Chinese Blogger Con 2007

This is the 2nd of my must-sees. Allow me to proudly introduce:
(coming at around 6:00pm, only 40 mins. late)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mountain (moderator)
Yetaai (suing China Telecom)
Liu Xiaoyuan (tried suing Sohu)
Zhang Chu
Steven Dickinson
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Yeetai
Suing China Telecom for internet control measures

January, released realcix.com
February, site unvisitable
–as an investor in the software, not much room to seek legal action
–but as a consumer, it’s easily to take China Telecom, the ISP, to court

March, all evidence and notarization was completed
May, the case was accepted
August 3, the first hearing
October 22, first verdict
Nov. 21???

Why?
To protect my own rights and interests
Taking action was easily enough, there was a contract, a notary’s letter
China Telecom gave no notification
Ended up not winning the suit
Discovered during the trial, China Telecom has 1oo,000,000 subscribers…if 1/10000 launch a class action lawsuit, transparency can be immediately obtained

The path to changing public awareness
-internet elections
-public interest collective lawsuits involve everyone’s personal interest
-pledgebank.com/saveeachother
-those interested can read his essays on how rational criticism can become standard state of affairs in CHina here

Also of note:
http://groups.google.com/group/cuihua/web
http://groups.google.com/group/cuihua/topics………………………………………………………………………………………………….

>Zhang Chu:
On punishment of students
Becoming more transparent?
—————————————————————————
Liu Xiaoyuan
February 2006 registered a blog
Often wrote commentary, posted news, particularly legal news
A number of posts got ‘locked down’
Over the summer, June-August, they were locked down wiht no notice
8/16/2007 took Sohu to court, on grounds of illegality
And 发表权/Right of expression
Still no final word on where the case is….background here.
He expects to lose, but winning or losing is not the point.

[getting cut short D: ....Zhang Chu is speaking on the copyrightness of copying and reposting textual content onto your blog....just attribute it with a link la....]

Oh? Steve Dickinson is speaking on libel
The internet is huge
But it’s still possible to hurt people
On the phenomenon of people using fake names to smear their competitors, alleging criminal history (C.D-E, anyone?)
or
Criticism of a restaurant on the internet?
What if it’s yours, and there’s nothing wrong with it?
One gets away with this in the USA
But not in China

Libel implication still exists in China
The problem exists
And needs to be resolved
But no easy answer
————————————-
Questions from the floor
@Yetaai
Why did you lose? Lack of evidence?
China Telecom claims it wasn’t a technical error, so they have no responsibility
@The key here is that a precedent be set, for others to build off of.

Lu Gang
The Application Value of Personal Portal

He stayed up all night last night checking out Google’s just-released Open Social API
Today’s digital lifestyle just keeps on encompassing
-news, shopping, blogging, search, music, video, images, email…
what will the result of this be?
the future internet=hypercrowded
———-
Netvibes
“Brand new internet life”

time is a strategic choice
attention is a personal choice
All the more time has to be given to users [or what we used to call 'friends']
———–
Netvibes was set up in 2005
Has been translated by users into 80 languages, and is being used in 150 different country
Has been subscribed to over 85,000 times
seems to encompass everything
-8 search engines
-6 video sharing websites
-7 image search engines
-7 blog search engines
-3 online commodity reference sites
———-
“netvibes is about where you focus your attention”
———-
[he's just doing promo...u can read the wikipedia entry...88]

Jason Yin
The new “Three Kingdoms” of China are
Apple, NOkia and GOogle (ANG)
Called so for their influence in China
Why them?
Because the next step is mobile devices
But can the the ‘Kingdom Triad’ remain stable?
And how do they inter-operate?
——-
-the groups who won’t buy computers, but rely and will rely more on mobiles instead
students, waitresses, soldiers, nannies, min. wage class
and what services will be delivered to the mobile
(news…and?)
-to be tailored to individual complicated circumstances
-which are constantly evolving
-Apple has been largely successful so fair (iTunes)
-as has Nokia, the concept of ‘device’, on body, an experience
The Connected Consumer
and Device+Connected Service
—>needs to be re-imagined, foolishness needs to be maintained…ZZZzzip!
———–
For developers:
1) don’t think you’re the first to have had a certain idea occur to them…China 1.3 billion
2) do it, just do it more professionally
ex) all those restaurants out there….u can still open the restaurant, just run it more professionally, make the food a bit cheaper…you’ll find a niche
3) victory only comes to those who are in it for the long haul
….
————
+The internet’s predicament in China
–(self-explanatory?)
+
————–

ZZZzzzip!

