It started recently when the proposed building for Park51 Islamic community center in lower Manhattan just two blocks away from the fallen Twin Tower location was met with emotional opposition by Christian conservatives and relatives of the victims of 9/11 attacks.  The nation has been focused on the location of the mosque that is simply practicing its “freedom of religion” choice rather than a not awaited memorial for the victims of 9/11.  Since 2001 not a single memorial tree, bench or wall has been placed at Ground Zero to commemorate the 2,976 lives lost at the location.  So why attack the legal construction of the Islamic community center now?  United States President Obama has cited the Declaration of Independence in his recent comments that  “One of those inalienable rights is to practice their religion freely.  “And what that means is that if you could build a church on a site, you could build a synagogue on a site, if you could build a Hindu temple on a site, then you should be able to build a mosque on the site.”

Another reason why this planned burning of the Quran is a dangerous protest is because of the insulting message it sends to over 1.5 billion Muslims across the world.  Then the other side is many people feel that this is the season for ridiculous media coverage that everyone who disagree with the protest should ignore it.  In the social media world a facebook fan page was created to support the burning with 16,000 fans while opponents of the burning reached fans in the hundreds of thousands.  On Twitter there is a trending topic that is getting updates every second but the most relevant one that I found was from Hip Hop artist Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest that read “Americans should be burning calories instead of Qurans.”

For a insightful point of view on this topic check out: Quran row feeds media frenzy

Twitter trending topic: Quran burning

Book Review

The Green Collar Economy

by Van Jones

Foreword by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

This year has been a tough year for the planet ecologically and Mother Nature continues to heal itself over time.  In this very practical and clearly written manifesto on “green jobs” and how to fix the two of the biggest crisis effecting the world.  Environmental activist and former White House counselor on green economy Van Jones presents a ambitious agenda to clean up the “oil spill” of socioeconomic inequality and rampant environmental destruction.

He provides a blue print for everyone who wishes to make a change on planet earth for cleaner and renewable future.  He questions “how can we make this effort inclusive, ennobling, and empowering to people who were disrespected in the old economy”?  An award winning human rights and environmental  leader Jones puts his experiences with organizing activist, businesses and local governments to pen and paper presenting a serious and critical analysis of how we treat each other and the planet we live on.

I finished the book and found some interesting points that would be helpful for the Obama Administration and other foreign governments to consider when debating about fossil fuel and green energy replacement.  “It should be about reclaiming thrown-away communities. It should not just be around recycling materials to give things a second life” he continues to write “we should also be gathering up people and giving them a second chance”. Jones believes that today we live in a divided society of “eco-apartheid: where affluent Americans eat organic food, drive hybrid cars and are more concerned with saving polar bears than alleviating the concerns of have nots who battle with pollution, access to healthy food and newly competitive jobs.

In the midst of the current BP oil disaster and its nightmarish impact on local fishing communities this book proves that once we build a green economy we can also help lift people out of poverty and unemployment.  even though he resigned from his position at the White House let’s hope the President still has his copy of the book in the Oval Office.

- Alvin Singh II

Follow me on Twitter for the latest on green living and social media news @Bookido

I landed in Johannesburg just two days after the kick off celebrations
in Soccer City where they started with an international all
star-studded concert featuring local artists; as well as
world-renowned American superstars the Black Eyed Peas. There was
also warm welcome delivered from Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop
Desmond Tutu. Watching the celebration weeks later still ignites
emotion-filled chills sparked by how much attention was given to
Africa in such a positive way.

During the games there were no images of famines, conflict, or
poverty, which are usual depictions of the continent. Instead a happy
side of Africa that many people have never seen before was transmitted
by radio and television airwaves worldwide. The weather in South
Africa at that time was chilly due to fact that it was wintertime
unless you were in Kwazulu- Natal where the sun still shone like it
was the middle of summer, and the beaches were warm from the Indian
Ocean currents.

