Much has been written about how people in China keep on finding new ways to circumvent the the Chinese government's censorship of the internet; but the internet is not the only thing being censored. In China, the age-old offline practice of banning printed books is still alive and well. Read about the People's Recreation Community, a tiny bookstore in Hong Kong, "known for selling the widest range of banned books available in greater China."
The feminist group FEMEN - founded in the Ukraine but now with chapters in a number of different countries - continues to provoke strong opinions. Here are a couple more voices to add to the debate:
The inconsistency of Femen’s imperialist 'one size fits all' attitude.
(screenshot from Walls That Speak)
Walls That Speak is a short 47-minute film that looks at street art in Beirut, and what it reveals about the people who live there.
The Carbon Capture Report describes itself as "a free and open service devoted to being the preeminent global resource for tracking worldwide perception and developments in Climate Change, Carbon Capture, Carbon Credits, Alternative Energy, Renewable Energy, Green Energy, Biofuels, Geothermal, Hydroelectric, Natural Gas, Nuclear, Solar, Wind, Coal, and Oil."
The Investigative Dashboard (ID) is the place to go if you want more information on the shareholders, management board or financial situation of a company, helping you to follow the money across borders and through complicated corporate financial set-ups.
(screenshot from CrowdVoice)
"Imagine a news-focused, visual Wikipedia," says CrowdVoice on its homepage. With a social justice slant: the website describes itself as "a user-powered platform tracking voices of protest around the world."
After reading one too many pieces of advice being offered to women on how to avoid being raped, student Hilary Bowman-Smart tweeted:
The hashtag quickly went viral. Find out more on how women are using humour and social media to fight against sexism.
"Revolutions are serious business," write Srdja Popovic and Mladen Joksic in Foreign Policy magazine. "Just recall the grumpy faces of 20th-century revolutionaries like Lenin, Mao, Fidel, and Che. They could barely crack a smile. But fast-forward to the protests of the 21st century, and you see a new form of activism at work."
The Indian government has released 180 datasets: ranging from the national infant mortality rate 2011, to unemployment rates, to GDP. Fodder for new visualisations?
(Open Data for Cameroon (http://cameroon.opendataforafrica.org/), on the AfDB Open Data Platform)
