TEDxKinnaird – Sonya Rehman – The Power of Citizen Journalism
A TEDx Talk by Sonya Rehman on the the role of citizen journalism in a modern day Pakistan.
India’s Tribal Citizens Use New Cell Phone Technology to Produce
One way to get news information to tribal communities in India.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just accepted a tenure track Assistant Professor position at Eastern Michigan University. I’ll be starting in the Fall. Super excited to be a part of the EMU team!!!
So I passed my COMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I passed my COMPS and am now in the process of writing a prospectus. A daunting task indeed. My diss deals with the way audiences interpret high security and low security messages coming from anchors/podcasters that are either Caucasian (White) or South Asian/Middle Eastern (Brown). How does this deal with mobile technologies you ask? Well it’s simple. The Middle East erupted in massive protests (referred to as the ‘Arab Spring’) and many of these protesteors used mobile techonologies and social media to convey their messages to a wide audience (namely Western). These messages, wheterh thorugh YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter, created a media sensation in the U.S. It was all about the plight of the Egyptians, Libyan, and Tunisian protestors as they fought their corrupt governments. That’s part of where the idea of my diss came. The other part was dealing with messages that are considered high security or message that invoke a certain fear that we as a Americans won’t be Americans once they open immigration doors, or allow Sharia Law to supercede the U.S. Consitiution, etc. Also as former broadcaster or South Asian decent, I was interested in finding out if the messages I produced were intrepreted differently by audiences who saw me as the physical embodiement of ‘terrorism’. I’m NOT a terrorist, yet my skin, hair, and eye color resembles that of the individuals on 9/11. I’m ethnically from the same country that Osama- bin Laden was hiding and eventually killed in.
So these are just a few of teh questions I figure out how to answer through the use of an experiment. Wish me luck!
Here’s a video of some of the different Pakistani news anchors being…well…human.
I’ll be back….
Doc school has kept me out of the blogosphere for about a year. I promise I’m coming back…just give me a few more weeks. 🙂 Anyway, I’m about to began my comprehensive exams on Tuesday(10 am) and am in the process of freaking out. So I’m off to print pdfs, breath, and buy 2 tons of Red Bull. Wish me luck.
Mobile phones and disease prevention in China
I’m back. I’m currently in the process of preparing for my comprehensive exams, figuring out my dissertation topic, pushing out my first academic publication, all while observing the fast for Ramadan. So needless to say it’s been a hectic month. Anyway, back to the main topic of this blog. So we all know that mobile phones are pretty useful when it comes to information spreading during political crisis, etc; however, the technology is also being used to stop the spread of infectious diseases like in China and the Sichuan earthquake in 2008.
Yang, C., Yang, J., Luo, X., & Gong, P. (2009). Use of mobile phones in an emergency reporting system for infectious disease surveillance after the Sichuan earthquake in China. Bull World Health Organ, 87, 619-623.
On May 12, 2008 an 8.0 magnitude earthquake hit the north-western part of Sichuan Province, China. More than 80,000 people were killed with another 5 million more left homeless. As with any other developing nation, the spread of infectious diseases becomes a top concern within populations displaced by natural disasters. Therefore a functioning surveillance system is needed for disaster hit areas to help reduce the risk of epidemics.
This particular area of China had been using a broadband/ dial-up internet connection; however, the system was paralyzed during the quake. While repairs were being made on the system, The Chinese Center for Disease Control (China CDC) developed an emergency system based on mobile phones. The mobile phone emergency system was developed by China CDC and other local CDC offices in 5 steps:
1.) Select mobile phones and a network supplier
2.) Developing a reporting system
3.) Identifying areas where the mobile phone could be used
4.) Distributing the phones and providing training
5.) Applying quality control measures
Hi-Tech Wealth, a domestic mobile phone manufacturer, donated light-powered phones: A6000 models; GSM/GPRS duel bands). See picture of phone below.
In addition China Mobile was chosen as the carrier because of their extensive coverage in disaster zones.
The reporting system was based on SMS or text messaging. A field epidemiologist in the field is able to input 16 categories of information about a case including name of patient, age, diagnosis, etc. The information is then sent as an encrypted text message to the national database. In 2-3 minutes a trained person can report the case, which is then analyzed by China CDC. The phones were distributed to areas hardest hit by the earthquake. And finally quality control in the form of paperwork filled out by the field doctor. This information was sent to the CDC and verified. Random checks were done throughout the sample to ensure that the information was accurate.