西方学者眼中的中国博客圈及他们为什么错了
or
The Chinese blogosphere in the eyes of Western academics, and what they’re doing wrong.
from Peter

From his notes:
-many western academics focus too much on censorship, and overlook many other important factors (about the blogsphere), and misunderstand the nature of the blogsphere
-’western academics’ includes a number of CHinese academics
-ask yourself, does this line add up: ‘if I don’t interfere with the gov’t, the gov’t won’t interfere with me’?
-he thinks this question is important
-some academics who research the internet feel:
—one theory is that educated and urban bloggers aren’t interested in social issues, instead only interested in entertainment and consumption
——it’s not that simple!
because:
(Zzzzzip!)
——–
Too much attention paid to censorship results in:
1) changes that don’t fit in with theories are overlooked
2) it’s easy to overlook unseen changes
3) easy to overlook or underestimate the ability of those participating (in blogging)
——–
So what u gonna do? How should the CHinese blogsphere be viewed?
–my PhD thesis:
—–Chinese blogs are “folk” intellectuals, and Beijing’s ‘dissident space’
ZZZzzzip!
————-
Blog space facilitates dissent..>ZZzzzip!
——–
the process of ‘social learning’ (社会性学习的过程) is a circle
1) free thought
2) free expression
3) shared imagination
4) Zzzzip!
————–
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZIP!
————
Zzzip!!!

[All the Zzzip? That's when slides get changed before I finish typing it out.]

Open Source Business (B10)

Bruce Wang (moderator)
Robert Scales
Kris Krug [Vancouver, yeah!]
HD
Bill Xu
Mi Jia

Robert on incorporating open source software into his business practice, and how to profit as such:
-drupal allows community-building tools, cost-effective in the long run and fast-pace always
-many communities have ideas of large communities, and drupal removes the need to build from the ground up
-the money gets made in consulting and supervising, on upcoming trends and knowing how to give them what they want
-investing money back into the community, organizing events such as Barcamp, DrupalCamp
-it’s a philosophy, redistributing the wealth, sponsoring events, creating new modules to give back to the community, and we don’t really make that much money
-Drupal community in China is rather small, his goal is to push for more ppl in China to use the platform

Kris on how open source can be good for business:
-Google’s release of Open Social api, the same day it had been integrated with Drupal, and immediately Kris was able to offer this to his clients
-another example, a client had hired him to develop a podcasting module on Drupal, took six weeks, was released on a Friday (open source), and by Monday it had been translated into both French and Spanish, and new functionality had been added, so he was able to divert this back to his customer
-Not just cheaper and quicker, you are also no longer stuck tied to a particular company (who may go out of business, or be able to do what you need…less risk)

Open source developers do it out of passion
And for software companies, finding talent, open source brings them out of the woodwork, and makes it easier to foster them

[Yikes, someone tough is running the show, it's just been announced that this panel is ending now (17:00 Sat.). I sure want to learn more about Drupal now. I really gotta give props to Catherine the translator who is not just from Guangzhou, but amazing at this!]

Education and Blogging

Danny Yu (moderator)
Wu Xiangdong
KenLee
framces
Qienkuen

Jenny has set parameters of education as including that both within ‘the system’ and that beyond it.

Danny asks: Do you know what your child is learning at school? Are you satisfied with her progress?

Qien Kuen: French student
Ken Lee: Educator, also exploring independent education via edu2do.com
Zhang Weicheng: Educator, education expert
Famces: Veteran monitor of education; the key to learning is understanding;
Wu Xiangdong: Science teacher

Q: what does blogging offer learning
Q: what does blogging education?

