There are many people who contributed to our liberation in South Africa and, unfortunately, so many of these people are being unnoticed or unacknowledged. Maybe the reason is that, once we achieved our liberation, some people stepped aside to let others lead. Others decided to get involved in local communities and shy away from the […]
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Posted inMedia
Google News shoots for source
The official Google news blog has alerted us about a new feature on Google News that will help readers “quickly and easily” find original stories from news publishers. This should be interesting to watch, particularly in the local context where the vast majority of content on South Africa’s major mainstream news sites is replicated from […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics, Tech
Trusting Wikipedia: a sea change
Here’s an interesting development. Long and acrimonious battles have been fought over the question, “Can you trust Wikipedia?” Now, at last, there’s a new answer to this question.
Posted inMedia
An open letter to Jawah Hassan — all the way from Dubai
Since I started blogging on http://silwanekanjila.amagama.com I have attached my email address ([email protected]) at the bottom of my blogs almost from day one. It proved to be a master stroke because of all the excellent feedback I’ve received from some of my readers. Granted, some of the feedback is of the “your blogs are dog […]
Posted inMedia, Tech
Why newspapers and social media make a good fit
Since early 2005, when I started working with Colin Daniels at the New Media Lab, my thinking about the web has been saturated by the language, principles and ideals of Web 2.0 and specifically the sub-set of uses we call “social media”. So I had to laugh at the provocative piece written by Paul Jacobson […]
Posted inGeneral
Zuma, the monster, does not exist
Angry groupings of Africans chanting struggle songs and shouting “Amandla!” have always invoked fear in the hearts and minds of the elite or cabals that defend unfair systems of government celebrating inequality as normalcy. Armed with heavy military artillery, young recruits in the South African Defence Force and the police trembled with fear as thousands […]
Posted inLifestyle
The ‘not so handy’ man
Sometimes I feel I’ve been sold short by my dogged pursuit to become that elusive and sought-after creature — the modern man. I’ve come a long way in recent years. I’ve personally supported my wife through three home births, can change a nappy in my sleep and even listen to Dolly Parton (when my mates […]
Posted inLifestyle
What if you and a porn star share the same name?
My name is Eve Dmochowska, and trust me, there are a lot of downsides to that name. How do you pronounce that? How do you spell it? Is it Russian? (I think I am the only one who knows the answer to all three questions) But the upside is that www.evedmochowska.com was available, and that […]
Posted inTech
How to write a hit blog post (based on real Amatomu data)
Analysing Amatomu data from the past 2 months reveals some interesting — and not so interesting — trends in what makes a blog post a hit. Ok, here goes. Thanks to Vincent Maher’s (of Amatomu) kindly SQL queries, I have the most-used links on Amatomu over the past few months in front of me. While […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Turkey, WordPress and a little bit of honesty, please
Last week, a Turkish court issued an order to block WordPress.com in Turkey. Yes, the whole of WordPress.com, which hosts more than a million blogs. The blocking of is a result of a defamation claim brought by Adnan Oktar (aka Harun Yahya), who claims that a few blogs hosted by WordPress.com slandered both him and […]
Posted inLifestyle
The government on make-up
Mrs Traps, “the government”, clearly missed her calling as a beautician. Every morning she hits the bathroom and begins a ritual that is a must for any wannabe kugel. Having studied this for years I felt, seeing as I wasn’t doing anything right now, I’d share it with you. THE GOVERNMENT ON MAKE-UP 1. Take […]
Posted inNews/Politics
And the man at the back said everyone attack!
President George Bush and other members of his administration have sent a clear message to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki — give us tangible results or you’re on your way out. With the reports on the military “surge” due in September, Bush himself is under pressure to prove to the American people that this latest […]