Giga Paitchadze (center on right), Caucasus BarCamp, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia

GV: How would you describe the blogging scene in Georgia?

GP: About 5 percent of all internet users in Georgia have blogs. With Internet penetration now at about 10 percent of the whole population, then that means about 10-15,000 bloggers. However, this figure would include both active and inactive bloggers, i.e. with one post only.

The main language is of course Georgian, and the second is Russian because many bloggers use LiveJournal and have a large audience there in terms of friends, people making comments, readers and visitors.

As there are no catalogues or any services where Georgian blogs are classified and where some statistics are available, I'll say that the most widely covered topics are politics, music, sport and other outdoor or lifestyle activities, tech news, IT and everything else.

Also there are many bloggers who just write about everyday life.

GV: How many people attended the BarCamp?

GP: About 150 people attended BarCamp Caucasus. Actually, we expected more than 200 since we had only 150 participants registered on our site and had also invited a lot of organizations, journalists and other bloggers. Unfortunately, however, the political and social situation on June 7th — the first session of the newly elected parliament and the oppositional rally against election results — was more in the focus of people.

Perhaps The PR campaign for our BarCamp needed more effort, but for next time we will learn from the lesson this time.

GV: How do you consider the BarCamp went? What were its successes?

GP: The success of every BarCamp is that people have the possibility to meet in real life, in an unofficial atmosphere, to share experiences, to make new contacts, and to create a network which can provide many other possibilities such as to start something like a new project etc.

In that sense, I think that BarCamp Caucasus achieved this goal. And I am positive about this since I have also read some reports and blog posts by those attending the BarCamp – for example, the meeting and some discussion held between Armenian and Azerbaijani participants. This is a small but important success.

On the other hand, not so many Georgians attended the event, but I think with some time and development of the Internet here, Georgian society will pay more attention to events like the BarCamp Caucasus.

GV: Although there was still very little interaction between Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian bloggers and new media professionals, do you think that BarCamps and blogs, and social networks could be useful tools in bringing the three countries closer together?

GP: I absolutely agree that events like BarCamps or similar can do a great job in cross-border cooperation and cultural dialogue. Finding similar and joint interests or working on joint projects can be more important than talking about our differences.

Indeed, Georgia is considered by many international organizations and bodies to be neutral ground in the South Caucasus and the only location where Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian participants can meet up in sufficient numbers for conferences and other events. This is especially the case given that its two South Caucasus neighbors remain locked in a protracted conflict over Nagorno Karabakh.

Registration, Caucasus BarCamp, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia

Editor of Internews Armenia's E-Channel [AM/EN], Gegham Vardanyan, tells Global Voices Online why he attended the Caucasus BarCamp.

GV: Why did you decide to come to BarCamp Caucasus?

GVardanyan: I came to meet my friend, bloggers from other countries and to discover what new processes and technologies are being used around the world. For example, Web 2.0 technologies are very interesting and I will try to do something with them in Armenia.

GV: Your presentation was on blogs and the role of the Internet during the recent post-election state of emergency in Armenia. Do you think that blogs and new Internet technologies are now important for countries such as Armenia to consider?

GVardanyan: Yes, this should be developed. Bloggers and site owners are now thinking about backups and how they can be used as backups during such situations [as the state of emergency] in order to protect their content and to continue their work. I think that if such a situation was to occur again in the future – although I hope that it doesn’t – they will be more organized and be able to present even more information to their readers.

Gegham Vardanyan (center), Caucasus BarCamp, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia

However, regardless of the role the Internet played, one Armenian participant was unhappy with Vardanian's presentation on blogs and new media during the recent presidential election in Armenia. The blogger in question considered the presentation more negative than positive for Armenia's image abroad.

Speaking in Yerevan this week, Media Diversity Institute Director and Global Voices Online Author Artur Papayan briefly addresses such concerns and also elaborates on the role of the Internet during the disputed vote and post-election unrest.

GV: How active is the local blogosphere in Armenia?

AP: There’s no way to accurately count the number as there are so many platforms as well as standalone blogs. Adding to the problem is that Google’s blog search doesn't really understand Armenian language posts and is very poor at detecting the Russian ones. However, the amount of active, i.e. at least one post per month, Armenian blogs on LiveJournal is more then 800 and my RSS reader has more than 60 Armenian language blogs with about the same number in English. Even so, I’d estimate the number of known blogs by Armenians at around 3,000 — including video blogs.

