[inta] world's wide web

[Mary Axford <mary.axford@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Story Of The Week  	August 26, 2005
# 	In This Issue Quote Of The Week
# Stat Of The Week
# U.S. News
# E-Government News
# International News
# HotSite Of The Week

Egyptian Candidates Campaign Against All Odds

The first direct elections for Egyptian president kicked off recently, 
with 9 long shot candidates pitted against incumbent Hosni Mubarak. 
Mubarak, who has been in office for 24 years, has enjoyed most of the 
mainstream media coverage. Since Mubarak announced his candidacy, a 
study shows that 59 percent of the election coverage on the front page 
of the flagship state-owned daily, al-Ahram, has been about Mubarak, 
while his top two competitors have received one percent each.

Determined to campaign, the opposition candidates have turned to the 
Internet to level the playing field. Colorful websites, slick graphics 
and catchy text on their respective sites are geared toward catching 
they eye of younger voters. Mubarak has also launched a campaign 
website, mubarak2005.com to show, "that the president is very much with 
the times." The opposition candidates have a decided advantage in the 
blogosphere, where bloggers are weighing in to support opposition 
candidates and to protest what they deem unfair elections. Egyptian 
bloggers are gaining credibility at home and abroad. Rabab al-Mahdi, a 
political science professor at the American University in Cairo 
commented, "I have never heard the word blogger until May 25, but now I 
know them well…because they have more credibility than mainstream 
media." And Marc Lynch, a political science professor in Massachusetts 
adds, "Egypt's bloggers seem to have been able to make the transition 
from spurting hot air, to political organization and political work 
that's impressive."

Despite creative campaigning, many feel this year's elections are not 
yet fair saying, "2005 is just a dress rehearsal for a more real 
election next time." The stage has been set according to Blogger Kamelia 
Hamed, "they [Egyptian voters] have been exposed to the concepts of real 
candidates, opinion polls and opposition parties. They've seen how these 
things work on TV and the Internet." This warm-up has shown that 
Internet campaigning has gotten plenty of practice and will be ready to 
break a leg when the Egyptians are ready for a fair opening night.

Related Articles
Internet Helps Egyptian Presidential Campaign
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005- 08/25/content_3399211.htm
Democracy 101
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/757/eg8.htm
Egypt's Online Voices of Dissent
http:// www.alternet.org/story/24525/

E-Government News

Oracle Launches E-Government Centre of Excellence in Malaysia
(Public Sector Technology and Management) Oracle's regional network of 
E-Governance Centres of Excellence (CoE) is growing, with the official 
opening of its fifth Asian solutions testbed in Putrajaya, Malaysia, 
where the center will focus on finding solutions to the country's 
digital divide. http://www.pstm.net/article/index.php ?articleid=683


E-democracy Making its Way Down Under
(ABC Australia) E-democracy, as it's known, played a small but 
significant role in the recent British election and in last year's 
presidential election in the United States. Stephen Coleman, a visiting 
Professor in E- Democracy at Oxford University, gives an interview 
detailing the Internet revolution.
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2005/s 1446304.htm

		
	International News

South African Academia Call For 'Digital Empowerment'
(Public Sector Technology and Management) Ebrahim Rasool, Premier of the 
Western Cape Province, is asking the South African government to harness 
information and communications technology (ICT) and place it at the 
disposal of all the people.
http://www.pstm.net/article/index.php ?articleid=687

New Zealand Pollies Pursue the iPod Vote
(Stuff.co.nz) Pollies (Australian for politicians) are taking part in a 
"world first," by podcasting election interviews for free along with 
leaders of the main political parties.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3384 436a28,00.html

South Korean Parties Trade Blows Over Internet Use
(Joongang Daily) Competing South Korean political parties are eager to 
wield the power of the internet to reach voters; however, not without 
controversy. The governing and opposition parties yesterday traded 
punches as each accused the other of abusing the Internet.
http://joongang daily.joins.com/200508/22/20050822223511160990009 
0309031.html

Which Broadband Nation?
(Foreign Affairs) Has the United States dropped the "Internet leadership 
baton," allowing Japan to "pick it up" and guide broadband innovation? 
This article would say that it had, but challenges some of the 
underlying problems and solutions in broadband leadership.
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20050901f 
aresponse84514/philip-j-weiser-thomas-bleha/which- broadband-nation.html

The Kleercut Campaign and Open-Source Networks
(Kleercut) Greenpeace Canada's Kleercut campaign against Kimberly Clark 
(the makers of Kleenex) is speaking out on its experience using an 
open-source content-management system, and the role of free software in 
political, grassroots movements.
http://kleercut.net/en/open-source- campaigning

		
	HotSite Of The Week

Partywatch: Who Funds Whom in the U.K.?

This week's hotsite aims to inform citizens and encourage interaction in 
political party funding in the United Kingdom. The New Politics Network, 
a leading think tank on the funding of political parties in the United 
Kingdom, has created a site that makes political party funding more 
transparent by reformatting the various registers on donations to 
political parties compiled by the Electoral Commission in a single, more 
user-friendly format. The database also includes a wiki, which allows 
users to add their own information on the site. Commenting on the new 
website, Director of the Network, Peter Facey said, "This new site 
builds on the highly successful Cleanpolitix initiative the Network 
launched two years ago. Over the next few months we hope to add further 
features such as the register of donations to individual politicians and 
campaign expenditure with the aim of developing a single, one-stop-shop 
for researchers, journalists and citizens alike."

View the Press Release Click here

Political spin:
With the 2008 Presidential elections already making the nightly news, 
maybe it is time for U.S. citizens to start thinking about taking party 
finance into their own hands as well.




--
Mary A. Axford
Georgia Tech Library and Information Center
Atlanta, GA  30332-0900
404-894-1392