New Project Makes News Gathering in the Arab World Take a New Turn

A lot of news organizations already know what “crowdsourcing” is. Some have already started using it. However, a new real-time crowdsourcing project is making news gathering take a new turn. “Alive.in” knows how!

“Alive.in” is a project launched by international news startup Small World News. The startup’s team is using a group of Arabic translators to crowdsource the translation of the real-time messages left on @speak2tweet, a service launched by Google and Twitter during the Jan. 25 revolution in Egypt, allowing callers to tweet by calling one of three numbers and leaving a voicemail.  

Founded by American journalist and media specialist Brian Conley, the project first started with crowdsourcing the Egyptian revolution news. When Conley learned about Google’s collaboration with Twitter, he thought it’s time to put this service at a stronger use through Small World News, which he co-founded in 2005. The goal, according to the project’s website, is “to reach a wider audience.”

He then contacted Steve Wyshywaniuk, co-founder of the startup, and told him about Google’s new technology. “It hit him instantly that with the number of translators we’re connected to, he could assemble a team to help translate the calls,” Wyshywaniuk told ReadWriteWeb.

Conley then started reaching out to Arabic translators via Twitter, reported RWW. He then created a Google Docs spreadsheet from which they could collaborate on transcribing the messages and then translating them from Arabic to English, Spanish and German.

And that’s how “Alive in Egypt” started.

Today, “Alive.in” has expanded and is now covering Iraq, Libya and Bahrain.  Citizens of those countries are contributing with real-time photos, calls, videos and tweets, reaching out to the worldwide audience.

The new project has taken news gathering into an even more advanced path, thanks to the technology and the creativity of journalists and media enthusiasts like Conley, Wyshywaniuk and their hard-working team. Today, mainstream media outlets needs to rethink their strategy and apply new technologies at best use so that they survive and provide their audience with more up-to-date news.
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Note: The team of “Alive.in” encourage those interested in helping translate the messages they crowdsource by emailing translate@alive.in. Those interested in being involved with the project can contact @BaghdadBrian or @SmallWorldNews on Twitter.

(بالعربية)

The End of the Oppression Era in the Arab World

The sounds and images of the Jubilations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square filled my heart with joy. I still cannot believe it is happening in my lifetime. Finally, Arab dictators are no longer in power and Arab peoples are more defiant than ever.

I’ve always been a proud Arab, even though my Arabism was flushed down the toilet throughout the last 30 years of my life due to the series of failure that hovered over the region up until the Tunisian revolution.

What happened in Tunisia revived hope in my heart that my fellow Arabs are now strong, defiant and willing to oust their dictators no matter what force they need to face.

It is about time! Throughout my 30 years of life, Arab dictators were mostly the same. They gathered at the useless Arab summits, “discussing” hot topics affecting the Arab “Homeland” and congratulating each other for the “successes” they had achieved throughout their decades-long presidencies.

All of that while Arab peoples were hungry, unemployed and oppressed.

This time, however, things are no longer the same. A joke spread by Arab tweeps these days says that the new Arab summit, which will be held in Baghdad, will be an introduction summit where new leaders will introduce themselves for the first time!

For me, it’s not a joke. It’s real! It’s happening! And it’s happening in Baghdad where the last summit it hosted was in 1990 before Saddam invaded Kuwait.

As I was watching the flock of the wonderful news coming out from Tunisia and Egypt via Al Jazeera and Twitter, I couldn’t but wonder if I and my fellow Iraqis would have revolted against Saddam had he not been ousted by a bloody war.

Today, Tunisia and Egypt paved the road for a real democratic Arab world. No more silence. No more fear. Arabs are determined to ending the oppression eras of their totalitarian regimes. The road will be messy and maybe bloody but the reign of change has arrived and it won’t go back to where it was.

Long live Tunisia! Long live Egypt! Long live the quest for freedom and democracy in the Arab world!

Celebrating Investigative Journalism in the Arab World

Representing ICFJ at the conference.

Investigative journalism in the Arab world has been an alien type of journalism that was never really powerful or effective, if existed. But in recent years, it has become more and more visible, despite the risks and dangers Arab investigative journalists face in defiance of their totalitarian governments.

The visibility and the new activity of this type of journalism appearing in several Arab news outlets has become more and more known and encouraged, thanks to international and regional media assistance organizations. Investigative journalism today is better than ever in the Arab world and is still in progress. Today, Arab investigative journalists are defying taboos and challenging high-level officials with facts they obtained through thorough investigation and reporting.

Such a vast improvement was evident at the Third Arab Investigative Journalism Conference, which was organized by Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ), a Amman-based, regional media support network that seeks to support independent quality professional journalism, through funding in-depth journalism projects, and offering media coaching.

During the conference, which was held from November 26 to 28 in Amman, Jordan, three investigative journalists from the Arab world were awarded the Seymour Hersh Award for Best Investigative Report.

I had the honor to represent my employer, the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) there, meeting the winners and several other prominent Arab and international journalists such as Drew Sullivan from the United States, BBC’s Tim Sebastian from the United Kingdom, Mark Hunter from France, Hisham Qassem and Yosri Fouda from Egypt and others hailing from 16 Arab countries.

