Christina Meetoo

On Media, Society and Mauritius

Society

DRM, Newspapers and Web 2.0

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Been gleaning the web and came across three interesting things today that I’d like to share here:

Jobs on DRM
The first one is a posting by Steve Jobs on the Apple website concerning DRM, in which he argues that DRM does not really serve any purpose cos only a small fraction (3%) of music being played on proprietary players like its own IPod is actually DRM-protected. In any case, all CDs sold by the majors are DRM-free. So, says Jobs, we could actually do without it.


The future of newspapers
The second is an interesting discussion about the future of newspapers on LinkedIn.

and the cherry on the ice cake:
The Machine is Us/ing Us
a nice video about web 2.0 by a Micheal Wesch, a professor in Anthropology.

Enjoy!

Guetta’s concert

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As you must have seen on Avi’s blog, we went to David Guetta’s concert on Saturday. It had been ages since we last went to a concert… And we did feel like old thirty somethings amongst the teenagers and twenty-somethings in the beginning 😉

But, it was a cool party that really rocked. After a tricky climb up the slopes of the fort (I pity the girls who wore high heels and been to the hairdresser, with complete make-up and oh-so dressed up!), we had to get through compact crowds to pass the numerous check-points and security check (not for the girls though!) and finally get a silly stamp on the arm (whose disappearance for Avi led to a silly little incident with an overzealous security guy…)

Inside, the setting was nice with a special wooden dance floor (sometimes I feared it would collapse under the stomping!), some sail-like decorations, two large screens and special lights. The local DJ who did the first part, David Jay, was OK but Guetta was of course miles ahead. Since, I’m not very tall, I couldn’t see much of what he was doing but Avi says it was marvellous to look at his hands fumbling on the control boards (is that what they call it?).

Anywayz, we danced like we were young again… And came back home at around 3.15 in the morning to free Dada and Dadi who had been entrusted with Anya and Kyan. In fact, that was our first night out without the kids since their birth!

No need to tell you how tired we felt the next day, specially having to look after the kids who did not feel at all like having a nap (which we badly needed). Our eardrums were also KO for almost 24 hours; I could hear a buzz in my left ear till the day after! My big toes also ached a bit coz a guy and a girl jumped on them! Plus all the joints as well. Could it be that I’m getting old????

New Year Greetings

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Phew!!! Found some time at last to post my greetings here. I hope all of you enjoyed the XMas & New Year celebrations.

For us, it’s been quite busy… We organised a nice little BBQ party yesternight to celebrate the new year. Went to sleep at 3 am today after having put some order in the kitchen! The kids enjoyed themselves a lot (they made a good harvest of gifts and ran a lot around the house) but they were also very terrified by the fireworks (though I think there were much less than the past years – probably because people felt they need not waste too much money in such a way).

Today, there was the traditional round of visits to Avi’s relatives (7 houses in a row) with the string of drinks and gajacks. An important tradition that helps the people in the family to keep in touch…

Allez, all my best wishes to everyone. I hope the year 2007 is not as bad as everyone secretly feels it might be 😉 May all the prices go down, may we be able to boast of an intelligent education system, may our politicians become more interested in everyone’s welfare, may we stop thinking in sectarian terms, may people suffer less… In short, may Utopia become true!!!

Time’s Person of the Year: You

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Time’s magazine has elected YOU as person of the year.
‘…for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME’s Person of the Year for 2006 is you’, says the magazine.

This quiet Web 2.0 revolution (see What Is Web 2.0, an explanation by Tim O’Reilly who is said to have coined the term) is clearly changing the face of the world. Social networking is absolutely fab! Of course, as says the article, ‘Sure, it’s a mistake to romanticize all this any more than is strictly necessary. Web 2.0 harnesses the stupidity of crowds as well as its wisdom.’

(also posted on UoM-Communication Studies)

Le Médiateur du journal Le Monde

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J’ai lu dans la version web du journal Le Monde la dernière chronique du médiateur Robert Solé, intitulée ‘Avec le regard des lecteurs’.

Le papier a donné lieu à une série de commentaires de la part des lecteurs, commentaires que l’on peut consulter sur le site lui-même.

