All Blogs-Global Voices Forum, updates

The National Alliance of Bloggers (ALL-BLOGS) will hold a public forum on Blogs and Digital Democracy next Wednesday.

David Sasaki (picture above), head of Glabal Voices Outreach ( Rising Voices ) -- an off-shoot project of a project initiated at Berkman Centre for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School -- will talk about blogs and how governments around the world engage digital democracy.

DATE: October 3, 2007 (Wednesday)
TIME: 7.00pm (Buaka Puasa) 8.00pm (Forum starts)
VENUE: Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club

Discussants:
1 ) Datuk A Kadir Jasin, Group Editor-in-Chief, Berita Publishing
2 ) Ahirudin Attan (Rocky's Bru), President, All-Blogs

Moderator:
Jeff Ooi, All-Blogs Vice President and Head of Ttaining & Development Committee

The forum is by Invitation Only

Seating capacity is limited to 70 people. We have reserved about 10 seats for the public. If you are interested to attend the Forum, which will be preceeded by a Buka Puasa dinner, please email ALL-BLOGS exco members at:

1 ) jeffooi.screenshots AT gmail.com
2 ) tony.yew AT gmail.com

by Monday, October 1, 2007.

To those who have confirmed attending, please be there or your seat will be wasted as there are some who are put on waiting list.

It's not yet another bloggers' meet

The forum is not yet another gathering of bloggers. On the contrary, we attempt to EMBRACE and ENGAGE people who don't understand blogs and digital democracy -- or for that matter, citizen journalism or civil media -- and want to learn more about the topic.

So, this round, we won't be singing to the choir or talking to those already "converted" to blogs. Instead, we will focus on reaching out to advocates of freedom of expression, up-coming bloggers especiially those from outside the Klang Valley, and even opinion-shapers in various fields.

Among the audience are Malaysian bloggers of all genres, online auteur and cyberactivists, journalists, lawyers, academics, NGOs, political analysts and researchers, and members of the diplomatic corp.

Backgrounder

Backdropped against recent development in the public opinion space exemplified by the online sphere, there appears to be subtle attempts to muzzle bloggers through a variety of tactics, including police remands (Nathaniel Tan); civil suits (Jeff Ooi and Rocky); investigations under a cocktail of laws (Raja Petra Kamarudin of Malaysia-Today).

The ALL-BLOGS Public Forum, themed “Blogs & Digital Democracy”, will be given the Malaysian context when Datuk A Kadir Jasin and Ahirudin Attan share their experiences as veteran journalists who have now “successfully migrated" from print to online, and have found a huge following among Malaysians capable of critical thinking.

The Forum is also positioned from the viewpoint of the Guest Speaker, David Sasaki, as a researcher on citizen journalism and digital democracy. It is to provide a global perspective on how democracies around the world handle the challenges posed by the emerging new media.

David Sasaki

David Sasaki, who is making a visit to the region, will share his experience as regional editor of Global Voices Online (Latin America) and, among other things, he will talk about blogs and how governments around the world engage digital democracy.

David is the head of Global Voices Outreach ( Rising Voices ), which is an off-shoot project of Global Voices Online, another project initiated at Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School, Massachusetts.

Global Voices Online & Global Outreach

Rising Voices is an outreach initiative of Global Voices supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

It aims to extend the benefits and reach of citizen media by connecting online media activists around the world and supporting their best ideas through three main strategies: ( 1 ) Microgrants; ( 2 ) Outreach Curriculum and ( 3 ) Networking.

The KLGCC is located at Off Jalan Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur. The forum is held at Function Room, 1st Floor, East Wing.

This posting was posted by Jeff Ooi on Screenshots on September 28, 2007 07:20