalism” – interesting insight into how he views audience source awareness and trust: http://www.mondaynote.com/2013/02/17/the-need-for-a-digital-new-journalism/ - One to watch out for here, with a new series of posts by the team at Witness + special guests (Andy Carvin, Liam Stack etc) on citizen video for journalists http://blog.witness.org/2013/02/citizen-video-for-journalists-1/ - Twitter Devolutions – post by Marc Lynch assessing whether social media was doing harm to the Arab Spring http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/02/07/twitter_devolutions_arab_spring_social_media There’s also an interesting... Read The Rest →
Meedan at #4MCairo conference, talking about Checkdesk and participatory journalism
Meedani Dina Hawary will today be at CFI’s 4M conference in Cairo to discuss the intersection of new media and journalism, in particular to present the work we’re doing on Checkdesk and approaches to participatory journalism. Below are the slides for Dina’s presentation, and the livestream (in Arabic) for those who want to follow. تْشِك دِسْك – الإعلام الاجتماعي إلى غرف الأخبار from Tom Trewinnard [View the story "4M Cairo 2013 - Day 1 | Journalism and new media : new working experiences, new tools, new ways of organizing" on... Read The Rest →
Checkdesk and Right to Information – Meedan at BCU & Stanford
One of the great benefits of working on topics as engaging as journalism, citizen media and verification is that we get to work with lots of excellent partners. One of our outstanding partners on the Checkdesk project is Birmingham City University – where I recently attended an excellent presentation given on Checkdesk by Noha Atef to her doctoral cohort. I was also invited to submit a post for the BCU Interactive Cultures blog, where one can read up on the department’s interesting approach to researching community, media and technology. Around... Read The Rest →
The Rosetta Foundation seeks volunteer English > Arabic translators to support translation for non-profits
Calling all English > Arabic translators and would-be translators – our good friends at The Rosetta Foundation are looking for volunteers to help translate resources for non-profits into Arabic. If you’re a translator who wants to give of your time to support non-profit work in the Arab region, or a translator starting out and looking for valuable experience, you can find the link to sign up at the end of the post: The Rosetta Foundation works with volunteer translators to support the translation and localisation needs of non-profit organisations.... Read The Rest →
Become a Kiva Fellow in the Middle East – apply now!
This is a guest post by our amazing partners at Kiva, who are accepting applications now for their 2013 Kiva Fellowship Programme: http://www.kiva.org/fellows “This week, I met a Jordanian widow who is supporting four children and her elderly mother on less than 200 JD ($283) per month. Her income comes from her deceased spouse’s pension. She is applying for a microloan to make ends meet.” – Taline Khansa, November 29, 2012 Taline Khansa has now served four months as a Kiva Fellow in Jordan, where she has partnered with Tamweelcom to... Read The Rest →