I named my documentary The World Came To Africa and created a blog
that features pictures and short videos throughout the two weeks I was
there. My first interview was with former striker for South Africa’s
national team Bafana Bafana Marks Maponyane, who won “South African
Football Player of the Year” three times. He now enjoys being a
motivational speaker and sports commentator. He gave me an insightful
perspective on the history of South African soccer under apartheid
when blacks, whites, coloreds and south Asians immigrants were forced
to play under separate leagues. He spoke about South Africa’s
monumental evolution from being banned by FIFA in the 1970s to hosting
the World Cup this year with newly remodeled stadiums and drastically
improved infrastructure. Critics largely from western media outlets
highlighted Africa’s failures, and predicted that the World Cup would
result in a “world disaster” leaving little room for positive
reporting.

Despite these pessimistic predictions, after talking to people and
observing other developments I can say honestly say that South Africa
did a fantastic job hosting although there is still room for
improvement. I witnessed Africans from Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria,
Algeria, and Mozambique integrating and learning more about each other
cultures in social settings.

Pan Africans from Brazil, the Caribbean, and the Americas were able to
stand in solidarity with South Africa as hosts similarly to the many
times they stood alongside freedom fighters working diligently against
the injustice faced by the people of South Africa. This was a time to
support South Africa as many stood side by side with people up until
Nelson Mandela’s (affectionately known by his people as Madiba)
release from prison in 1990. Sadly just hours before the first game
between South Africa and Mexico, Madiba’s great granddaughter Zenani
Mandela passed away in a car accident at the tender age of 13. Always
a leader to his people due to the unfortunate circumstances Madiba was
in private mourning while the rest of the world watched the kick off
game, a shining moment in African history.

The following games featured six African nations with star players
including: Ghana’s Michael Essien, Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba, and
Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o; each hoping to lead their national teams to
the finals. In the end Ghana became the third African team to advance
to the World Cup quarterfinals.

My expectations were met and I am honored to have had the opportunity
to interact with the different groups who supported the event. I pay
homage to the fans, workers, entrepreneurs and families that hosted my
visit to the southern tip of Africa. The journey was a great
experience to see us enjoying ourselves and showing the rest of the
world how we party since many people have had such a narrow minded
view of the continent.

The World Cup did not erase racism, nor did it solve poverty or the
lack of healthcare, but it did bring back pride and hope that if we
can do it once we can do again! The task ahead is not asking whether
FIFA coming to South Africa was supposed to help resolve poverty, but
instead provide South Africans with new motivation to redefine the
struggle for liberation after the monster of apartheid has been
defeated.

Enjoy these short videos that I produced while visiting and if you
want to see more photos you can visit the website I
www.TheWorldCameToAfrica.tumblr.com. The film will eventually be
edited into a 60 minute documentary and distributed via online and at
various film festivals.

The question many activist, journalist and economist wonder is whether or not China’s intentions are build Africa a stronger independent continent or plunder its natural resources?

This short video is a discussion on Al-Jazeera with a Chines specialist and a Ghanaian newspaper editor.

Unrated
In English, Spanish, Portuguese and French with subtitles.
Running time: 106 minutes
Studio: Cinema Libre Studio

Fiona Lee & David Edelstein – Innovation in Information Access: Harnessing the Potential of the Mobile Phone

Every year, thousands of bands, bloggers, filmmakers, social media gurus and entrepreneurs come to the South By Southwest Music, Film and Interactive festival in Austin, Texas, bringing three major industries under one roof together. When I joined the MCDM program in 2008, I heard about SXSW and started to work on plans to participate in a strategic way. For the past two years, I have been filming a documentary on legendary blues singer Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter while studying from the University of Washington’s Masters of Communication in Digital Media program and using the MCDM program where applicable, as a testing ground for the documentary’s online marketing and digital distribution strategies. The opportunity to participate in SXSW came sooner than expected, and I got to spend a week soaking in the latest in digital media while merging entertainment, Southern hospitality and genuine networking. Attending SXSW was well worth the lessons, networking contacts and, sometimes, the free food.

