Libyans Sharing Stories From The Front Lines

The video is as direct as its story is powerful.

A young Libyan, Ali Salem Ali Milad Shaoud, looks directly into the camera – and, by extension, into the eyes of everyone watching him online.  He’s wearing a kafiya, a black t-shirt, a green flak vest…and a bandage wrapping his right hand and arm.

“This is from the days of the Fedeel Katiba in the Keesh area,” he says.  Shaoud is a Libyan rebel fighter, and in the recent battle against pro-Gadhafi forces in Katiba, Shaoud was armed with only a “jalateena” – a can filled with gunpowder:

“I was running with it to light it. It was like a fire in Katiba – there was a lot of smoke.   I threw the jalateena, I was hit in the hand.   I was running and still didn’t know.   Then someone said, ‘Your hand. Blood, you know?‘  I looked at my hand and saw the blood.  That was the day Katiba fell.”

Shaoud’s story didn’t grab headlines or make the international news broadcasts.  Told simply and cleanly, it’s just one moment in a complex, chaotic situation.

But Shaoud’s tale doesn’t just stand alone.  It’s part of a growing Internet archive of those of his fellow countrymen, and together they tell the story most journalists can’t – what Libyans actually think, experience, and desire in the battle for their nation. Read the rest of this entry »

“Frenemies” and the Uses, or Abuses, of Social Media

We’re currently working on an update of the roiling cyber-theater that is Anonymous vs. HBGary.  Like any great drama the story is complex, has a large cast, and requires time to fully digest.  Sadly we – like many – were a few minutes late to the curtain of this production.  Regardless, our review is coming soon.

In the meantime, there were several stories that caught our eye recently – all relating to what might be termed ‘creative’ uses of social media.   As always, no editorial validation of these stories is implied on our part, other than just being interesting. Read the rest of this entry »

Are Social Networks Inherently Democratizing?

“Libya is not Egypt, it is not Tunisia.”  It’s an observation recently made by many – no less in this quote than by Saif  al-Islam, son of Libyan autocrat Moammar Gadhafi.

Unlike Tunisia, there’s less national and more tribal identity in Libya.  Unlike Egypt, there are no strong Libyan institutions – such as the army – other than Gadhafi’s rule to fill the gaps.

And unlike those two nations and others, it appears social networks are  playing little if any role in the pro-democracy uprising. Read the rest of this entry »