The results of this study found that mobile phones indeed help restore the reporting capacity of health organizations in times of disaster. They found that the system met all their expectations in 3 ways:
1.) It was easy to navigate, taking less than 30 minutes for the average worker to run
2.) Network provided extensive coverage, 97% of the Chinese population
3.) The mobility of the system allowed health care workers to move to relocated people and still have the capability to report on cases.
Essentially, they found that mobile phones provided a great way to access and send information to stop the spread of epidemics during natural disasters. In addition, the mobile phone is also a great backup for countries with internet-based surveillance systems.
Here’s an interesting video on how the cell phone can help prevent infectious diseases. My next posting will take a look at how communication technologies compare within and across crises.
ICTs and Sustainability…can it work?
Check out this video I found on YouTube. The main point of the video clip is that ICTs or Information Communication Technologies can be used to improve public health, the economy (poverty reduction), and be used as a valuable educational tool. In particular note 4:30, which talks about Bangladesh and The Grameen Bank micro-loan system. It’s super brief so pay close attention. For my next post I’ll focus on how mobile phones are being used in China to stop the spread of infectious diseases following a natural disaster.
Where’s my YouTube? Pakistan’s ban on Video Sharing Site.
Here’s an interesting article by Maqsood Ahmad Shaheen on Pakistani students use of social networking sites and how they seek information during political crises. Here’s the citation:
Shaheen, M.A. (2008). Use of social networks and information seeking behavior of students during political crises in Pakistan: A case study, The International Information & Library Review, 40, 142-147.
The catalyst episode that prompted this paper was when President General Pervez Musharraf imposed a country-wide “state of emergency” in Pakistan on November 3, 2007. As a result there were bans on about a dozen domestic and international newspapers and television stations. As a subscriber to GEO TV and ARY Digital, I remember the black screen announcing the government shutting these stations down. In fact many Pakistani journalists were fearful for their lives, not just their livelihoods. However, one bright spot was the Internet. Journalists, political youths, and just about anyone with an Internet connection were Facebooking, MySpacing, Twittering, and Blogging about the political situation. Even video podcasts were popping up on YouTube. But like all cool things this too was attacked by the government.
On February 22, 2008, YouTube suddenly vanished worldwide for two hours. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) ordered the country’s 70 Internet service providers to block YouTube in an effort to curb the mass mobilization of youth against the government’s policies. However, this resulted in technical faults on the server, which caused the breakdown of the service for more than two hours.
Shaheen’s case study (2008) was a random sampling of college-level students from International Islamic University (IIU), Quaid-i-Azam University, and Fatima Jinnah Women’s University. 420 surveys were sent out, 295 responded. The results indicated that social networking sites have the potential to promote freedom of speech and a greater awareness of politics. These sites allow people who have little interest in politics to be exposed to it, which may help to facilitate a greater increase in citizen participation (a.k.a Watchdog groups).
And just so you don’t think it’s all serious business, here’s a fun little clip I found on YouTube.
A quick review of Factory Girls…
During the course of my research on mobile communications in developing Asia, I decided that I needed an Anthropology course to further expand by knowledge base. One of the books the class required was Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie T. Chang. This is a great book for people interested in doing an ethnographic study in another country. Although the book isn’t primarily about cell phones usage, the technology plays a huge role in how these women navigate fast-paced urban city life and jobs. Below is a short (by short I mean less than 2,000 words) summary of the book.
With industrialization growing at an alarming rate, China’s migrant workers populations, particularly the women are being thrown into a world where they are not only fighting to create sustainable incomes for their families back home, but to also find their own voices and independence among thousands of others. Over the course of three years, Leslie T. Chang weaves Factory Girls around the stories of Min, Chunming, and other girls with her own family history to give the reader an opportunity to see China as it was, where is now, and possibly where its future lies. In essence, the book is really about how industrialized China is slowly changing from their traditional ways to Western ideals of individuality. In addition, we are confronted with feminism from a cultural perspective, where the girls who were in villages, perhaps bound by the traditional patriarchical family structures; are now making major family and personal decisions.