I started my efforts to get on the SXSW agenda in November last year. At the Showbox downtown Seattle I met with the pickers for the music panel who were visiting to accept submissions from bands, record labels, and anyone else who wanted to pitch a idea. I decided to present an MCDM- inspired panel based on the evolution of Lead Belly’s music from analog recordings to digital formats. Thus, the title “Lead Belly to Ludacris: From Analog to Digital.” Staying true to the digital storytelling code of honor, the presentation included a video mash up I produced especially for the panel. The video was a mash up of a rare performance of Lead Belly singing with Hip Hop artist Ludacris covering a popular folk song.  My panel was listed as part of the Music conference and later reviewed in the Austin Chronicle.

In addition to networking and the panel experience, I learned about quite a few innovative technologies and saw some great films at SXSW. Here is my review:

Interactive
Location-based services like Foursquare, Loopt and Gowalla were competing for new users at SXSW as everyone tried to locate their friends or free food parties in the frenzy of downtown Austin’s Sixth Street. With these and other applications, masses of people moved to different venues based solely on cell phone alerts.

This year, SXSW used Quick Response barcodes or QR codes on registration badges, providing smartphone users a fast and easy way to exchange contact information rather than using traditional business cards. (This Fast Company article that gives a good explanation of how it worked for attendees.) QR codes haven’t yet reached their full potential among business owners, but we can expect to see more usage in the near future. On a visit to Washington, D.C., immediately following after the conference, I noticed a salad and yogurt shop called Sweet Greens had placed a QR code on its their front door. Eager to see a real example of how mobile scanning applications can work for a small business, I tried it. My phone was directed to a Website that rewarded me a free yogurt for my next salad purchase.

Another big talk of the town was a start up company called Stickybits that attempted to have a sort of Twitter launching at SXSW this year. With Stickybits you can attach a barcode to a flyer or other print product. When someone uses his mobile phone to take a photo of the bar code on the flier, the phone which will display photos of the items being sold. Or, for example, you could use this bar code technology to attach a video to a birthday card.  This is a brilliant idea and something we will see more and more users people continue to usinge bar codes and mobile phones to create and share instant digital content. sharing with others as long as they have a barcode reader on their phone.

Each day of SXSW was packed with panels, workshops and keynote speakers discussing the next generation of social media and video gaming. Clay Shirky spoke candidly about the evolution of technology and how it impacts society. I got a chance to speak to him for a lengthy period and reminded him that one of the MCDM’s graduates Keiichi Iwashita recently translated his book “Here Comes Everybody” into Japanese. Twitter CEO Evan Williams announced a new platform called @anywhere that allows Twitter integration on Web sites. Many people in the audience were expecting the announcement of a rumored Twitter advertising platform and were only to get disappointed even when Williams admitted that Twitter’s business model is still in experimentation, and they’re working to deliver the best user experience possible first.

Film

The film section of SXSW film festival has been building a great reputation. This year, there was a ton of buzz surrounding the film “Thundersoul.”  Skipping a few panels, I packed into a crowded audience to watch the documentary “Beijing Taxi,”  of a Chinese taxi driver prepairing the city for the Summer Olympics and a bumpy ride to modernization.

“The People vs. George Lucas” is an in-depth examination of fans obsessed with George Lucas’s science fiction universe and how it defined an entire generation. If I had a clone, I would have attended “The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights,” a feature-length film documenting the rock band The White Stripes’ 10- year anniversary celebration in Canada because I didnt have enought time to do everything. The film panels were loaded with informative topics, from “Can online video pay?” to “writing a successful screenplay” hosted by filmmakers and entertainment lawyers.

Overall, this year’s SXSW exceeded my expectations. SXSW and is really the frontier of what is new and what is next in digital media. Keeping my eyes on my main goal in attending, I am actively following up on conversations and leads to further develop a marketing and distribution strategy for my documentary. A big thanks and shout to my MCDM cohort/peers who contributed insights and contacts to help me have a great SXSW experience. I had lunch with Drew Keller, meet with friends of Priti Ubhayakar and bumped into Brooke Ellingford during the course of the week. For all others reading this if you head out for the sun and music only, its still totally worthwhile.

Alvin Singh is a digital media consultant and Disc jockey who lives in Seattle and enjoys tennis.  He is currently producing a full length documentary on the life and music of blues singer “Lead Belly.”