This year’s award was presented by ARIJ, in coordination with ICFJ, which last year honored American investigative reporter Seymour Hersh with its Founders Award for Excellence in Journalism, recognizing his outstanding work over 40 years. 

Me with the first place winner, Dlovan Barwari

The winners of the ARIJ/ICFJ Seymour Hersh Award were from Iraq and Egypt. Iraqi journalist Dlovan Barwari, whom I had the honor to work with for the Washington Post in Iraq, received the first place award for his investigative report that tackled the issue of the female circumcision in the northern Iraqi region of Kurdistan. His fellow Iraqi journalist, Milad Al Jibouri, won the second place for writing a report in which she investigated the recruitment of young Iraqis by militants and armed groups, taking advantage of their traumatic war-tainted childhood. The third place winner was Egyptian reporter Siham Al Pasha who investigated the use of poisonous material in furniture-making in Dumyat, Egypt and how this material is imported in broad daylight.

The three winning reports competed with 16 other reports that reached the finalists list. They were written by reporters from Yemen, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine.

To further boost independent quality investigative journalism in the Arab world, ICFJ has partnered with ARIJ to create six investigative units in Arab newsrooms. ICFJ’s Knight International fellow Amr El-Kahky is creating these first investigative reporting units in Jordan, Palestine and Egypt.

The one mile road starts with one step, so says the proverb. Investigative journalism in the Arab world is taking its baby steps. It’s flourishing and advancing to create better societies and communities. Kudos to ARIJ and ICFJ for making this happen!

Let’s Put Our Emotions Aside and Think Logically

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

One of the things I often love to do on my iPad is checking out a photo app, called “TheGuardian Eyewitness.” Today, I came across one of the photos that kind of struck me and encouraged me to share it on my Facebook profile.

The photo was of a group of shirtless, masked Palestinian teenagers being run over by an Israeli car driver in the mostly Arab east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. The kids, as the photo caption states, were throwing stones at Israeli cars.

Sharing the photo on Facebook created some kind of intense debate between me and a good high school friend of mine, who expressed his anger against the Israeli driver who was being attacked by the teenagers.  The comment was very aggressive, demonizing and out of context that forced me to debate it.

Like many Iraqis and Arabs who care about their Palestinian “brothers,” my friend wrote something in which he indirectly implied that the car driver was the terrorist. He mentioned in a sarcastic way that, “Netanyahu also released a statement for killing the militants and promising that Israel would continue pursuing terrorists anytime and anywhere,” ending it with four exclamation marks.

That was not surprising, as unfortunately most Arabs let their emotions control their actions. I used to be that one too. I used to refuse everything against the Palestinians, and I used to let my emotions speak before my brain thinks. But not anymore!

I couldn’t take sitting back and not respond. I knew what his answer would be. I even knew that responding was not going to do any good, but I decided to better try than not.

I looked at the photo over and over and it was very clear who was being attacked. So I said, “The kids were the ones attacking the car drivers. Besides, if I were the driver and got attacked by anyone, I would do whatever I can to get away from them. Since the kids were hit in front of the car, it’s possible they threw themselves there to harm the man. This is not even a tank!!!!”

That intensified the heated debate. At the end, my friend accused me of being biased and that I shouldn’t be weak and if I don’t believe in my “Middle Eastern principles” I should suck it up (which I think he meant to ‘shut up’ basically).

But I did not shut up and I did not suck it up. I think it’s about time to say what needs to be said, which I wrote in my replies to him.

I believe in a two-state solution. This would end the suffering and the struggle and let the peoples of Palestine and Israel live in peace. For saying that, I know some people will call me a traitor, ameel (agent), anti-Arab, anti-Palestine… etc.

Not that I need to defend myself, but no, I’m not all of the above! I very much sympathize with the Palestinians. I call for ending their struggle, and I look forward to seeing them having a great nation some day. Saying what is not wanted to be heard should not turn into accusations of loyalty.

Enough is enough. Fighting is not a solution for both sides. They have been doing this for decades. What have they achieved? The Palestinians have been resisting Israel and calling for wiping it off the map. It’s not gonna happen and neither will the disappearance of Palestinians from their lands, which the Israelis are trying to achieve by expanding their settlements.

It’s time to stop and look back. It’s time to look at their situation, at themselves, and think! And it’s time my fellow Arabs sit back and think logically before letting their emotions block the voice of reason that could be the very solution for that crisis.

The Battle for Kirkuk

Iraq is still in a transformational form. The post-Saddam era is just at its beginning and the struggle for power in the war-torn country is moulding how the Land of Two Rivers is shaped.

Among the things that are yet to be solved in Iraq nowadays is Kirkuk. The oil-rich northern Iraqi city has been fought for by Kurds, Arabs and Turkomans, each claiming it is theirs.

Josh Rushing of Al Jazeera English’s Fault Lines travels to Northern Iraq to look at one of the most serious divides the country faces.

Check it out:

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/MQtTkGOj-ok&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00