Chinese censors take notice of Twitter-style blogs
Posted by Tom Fasano on July 31, 2010 – 12:14 pm
An Internet cafe in Beijing. Chinese microblogs are exploding in popularity.
Microblogs, known as weibo accounts in Chinese, are personal sites that function a lot like Twitter by allowing users to post messages and links in fast, staccato blasts. Microblogs are offered by China’s leading Web portals and naturally have quickly risen in popularity, the number of weibo users having more than tripled to 100 million.
China’s techie crowd and web-savvy young people have embraced the new technology, and even celebrities have discovered how to use them as promotional tools. And, yes, even the government has found them an efficient way to disseminate propoganda. Like most microblogging, weibo chatter is trite and topical, but some intellectuals and activists use them to discuss topics the Chinese government considers sensitive, like human rights and basic human dignity.
But hopes of wider freedom of communication were spoiled this month when unexpectedly the authorities shut down some of the sites. Naturally Internet support personnel had their worries. Big Brother, clearly, was enforcing the shutdowns to impose tighter control and oversight, primarilly to clamp down on communication deemed challenging to state authority.
According to the LA Times article:
The government goes to great lengths to sanitize the Internet in China. It forces websites to delete objectionable material and pays Internet users to sway opinion on forums. It also maintains a vast censorship apparatus, nicknamed the Great Firewall, to filter information flowing in from abroad. Some savvy Chinese netizens have learned to jump that barrier using technology that links their Chinese computers to servers located outside the country, beyond the reach of state minders. Still, these proficients remain the minority among China’s estimated 420 million Internet users.
Meanwhile, the government is bent on tightening its grip. In the last year alone, authorities have taken aim at pornography and violent computer games. They mandated that computer manufacturers install filtering software on all new personal computers sold in China (though they later retreated when the much-criticized program proved ineffective). Then Google Inc. shut most of its China-based operations, citing increasing government censorship and cyber assaults from hackers suspected of targeting the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.
Regulation, however, could prove very difficult, mainly because because of the growing number of users. “It’s very difficult to control these [microblogging] sites,” said Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of the Beijing-based Danwei.org. “No matter how great the Great Firewall is, all it takes is one guy to post the complete works of Master Li of the Falun Gong.”
Well-known political blogger Michael Anti, said he’s definitly feeling the heat. He now accesses Twitter through a foreign server to avoid Chinese authorities. “Microblogs are going to be more and more nonpolitical,” Anti said. “It’s just going to be entertainment.”
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The Week in Tweets 2010-06-26
Posted by Tom Fasano on June 26, 2010 – 8:30 am- Amazon dropped the priced of the Kindle from $259 to $199. http://bit.ly/bOr3vU Do I get a refund now on my beloved Kindle 2? #
- From the company that brought you Betamax: Sony predicts e-book sales will outpace print book sales within five years. http://bit.ly/dCEUNs #
- Teachers must refresh themselves during the summer, recharge the battery. What works for me is writing and classical music. #
Tags: tweets, Twitter
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The Week in Tweets 2010-06-19
Posted by Tom Fasano on June 19, 2010 – 8:30 am- Packing up. When I check out of school Friday it will look like I moved, never to return voluntarily. #
- Reread Robert Frost's "The Sound of the Trees" tonight w/windows open listening to night sounds. It has fed my bruised spirit. #
- Great job, Buena Park High School!! Newsweek's ranked you 742 out of the top 1,623 schools in the country. Very proud to have taught there. #
- I still have no idea where I'm teaching next year. That's why I'm putting everything in boxes. #
- I guess it was inevitable. My district blocked my site. http://www.yourenglishclass.com. Great! So much for using technology for students' benefit. #
- My department chair said, 'We don't care what your MLA book "claims," teach it the way I told you." #
- When I leave the school on Friday, there will be no evidence that I was ever there. Creative visualization. #
- Nice seeing everyone from Buena Park at the luncheon. It helped give me a little distance on where I've been the past year. #
- Teaching assignment for next year: four senior English classes, one sophomore. Not too bad. #
- #booksthatchangedmyworld is worth checking out. People tweeting about books that changed their lives. #
- How many public school teachers can you name who are only in it for the money? http://bit.ly/aFeym8 #
- Good piece on Edgar Allan Poe's "To Helen" http://bit.ly/b2hepr #
- AbeBooks has selected 25 Iconic book covers as worthy of a second look. http://bit.ly/9aiwMS #
- I think one of the best things a teacher can doing during the summer is engage in some heavy reflection on the job. Long walks help. #
- Been playing around with Grooveshark http://bit.ly/chAWtv Not too bad as an online music player. #
- listening to Feeling The Pull by The Swell Season on @Grooveshark: http://tinysong.com/bMgi #nowplaying #
Tags: tweets, Twitter
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The Week in Tweets 2010-06-12
Posted by Tom Fasano on June 12, 2010 – 8:30 am- Article about two students who parted ways. Now he is college-bound and she isn't. Did their schools make a difference? http://bit.ly/d3cuKu #
- Get FREE digital textbooks from California Learning Resource Network, all reviewed for alignment with content standards http://bit.ly/9sgN7I #
- I plan to use NPR's "This I Believe" as a model for my final senior projects. Posted some favorites http://bit.ly/b2pvvW #
- Am I alone in thinking that end-of-the-school-year meetings are fruitless? #
- A reminder to my students: I will have a sub tomorrow, will be reading essays. #
- A member of the Class of 2010 wonders if college is worth it. http://bit.ly/btuXsO #
- The art of translation from the wonder Vladimir Nabokov from the wonderful New Republic web site http://bit.ly/a5wnpk #
- Martin Amis and Christopher Hitchens, old friendships in the Wall Street Journal http://bit.ly/a1uUBX #
- The San Jose Mercury News reports that Stanford prepares for a "bookless" library. http://bit.ly/brdyKa #
- Simple techniques can make you a great teacher http://n.pr/9t461M #
- In theory: Towards a New Novel, Alain Robbe-Grillet's provocative essays http://bit.ly/clDdSj #
- Student test score data proposed to evaluate L.A. teachers http://bit.ly/cVXaJb #
- Sales of ebooks will overtake print books within the next five years http://bit.ly/dCEUNs #
- Wall Street Journal reports that the textbook rental business is up $10M http://bit.ly/9NOFAu #
- Great NPR piece on how English has become the globally dominant language http://n.pr/aXJfm2 #
- Another great NPR piece I listened to today: Lee Kravitz lost his job, then set out to take care of overdue promises http://n.pr/baOhnk #
- My Twitter account is worth $88! What's yours worth? http://WhatsMyTwitterAccountWorth.com #
- Love ending the year w/Shakespeare's Macbeth & #Polanski film – a moment of bliss as a teacher. #
- Considerations for your research http://bit.ly/aguMZR #
- My Robert Frost book just hit #1 on Amazon’s list of bestsellers in the United States. http://bit.ly/bdLxPo #
- Under pressure, teachers tamper with test scores http://nyti.ms/aPJNgF #
Tags: tweets, Twitter
Posted in Twitter | No Comments »
Twitter in the Class
Posted by Tom Fasano on December 1, 2009 – 10:22 pm
Twitter is more sophisticated than e-mail, just as immediate as text
messaging, as evolutionary as blogging, forces concise writing, promotes a public and safe social networking environment, and is also a powerful search tool. Yet very few school districts and teachers are using it to supplement classroom learning. Ever ask yourself why? Some districts ban the use of Twitter. What have I missed here? Why deskill kids before they even walk in your classroom?
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