What’s this? A blog post?

Yes. Yes, it is.

That’s the thing I like about my blog. It’s here when I want to write something and when I don’t, I keep it out of sight.

It wasn’t always this way. Not long ago I used to worry about posting on my blog. And I used to worry that I’d gone a week without plucking a guitar string. Or a whole month without putting lead to paper.

Then I thought, screw it.

I’m really only doing these things because I enjoy them. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter if learn to play like Clapton, draw like da Vinci, speak German like a German.

Because I’m the kind of person who likes learning new things, and taking on challenges, I don’t really need to pressure myself into trying harder. I’m already trying too hard as it is.

I used to be the kind of guy who would have panic attacks when he visited the library. Too many books. How was I ever going to read them all?

I’m amazed how long it took me to figure out that I didn’t need to.

I’m even more amazed that people are still complaining about this same thing. It’s getting worse they say. Social networks, text messages, blogs, twitter, facebook. How does one keep up? Information overload has becoming a serious problem and it’s only going to get worse.

Or perhaps it’s all in their heads.

I’ve just looked it up. I have 197 subscriptions to various blogs. I probably get about 400 posts to read every day. But I have a secret. There’s this little button in Google Reader called ‘Mark all as read’. And what some people don’t know is you can press that button even if you haven’t actually read all of them! Seriously! I’ve been doing it for months now, and I’m totally getting away with it. Nobody checks.

And here’s the really amusing thing: If you step back from the noise for a while and gain some perspective, you’ll realise that the ones who try so hard to keep up are the ones who keep up, but the ones who don’t try to keep up are the ones everyone else is trying to keep up with.

These days I mostly read my news via the internet. It’s becoming a totally different experience to consume the news in this way rather than through traditional means. Today I scanned through the Daily Mail to find just one report on Burma, buried deep within the paper. It had a full page, but it was hardly front page news. On the Internet, however, I have about 20 articles coming through every day. It’s a completely different weighting.

On the other hand, these reports tend to swamp news of other issues.

The reason is that I am have more control. I can choose to follow one issue in particular and follow other stories less so. It is becoming more customisable.

One part of that is my recent adoption of Google News. I googled ‘Burma’ a few days back to try and get some back story and Google News was the top result. I clicked on it, and found a stream of news stories covering the issue. Most importantly I could subscribe to the RSS feed, directing this stream into my feed reader.

Now, everyday, I’m receiving news reports from a wide variety of publishers each with their slightly different take on the subject.

Currently it is a little overwhelming, since there are so many reports. And it tends to drown out other reports. But it is a great way to get up to speed on an issue and stay committed to following it.

I’ve just signed up to the Darfur feed too.

Is it better to put pressure on a corrupt ruler through sanctions, or to continue doing business for the good of the common people?

Not only is China receiving pressure to impose sanctions on Burma, but individual companies dealing with Burma are also being put under pressure. The Independent reports:

Paris, and the company, argue that Total’s presence is, on the whole, a force for good. Withdrawal would allow carte blanche for Chinese or other companies which would be “less respectful of ethical issues”.

“Our departure would threaten a worsening of the situation for the (Burmese) population,” Total said ina communiqué.

But if this is true, why are they also urging a freeze on new investments in the area? From the same article:

President Nicolas Sarkozy has also drawn criticism this week for urging French companies to “freeze” new investments in Burma. No other French company operates in the country. Total, as the President presumably knew, has not made new investments in Burma for years.

A French diplomat told the newspaper Liberation off the record yesterday: “Annoucing a freeze of what is already frozen is hardly revolutionary. It allows (the president) to surf on the notion of a French ‘new deal’ for human rights, while protecting French economic interests.”

The Australian government is coming under similar criticism:

Greens senator Kerry Nettle said Prime Minister John Howard has rejected trade sanctions against the south-east Asian country because Australia did not “have a lot of trade with Burma”.

“We now find that there is a Liberal Party-linked company that is doing business with the Burmese military regime in oil and gas exploration,” Mr Nettle said.

[...]

Senator Nettle called on Prime Minister John Howard to ask his “Liberal Party friends” to discontinue their investment in Burma until human rights conditions in the country improved.

“For Alexander Downer to say China isn’t taking action (against Burma) because of their trade relationship with Burma, at the same time as his Liberal Party family are making money out of their relationship with the Burmese military dictatorship, is great hypocrisy,” she said.

The arguments for investment in the country are not without merit. However, it is difficult to take them seriously when actions point more towards economic interests back home than the good of the Burmese people.

Politicians have a habit of ruining good arguments with too much spin. The latest report on Bush’s campaign for the Iraq war is a particularly worrying example. Even minor offences of this should be brought to account and challenged.

Straight talking and honest politicians? Almost makes the bid for world peace seem trivial.

World Changing has an article titled ‘How Mobiles and Blogs Don’t — and Do — Help Human Rights‘. The author, Emily Gertz, writes:

In the world of online activism, expectations have not inflated to the level of a few years ago, when a wave of techno-utopian optimism swept the activist ‘net that maybe a “technical intervention,” that is blogging, could stop the mass killings in Darfur — an effort which, on those terms, failed.

I think the mistake here is to believe that one story will suddenly change the world — and if it doesn’t it means failure. Change happens slowly, but each story raises awareness and gets people talking and thinking about it. One particular trait of the Internet over traditional media, is that it is active; and becoming much more so. It’s easy to move from story to story on TV news; with the sport or weather sticking as the last thing in your head. But the way we engage with the Internet (comments, Facebook groups, our own blogs, and even hyperlinks) encourages more of us to actively engage with it.