Although the author is Chinese, she is American born and her lens is distorted by a Western perspective. As she talks about the girls and her own family we are constantly seeing Chang looking for areas of conflict and inequality, which in many cases was rightly so. For example, Min and Chunming’s families were willing to forego their daughters’ educations, but sent them to work out in the factories without any parental supervision. Several times in Chang’s study we are confronted with parents trying to get their daughters to send more money home, yet ignoring the hardships their children are facing alone.
Min is especially critical of her parents when they complain of others sending more money home. Both of her parents have had a taste of factory life, but continue to ignore the hardships their daughter is dealing with. Part of her criticism stems from the fact neither of her parents were able to succeed in the city, while she not succeeded where they failed, she also was making more money than they ever had. These young women are making careers for themselves and finding their voices, while it seems like their parents appear to be trapped in how much money they can get their daughters to send home.
Money has also shifted the family’s power structure. Min sent home $1,300 and is now able to “monitor her father’s purchases and reject[ed] his business plans.” She had the upper hand in the family because she was their main source of income. Min, and perhaps many young women like her, has inadvertently become the new Chinese feminist. They came to realize after working and jumping factories, that they held the upper hand and they used it full force. Min was able to dictate family affairs from the city and make important decisions like adding an indoor bathroom and the younger children’s education. Chang compares this to her own foreign educated grandfather, who was beaten with a stick by his father for changing majors. Although Min is at the “lowest rung of society”, but because she became successful she immediately rose to a higher level than the rest of the family.
Chunming was also rebelling from the traditional ways of her family. She regularly jumped factories and made the decision to study English to the dismay of her parents, who feel she should just stick to one factory. However, if Chunming had taken her family’s advice she would not have taken the risks she needed to advance. In this way, family posed to be a hindrance to her advancement and success. Chunming resorts to lying to get what she wants, even when it comes to potential relationships. She creates an Internet dating ad where she posts another picture. Although she using deception to catch a potential suitor, she still laments that the Internet has made relations between people false.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book was when Chang was traveling with Min to her village for the holidays. Min presents her a gift of a Coach wallet, which might retail in the U.S. for fifty dollars, but she and her then boyfriend were able to walk out the door with these bags. Essentially, you have an American classic made completely in China. The same goes for these shoe factories, where expensive footwear is being made by these young women, who will probably never be able to afford a pair with the low wages they earn. In many ways, Chang paints a picture of urban China as being a machine driven, cement environment; where the loss of a cell phone can result in losing contact will all of your friends and even boyfriends. This world is so fast paced that even education has stopped trying to keep up. In fact, the book Square and Round becomes a hit with Chinese workers because it is a rejection of all the things Chinese tradition has to offer. Essentially, the book reinforces the idea of materialism, pettiness, envy, and subterfuge.
At the beginning of the book, the girls are exceptionally lonely and scared. They are being forced to grow up in a fast-paced urban environment where dangers await at every corner. Having to navigate this daunting world with the pressure to send more money home seems like it is a massive burden for such girls to handle. Chang only delivers the stories of a few girls, but what about the millions of others who do not make it and succumb to the city? She describes karaoke bars where a young virginal woman started working and would cry when men groped her too hard. However, by the end of the book, both Chunming and Min felt going back to the village would be shameful. It would mean all they had worked for would disappear. In fact, many of these fled the villages to get out of arranged marriages, and although burdened with the need to provide for families back home, found their life in the city to exciting. Chang describes village life as being idle and too slow for the girls, who have now had a taste of freedom and independence.
In addition, the need to become a success was very over-powering for these women. The Chinese saying of “to die poor is a sin” resonated loudly. Originally, the need for success was dictated by family need, but as soon as these girls started seeing success; they began to spend money on themselves. The author describes the women who would buy new clothes, shoes, and makeup products. The cell phone also became a sign of success and at its most basic level was the key to progress. Without it people lost contact and had difficulty finding work. It also served as way to show family in the village that these girls were capable of running their households.
With over a 130 million people migrating from the Chinese countryside to the cities, China has the fastest rate of growth in the history of industrialization. What is most striking about this migration is the way the under thirty population of girls have taken over the running of their households with a few thousand dollars. Where once older relatives gave the young red envelopes with money, the tables have now turned as the young are now in charge of caring for parents and younger siblings. What is most striking is how girls who are not held to the same standards as their male counterparts are leading the way towards Chinese feminism. Chang allows the reader to have an insider look at how China’s migrant workers are pushing the country into becoming an industrialized superpower.
Mobile Technologies in Developing Asian Societies by Sadaf Ali 
