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NLTechmeet/InternationalCommunicationGobby

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International Communication

  • Digital divide
    • Communication 'over' the divide
  • Language issues

How many have regualar international communications? (lots of hands) but what about with people without good internet connections

example: Problem reaching people who are then reliant on going to ngo's offices. These people then become the gatekeepers. Although most people do have some access. Experience in Eastern Europe, organisations have access to internet. People then need to have access to those organisations. Translation issues. Also creates a reliance.

Experience with transnational organisation. Access with .... Also a gatekeeper one central organisation. People don't have the means to get to them. West European designed website then with lots on it takes for ever to load. Alternatives

  • Mobile phone services. In locations where there hasn't been a telephone network.
 Lower requirement of technology and support for usage.
  • Downloadable mp3/podcasts

Blasterisk http://www.blagblagblag.org/BLASTERISK/ http://wiki.blagblagblag.org/BLASTERISK

  • Free long distance calls because of really cheap local termination
  • voicemail to e-mail
  • conferencing - travellers calling in on free minutes and using conference rooms
  • radio interviews - online or fm stations - they can make a call through blasterisk and then they can get a digital copy of the conversation
  • icecast streaming of calls - and the other way (oaxaca - internet radio on the phone)
  • indymedia headlines read out
  • people in jail who can recieve calls, get a callback and then they could make outgoing calls for free
  • integrates variously with jabber, chat

Using an existing infrastructure. The telephone network, converting the existing devices and making them more generic. Example using a portable games console to then make calls. Just distribute the new software for devices that are already out there.

In Brazil there are calls, where you don't pay, the reciever pays (reverse charges/collect). The free wireless example....

Q - Does free as in no cost, actually interest people in it, more than just the free calls? A - Important for immigrate communities. Starts a relationship that maybe goes further. A way of breaking the ice. Q - Have people taken up on the project? A - Yes, Asterisk servers being set up and networking together.


Blasterisk. Is it secure? No! There is a secure software phone being developed (http://zfoneproject.com/, will be GPL soon). EFF - have documents released about the wiretapping. The US government is certainly intercepting internet telephone calls (VOIP, Skype...) Example in Oaxaca and for the phone to podcast. Were then interested in organise meetings, wanted it to be secure enough. But it required user education about points where it is not secure.

Locations where legislation is different. Kazachstan you can only have internet connectivity through Army and closed ones from private companies. A satellitte uplink was setup. What about communicating with people without the infrastructure, or behind the 'Great firewall of China'.

In countries where there is a lot of coercion from the Government. If you become someone important for change, then it doesn't matter if you do it online or on paper the police come for you. The creating of anonymous people on the internet. But usually the police know who you are.

Q: They just arrest the usual suspects? A:

Example in Syria, connecting over ssl-tunnel using Internet cafe and the cops came the day after to take out the computers. Other example was in Russia: a did (telephone number you connect with a service like blasterisk) got simply cut without mentioning it to the German provider. Transfering data using USB datasticks to get stuff over the border in Burma/Thailand - sneakernet - with added anonymity from the removal of individual data

Q: Can you encrypt SMS messages A: If your phone can run (Java) programs it may run http://cryptosms.org/

  There are other propriatary apps. Problems of required level hardware.


Q: Multilingal websites - CMS question. How did people get interaction across languages.

Missing good translation tools. Try to put stuff in as many languages we know, but it is missing that we could automate translation, or link together related stories in different languages.

Working with collaboration tools. There are no good Open Source tools for handling the translations and translators at the moment.

You can use simple tools already. Have views where you can see both the original and the translations next to each other.

Example: 'can we translate this page' always asking. Don't want to have to give out accounts to each and every translator. We want a tool that anyone, literally anyone can translate. Then these things can be approved. We want them able to be integrated into any other sites.

Example: M$ Word plugin. It takes each sentence. Puts it to you sentence by sentence and it helps give suggestions. This was then co-ordinated on an e-mail list. Want similar tool for FLOSS.

Suggestion using Pootle http://translate.sourceforge.net/wiki/pootle/index Installed? http://pootle.wordforge.org/


http://lab.dyne.org/Phone2Podcast