Meanwhile, globalisation is becoming ever more important; meaning every country that depends on it must think about the economic consequences before doing so.

It is difficult to make solid predictions based on Darfur or other historical events, because so much is different. Although it is a good reminder that we can sometimes get a bit carried away with our optimism.

Heading back into their archives, I also discovered this excellent interview with Ethan Zuckerman from mid-2004, discussing technology and the developing world. A few quotations:

In Ghana in 2000 we had a pretty critical presidential election. The leader who’d taken power in 1979 was stepping down. For the first time an opposition had a chance to stand and there was widespread fear — for good reasons — that there would be election fraud and intimidation.

The coping strategy that everyone came up with was fascinating. It basically involved cellphones and talk radio. What happened is guys would go out to polling places with their cellphones, they’d see someone obstructing access to the polls, and then they’d call a talk radio station and describe what was going on. That put enough pressure on the police that they had to show up and investigate. It proved remarkably effective.

and

It’s pretty hard to expect technology to turn non-democracies into democracies. Where I think technology can make a huge difference is where you have a young and fragile democracy. In those cases, I think what helps is finding ways to empower individuals.

and

It’s corruption when you’re a shopkeeper trying to get your shipment of widgets in and the guy won’t let them through unless you pay him a thousand dollars under the table. But it’s not corruption when you’re a farmer and you’re trying to buy a piece of land and literally no one knows who owns it. That’s just incompetence and bureaucracy and the challenges of dealing with legacy systems. In many developing nations, those challenges are at least as substantial as the problems of corruption.

Well worth a read.

I keep coming across interesting reports. Further to news that the junta military have cut off Internet access, it seems that they are taking much more of a proactive response to technology and the press.

From The Age:

Meanwhile, Government pressure and unresthas forced several of Burma’s private newspapers to stop publishing, an industry leader said today.

“Some publications may have been forced to close down because they refused to carry the government’s propaganda,” he said on condition of anonymity.

Censors in Burma, also known as Myanmar, always exert tight controls over the media to limit their reporting, but pressure has become unusually high.

People found with mobile phones or cameras were beaten by soldiers yesterday, witnesses said, while a Japanese photojournalist died after being shot.

The newspapers were also struggling to operate because unrest in the streets over the last two days made it impossible for vendors to sell papers, the source added.

“Their people can’t get out there selling them because of the problems,” he said.

Four weekly newspapers printed by the Eleven Media group, two weeklies by Yangon Media, and three weeklies titled Kamudra, Voice and Market have all stopped publishing, he said.

Another newspaper group, Pyi Myanmar, was planing to completely shut down, he added.

The Myanmar Times newspaper indicated it would continue publishing.

Somewhat of a tug-on-your-heartstrings production, but a rather nice first introduction to the crisis and to Auug San Suu Kyi. And a reminder for all those who already recognise her name. It may not seem like it will do much, but it is important for us all to learn her name. It will help us talk about it.

This is not just about Burma. If we can have some success here, it will be a story we can use to peacefully fight human violations around the world. But right now we are learning. Let’s see if we can make this the story we contrast with Iraq.

From Ko Htike’s blog:

Dear All,

I sadly announce that the Burmese military junta has cut off the internet connection throughout the country. I therefore would not be able to feed in pictures of the brutality by the brutal Burmese military junta.

I will also try my best to feed in their demonic appetite of fear and paranoia by posting any pictures that I receive though other means (Journos!! please don’t ask me what other means would be??). I will continue to live with the motto that “if there is a will there is a way”.

We probably need to lobby the Chinese government or UN envoy to Burma to ask the junta to switch on the Internet. Please!

This was inevitable, unfortunately. It will be interesting to see how much news can still get out. People can still record and document, and I’m sure it will get communicated eventually. But how quickly? And how much will it matter overall?

Let’s face it; every child knows more swearwords than Gordon Ramsey. What they’re less good at is using language in sophisticated and appropriate ways. So encourage them to read the elocutionary delight that is Stephen Fry’s new blog. He swears occasionally, but you feel his appreciation of the English language in every letter.

Grow children up on proper swearing like this and you might help replace “[grunt, grunt] Fck ya u cnt [grunt]” as the default rhetoric.

I finally got on the ad blocking bandwagon yesterday. I’ve not minded website ads until quite recently. In fact, if it means I can read great content for free then I’m fully in support of it. But when you start flashing ads at me, I find it incredibly difficult to read the content.

The same thing has happened with a lot of pubs. They now have large screens mounted on the walls, advertising different drinks. Flash flash flash… they flicker away in the corner of my eye and I can’t help but look at them. I can’t help it!

But that’s not my idea of a good time. So I leave.

It’s not as if these places ever had difficulty selling drinks.

The Open Moko phone is the reason why I’m personally not that interested in getting an iPhone.

Andrew Cowie sums it up as best I’ve seen:

Having worked in the mobile industry, I can attest to the fact that this is going to be revolutionary. A phone that you can upgrade and not have to throw away? A phone that you can create applications that you want to run and have them run on it? Most of all, this is a device that will open open new markets by the simple fact that people will be able to conceive of their own uses for it.

I’m expecting the popularity of this to grow gradually as it will be a word of mouth thing. But start thinking about it now because the easiest ideas always come at the beginning of a technological revolution.