Comments on: Citizen media and the Tbilisi protests

By: Graham Holliday

Graham Holliday — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:07:06 +0000

Regarding Qik and connectivity http://twitter.com/broy very kindly sent us a Nokia N95 with Qik pre-installed for David Axe to experiment with on the Sudan/Chad border. You can read about how he go on here: http://www.beta.frontlineclub.com/blogs/davidaxe/2008/07/alive-and-qiking-in-chad.html At the time we were thinking of setting up a Frontline Club Qik channel. Maybe the time is about right to do it now, although a lot of the bloggers do work in places where it just won't work.

By: Graham Holliday

Graham Holliday — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 09:48:36 +0000

Also, re: Yahoo Pipes, if you want to share what you come up with let me know. I've built a few pipes and I want to build a few more specialised ones. The more accurate and tailored you want to get the more difficult it is... I spit one pipe, tracking Somalia piracy news, out on Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/somaliapirates I'm just finding that without a human filter, like on http://www.twitter.com/frontlineblog you end up with too many repeats, irrelevancies and badly worded tweets/feeds. Like I say, working on it...

By: Onnik Krikorian

Onnik Krikorian — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 08:36:14 +0000

Guy, thanks for that. However, one serious issue might be regarding 3G. Only one carrier supports it here, and Murphy’s Law, I use the other 😉
Anyway, I’m guessing GPRS is totally out? Probably I should sign up for the other?
Incidentally, I’m still looking into phones to replace my dead one and I have to admit, the N82 looks the biz.
Only other thing to say is thanks for your posts on Frontline and your work in Tbilisi. It’s really opened my eyes.

By: Guy Degen

Guy Degen — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 07:55:00 +0000

Onnik – really great round up. Many thanks! Best to get cracking now on preparing any social media coverage for municipal elections in Yerevan.
I’ve found the 3G coverage/speed in Tbilisi to be quite reasonable – (even up in villages outside of Gori). My Nokia N82 is locked in 3G mode and I’ve rarely had to engage dual mode (UMTS/GSM) to get a signal.
Just putting a simple question out to the collective knowledge of Twitter helped me to get some advice on which network to use and how to get set up locally for 3G.
I am however getting a delay in streaming live video when the network is congested. So I’m trying to keep any video quite brief. I think I had a misfire on Bambuser last night too.
On the downside, Twitter is not recognising my my local Georgian mobile number. So I’m sending tweets via SMS on an older mobile with a German number and receiving SMS replies via the free Twe2 service. I can also send photos from the Nokia direct to Twitpic via Twibble as well as read updates from people I’m following, plus keep up to date with Tweet Search on #tbilisi via the web. I have two batteries for the Nokia (big advantage over the iPhone)- very handy as I’ve been doing live two-ways with DW-TV and need the extra power.
I’m also trying to remember to set a title for Qik videos. We’re journos, right? We should have a good headline/slug. That’s really hard to remember to do on the run. I have a generic title for Qik videos, but I think there’s more impact if you can set a strong title to match the action you’re filming.
I’m tinkering with the idea of setting up an RSS feed via Yahoo Pipe to search, filter and feed useful links on the demonstrations. This would of been a useful bit of pre-demonstration preparation.
One thing I would add though, as you say, I’m one man and a mobile phone – you can’t be everywhere all of the time. I think for your upcoming elections in Yerevan, a two person multimedia – social media team could be far more effective. It would be great to experiment anyway.
I’ll try to connect with GIPA bloggers today. I’m curious to hear directly of their experiences covering the demonstrations.
Just a little aside, yesterday morning I was up in the village of Lamiskana – close to Alkhalgori (a town still in limbo after last year’s conflict with Russia). Villagers in Lamiskana are obviously anxious about anything in Tbilisi that might result in violence or see conflict returning to their village. Rumours fly fast in a small rural village that’s only an hour’s drive from the capital.
It’s Spring. The soil up there is rich and black. Their livestock, orchards and gardens are the priority right now. People are trying to make the best of things and aren’t charging down to Tbilisi to demonstrate.
Graham, I’ll certainly work on Matthew for Twitter!

By: Onnik Krikorian

Onnik Krikorian — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:13:45 +0000

Wow, the G20 is incredible stuff indeed. The next level, perhaps, although our telecommunications infrastructure probably couldn’t handle anywhere close to it at present. Still, in the future…
BTW: Talking of which, it would be interesting to hear about Guy’s experience doing all this mobile video and audio work in Tbilisi.
I’m not sure about the 3G reliability there and even less here, but I’m wondering if it’s the same or worse than Africa. Sometimes even sending an SMS here in Armenia is not without its problems.
Incidentally, I sent the G20 link to the GIPA guys. Might excite and encourage some of their students to start looking at using mobile video for the coming days even though it sounds as though things are winding down.
Anyway, thanks for the link.

By: Graham Holliday

Graham Holliday — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 23:48:01 +0000

You’re absolutely right on Guy’s posts Onnik – short snippets that took you right into the heart of things along with Matthew’s longer form to camera pieces – we need to get Matthew on Twitter… Glad you finally found a use for it yourself.
I’d also like to echo your recognition on GIPA. I’ll be using them as a case study in how to utilize the Internet for journalism in due course. This, along with the City University coverage of G20 London protests – http://alexwoodcreates.com/The_Experiment.html – is quite inspiring stuff.
Finally, thanks to your work at Global Voices 😉