Que peut-on constater de la fonction de médiateur dans ce journal?
– Il s’agit un journaliste de la rédaction à qui on a confié le rôle exclusif et explicite de médiateur pendant huit ans.
– Il a eu une total liberté de fonctionner pour recevoir le courrier des lecteurs, enquêter et questionner la rédaction et ensuite rédiger ses chroniques (à une exception, dit-il, qui a d’ailleurs été par la suite signalée et rectifiée).

Il ya bien sûr des imperfections qui ont été notées. Tous les courriers n’ont pas été traités. Un lecteur se plaint d’ailleurs que ses réactions n’ont recu aucun écho et un autre affirme même que ‘à part cet écho ponctuel, rien n’a changé dans la ligne directionnelle du journal’.

A parfaire avec Internet

Ce qui m’amène à penser que cette expérience est perfectible. Notamment grâce à Internet et la grande facilité qu’elle offre pour disséminer les réactions individuelles et tenir un forum des lecteurs transparent et accessible à tous. Ca ne coûte pratiquement rien; c’est simple d’utilisation et c’est très enrichissant.

On en est évidemment encore loin à Maurice. Si au journal Le Monde, des lecteurs se plaignent d’un manque de transparence et de dialogue entre le journal (qu’ils aiment lire soit dit en passant) et ses lecteurs, le manque est encore plus criant à Maurice.

‘Shows’ et ‘face-saving devices’
Pour l’instant les initiatives de la presse locale, notamment la mise sur pied d’une association de journalistes et celles de La Sentinelle (code de déontologie + comité de médiateurs) n’ont pas l’air d’avoir donné grand chose. Ca ressemble plutôt à des ‘shows’ de bonne volonté qui ne vont pas plus loin que ca, voire même des ‘face-saving devices’ pour avoir sous le coude des arguments contre leurs détracteurs (qui n’en sont même pas;-)

Voici donc quelques extraits de cette dernière chronique du médiateur:

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My sado-maso evening

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I made it a point to watch two things yesterday on our local television station (must have been in a sado-maso mood!):
(1) the MBC 7.30 news bulletin
(2) the nomad no limit challenge show

It turned out to be quite disastrous for the following reasons:
(1) I was highly unsatisfied with both
(2) Avi scowled at me for imposing the nomad show viewing
(3) Anya & Kyan were in a ‘rioting’ mood and almost broke each other’s neck with their reckless acts 😉


Remarks on the 7.30 news ‘boulletine’ (comme dirait l’autre):

– I missed the very beginning but I did see the end of the first report featuring a philatelist + the Yvan Martial interview by Faycal Caunhye. Yvan Martial is a seasoned journalist who is apparently also a historian. I don’t want to criticise him but the title is a bit overdone; I’d rather use the expression ‘témoin de l’histoire’. Being able to delve into archives and recall some old stories for the masses doesn’t make you a historian…

– There was a ‘défilé’ of ministers; Min Valayden is at the top of the hit parade (appeared at least 4 times in the very same bulletin – must have been very hectic for him yesterday dealing with all those cameramen and reporters!). Seebun came second with two appearances (can someone advise her to be a bit more sober in her dresscode like for instance Sonia Ghandi? She looks a bit too much like she has just popped in back form a Chowthari).

– There was also a ‘défilé’ of pujas, prayers, and preaches. Grandiloquent words like ‘sacrifice de soi, cheminement de la vie, code du devoir, valuers familiales’ were poured into our ears accompanied by sad and grim images of utterly bored people attending those ceremonies.

– Old people seem to be forever equated with free meals + official speeches + sega dancers. The cocktail did not seem to inject any more life in them… Anyone ever thought of asking them to actually do the speaking and the dancing themselves. Might have revived them.



About the nomad thing:
– Though the visual look and filming is much better than the MBC productions, there is definitely a big LACK in this show: there is no serious stuff going on!
Viewers did not get any information on the Internet challenges (that’s what it was supposed to be all about, isn’t it?) and so, the whole process was completely obscure and the announcement of the results by Ben Javed totally artificial.
At least in StarAc, the participants get to sing and be evaluated on their performance. Same goes for A la Recherche du nouveau machin-chouette (whose codes were copied by Circus). I was not expecting much from the show but this level of vacuum is particularly astounding.