The Blackboard Blogger of Africa

Posted by Alex in Blog & Internet, Book & Lit, Pictures on March 23, 2009 at 2:05 pm

Alfred Sirleaf is a blogger. Not just any blogger – no sir, Alfred is an analog blogger. He runs the "Daily News," a news hut in the middle of Monrovia, the capital of a Liberia, a country on the west coast of Africa. The lack of electricity doesn’t even faze him:

Alfred serves as a reminder to the rest of us, that simple is often better, just because it works. The lack of electricity never throws him off. The lack of funding means he’s creative in ways that he recruits people from around the city and country to report news to him. He uses his cell phone as the major point of connection between him and the 10,000 (he says) that read his blackboard daily.

Not all Liberians who read his news are literate, so he makes use of symbols. Whether it’s a UN or military helmet, a poster of a soccer player or a bottle of colored water to denote gas prices, he is determined to get the message out in any way that he can.

Link | A 2005 article on NYT on Alfred Sirleaf – via Onelargeprawn

 
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Chairman Mao's Grandson is a Blogger

Posted by Alex in Blog & Internet, Politics on January 9, 2009 at 2:30 pm

Meet Mao Xinyu, a 38-year-old senior colonel in China’s People’s Liberation Army and blogger. He’s not just any blogger – his blog, which is all about Chairman Mao, was voted most popular by the readers of People’s Daily last year.

Oh, and one more thing: Xinyu is the grandson of Chairman Mao.

Mao’s blog is largely dedicated to an appreciation of his grandfather, who died when he was six years old. The founder of communist China is still admired by many people here -despite the fact that millions died because of famine and conflict during his rule (an official Communist Party verdict delivered after his death ruled – with precision – that Chairman Mao was 70% right and 30% wrong).

"The greatest happiness of my life and satisfaction come from a real understanding of a great man. And he is my grandfather," grandson Mao writes.

Link | Mao Xinyu’s blog (in Chinese) – via TYWKIWDBI

 
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