Social Learning with Zhuang Xiuli
Mother since 1999 and blogger since 2002
Professor at School of Educational Technology, Beijing Normal University
twitter.com/xiuli
sociallearnlab.org/wiki
——————————–
She puts forth 3 topics:
1. What sort of changing environment are we now faced with?
2. Web 2.0 courseware and educational exploration
3. Zzzip! [this panel is rushed too]

-dealing with the confusion that arises from change

-the possibility to raise creativity, innovation that web 2.0 brings
-she has a whole list of 2.o tools (toolbox!)

She has research that 70% of registered bloggers don’t post

-Learning Web 2.0 using a 2.0 approach
via blogs, podcasts, Google, wikipedia
-Learning through practice?
“Web 2.0 and Emerging Learning Technologies”
-Open Education itself as curriculum content (source: course syllabus on ‘what is Open Education’)

How can industry help users learn to use tools?
-what problems are the first that newbies come across?
-registration (name, password, mandatory fields like e-mail, choosing a blog name)
-how to turn potential users into proper users?
-how to design/provide tools that apply to their particular lifestyles/needs?

How to foster a sense of accomplishment through use of tools for users?
How to help users maximize value with their interaction with 2.0 websites?
————
[Feng37's attempt at summarizing Zhuang's main point: "And more than just learning from each other, the emphasis is ultimately on the teacher to actively provide a respective learning environment according to a student's needs, an ongoing learning process for both teacher and student."]

NGOs in the Internet Era: Understanding and Realizing the Impact and Value of Information Technology / Web 2.0 on Social Work

vim (Moderator)
An Zhu
Hu Xin
Su Guoxiang
Li Mingshun
Yan Tianyi
Joy Tang

www.growup.org.cn
How NGOs have adapted to the internet to better provide ‘social’ services
Several members of the panel are from IT industry

Explaining te differences between: .net, .com, .gov, .org and .???

Chart illustrating NGO work
above are Problems and Needs
passing through the NGO work process
below is Harmonious Society

How IT/the Web helps NGOs
-raises efficiency, increases influence, and strengthens management
———————–
An Zhu:
from 1kg, which brings textbooks to impoverished kids in the countryside
————————–
Wang Mingsheng:
Doesn’t speak Mandarin very well..
Oh, someone has his biz card!
From Mass Media International Advertising
pubchin.com
Does advertisement/PR/online presence for non profit and social orgs
————————-
someone not on the agenda…?
————————-
Yan Tianyi:
from babeeta.com
looking less at blogs, looking more at how mobile phones can assist NGOs
—————————
From ajiao, things NGOs need to consider as they get online:
-who am I?
-what will I use?
-tell stories
-propose suggestions
-what do we need?
-what can we do?
————————————–
-talking about using mobile phones to shoot video, as a blogging tool
-spending an hour a week to write on a volunteer/charity-related topic
….
….
rushing for time now
talking so fast
unannounced speaker jumping all over the place
even the moderator is confused

Moderator asked the audience a question
Seems nobody heard what he said…silence
Moderator has taken over the floor, ongoing monologue
.
.
.
asking An Zhu to give an example of a classic example of how 1kg uses the internet in their NGO work
Good question, but it suggests moderator doesn’t really understand what 1kg is/does
.
.
.
moderator monologue again….requiring all participants (of something)…to keep a blog progress/achievement record….?
.
.
back to An Zhu/the panel…have you done anything like this?
An Zhu: “I don’t think so…”
.
.
.
the mystery panelist has decided to talk about testing childrens’ hearing ability
twenty students
has just claimed they recovered their hearing with help from the internet
——————–
[things here are about to slip into anarchy]
Moderator asks someone from the audience how they use the internet on the job
“We send e-mails.”
and then,
“we do tech training.”
————–
Wang Mingsheng from MMIA repeating his ad agency’s use of film, photos and text to increase clients’ reach/exposure…
…also makes use of certain portal websites
—————
Moderator: when you post information, how do you post it?
Wang Mingsheng: “people can post video, images and text to a blog.”

[sorry, this panel seems to have lost coherency for the moment...translation might stop here]

Back!
People are sending messages to the overhead IRC thing
Saying unflattering things about this moderator
I would agree
Several of the panelists are ready to engage in fruitful discussion, but I’m getting the feeling they’ve ended up dumbfounded by the questions the moderator’s throwing up…Yan Tianyi’s on a roll now, however; she’s just given a case or several of how NGOs she works with have used smartphones to extend their work efficacy.
An Zhu’s made a good point
Computers don’t have much presence in the countryside (where, for example, 1kg works), but mobile phones do
Teachers have problems, questions, they can send them via SMS
Allowing 1kg to fulfill its consultant role
———
Yan Tianyi’s following up on this, a project her NGO carried out in the rural error surrounding Beijing
Sending out previously not-so-accessible agricultural/farming information (what to plant and in what season) to farmers in those areas, to their cellphones
———-
Moderator wants to hear what other NGO representatives in the audience would most hope to gain from internet-facilitated collaboration
-more volunteers, says one guy

[who is this mystery panelist?! he's just said his NGO has 4-5,000 volunteers]

An Zhu has asked for people to hit him up afterwards with any further questions!

An Zhu without his glasses on

An Zhu is talking about the need for NGOs to re-orient their operations and targets to include the internet and the communication possibilities it brings.
Yan Tianyi has also asked for audience members to approach her with any questions they have following the panel.
Which has now finished!

Art 1.5: “Digital” Art

ajiao (Moderator)
HuangKui
jeuce (skype from Australia)
Liu Yan

Jeuce talking about the different boundaries she’s escaped in going from print media to publishing her art online, and how much more suited the latter is for her. The Skype connection on which she is talking isn’t so good…
She’s mentioned Cao Fei…as an inspiration for her individualist style of digital art.

Huang Kui is talking about the interactive characteristics of an artist collective in Shanghai, of the artist as viewer as well as creator, and how art on the internet further facilitates this interactivity.

In the digital age, the costs of photography have gone way done, but he doesn’t see digital photographs as necessarily being of any quality,,.introducing different shows of digital photographs, rotated on the minute…have been shown in England…in Guangzhou (near Hong Kong)

See: http://www.hipic.org/hipi.aspx
E-mail: hipictuntu@gmail.com
——————
Liu Yan
Representing the Waag Society and the CAFA Media Lab and Da-Tong at the Picnic Network, based in Holland
Talk entitled: Not Only Now: Exploring Beijing’s Recent History

Waag Society, based in Amsterdam, pairs European creative types with Chinese artists, exploring creative technology for social innovation in the areas of education, culture, healthcare and society. One recent location-based media project Waag has been working on is an urban tourism mash-up, providing extra context for visitors before they arrive in this enormous city.

[this is really technical art!]

Structured as a network, Not Only Now comes installed on a full-screen mobile phone showing the user the historic and partly fictional narratives weaved through interactive locations. One participates by leaving notes or media (a photo, short video clip, an audio soundbyte) pinned to any location on the map.

Thorough research is currently underway, and will conclude with a workship in March or April next year. Contact Liu Yan for more information at liuyan@wxs.nl…on Skype: groenestge; MSN: connie_liu@hotmail.com….and her blog is here: http://groenestege.spaces.live.com/ with websites: www.waag.nl, www.datong.nl
Needed are technical, financial and ground level support volunteers.

-Liu Yan has chosen to work with the medium of digital art for its fundamental interactive nature

huahua writes on the overhead:
“sorry to say this but this is really boring”
but wait!
Zola’s taken the floor! Go Zola! People are paying attention now.
….
Damn, moderator kicked in…
.
.
.
back to postmodern art theory
.
.
jeuce has been on stand-by for the last 15 minutes, not saying a word…I wonder if she knows her head is blown up eight feet wide
[finished...bye jeuce!]

Ching Chiao
On the big screen live from Taiwanthefloor
Baidu.jp is not owned by Baidu itself
Urging people to read up on domain investment

If 123.com has a high readership
123com.com would quickly be registered by someone

Referencing the story of QQ.com, apparently spent large amounts of money to put the domain

Also mentioning 6 Rooms moving from 6rooms.com to 6.cn
-is it worth it? It is very important to have a good url.

Isaac says: Jintao.hu is taken, sorry guys. Got any suggestions for Xi Jinping?