GV: How would you say the number of blogs was affected by the recent presidential election in Armenia and especially in the post-election state of emergency situation?

AP: The number of Armenian language blogs tripled and although there were very few new ones in other languages, several English language blogs became more active to a phenomenal extent. There were also at least 80 new Russian-language registrations in LiveJournal which was something like a 10 percent increase. Many of those blogs were “zombies” or anonymous blogs which were effectively set up for propaganda purposes, perhaps even with the support of the authorities, and made it onto my infamous ‘blacklist.'

However, there is again no sure way of measuring so all these figures should just be taken as my personal estimate and treated with some caution.

GV: It's been said that the Russian-language Armenian blogosphere mainly opposed the return of the first and former president to the political scene in time for the election. Blogs in other languages were more supportive. Do you agree with that assessment?

AP: Well, there was a poll carried out among LiveJournal users and other candidates such as Vazgen Manukyan and Vahan Hovhannisyan came out on top, followed by Levon Ter-Petrossian [first president] and Serzh Sargsyan [the new president]. However, it should be understood that LiveJournal works very much as a large single forum and its members influence each other greatly so it became not “cool” to support Sargsyan. Even so, Levon Ter-Petrossian supporters were few, but they were active.

Others who were very anti-Levon, neutral or pro-Serzh instead became pro-Vazgen or Pro-Vahan and started to see these two candidates as a counterbalance to Levon Ter-Petrossian. Hence the phrase “ anti-Levon” is not quite right. Instead I’d say many Russian-language bloggers became pro-alternative-candidates. That's what LiveJournal looked like, but after the violent clashes on 1 March most of those blogs [on LiveJournal] consolidated and became mostly anti-Levon.

GV: How would you assess the success of the Internet and blogs during the pre-election period and especially in the period following the disputed vote?

AP: During the pre-election period it was quite disappointing. Bloggers were very active, but they were not creative. Instead, they simply followed the same agenda set by the highly polarized mass media in Armenia. I don't think blogs made any difference in public discussions or substantially contributed to anything, but the post-election period was an entirely different story.

GV: Can it be considered a success?

AP: Yes, because blogs were the only alternative to the mass media, especially as independent and pro-opposition online media sites were blocked or censored. Blogs registered phenomenal numbers in terms of readers. My blog, for example, had about 2,500-3,500 page views per day and the blog of A1 Plus (a pro-opposition TV station taken off the air in 2002] had over 60,000. In terms of video blogging, the A1plus and E-channel YouTube channels also registered a huge number of viewers. E-Channel, for example, had over 30,000 viewers per day and I’m sure A1 Plus had triple that amount.

GV: Given that YouTube was blocked in Armenia for some part of the time, were most viewers from outside Armenia?

AP: More than 50 percent of A1 Plus YouTube viewers were from Armenia. Then came Russia and the U.S. However, for my own it was about 50 percent from U.S. followed by Russia, France, Germany and Spain and then Armenia. This could have been because A1 Plus were using titles and keywords in Armenian whereas I was using English, however. Actually, this was the strategy I advised A1 Plus to follow.

GV: So do you think that because of the situation with the broadcast media where all the TV stations are in some way linked to or controlled by the government that video blogging has more potential for success than traditional text blogging?

AP: Yes. Think video blogs and radio podcasts which will dominate the scene as soon as the situation with Internet connectivity improves and when 3G mobile services become available.

GV: There was some criticism of the presentation made on the election and post-election situation as it pertained to blogs which was made at the Caucasus BarCamp in Tbilisi. How would you respond to such criticism?

AP: While I greatly appreciate the sense of patriotism that such critics have, the reality is above all and we should understand that via blogs or not, the world is anyway watching.

GV: Of course, many of these blogs were also responsible for spreading a lot of misinformation.

AP: That is indeed so. However, when it comes to Gegham Vardanyan or myself, we tried really hard under great pressure to remain as objective as we could. Basically, I think that criticism is valid if there were mistakes and incorrect facts, but not if it concerns the general concept of the presentation itself.

GV: Is there anything you’d like to add about the future of blogging in Armenia?

AP: Yes. With increasing attention on the role blogs can play after the recent presidential election and state of emergency situation, I'm concerned about the future of blogging because everyone has started to realize that it has great potential. While such a situation should be welcomed it also means there is the danger that there will soon be attempts to influence that potential and to control it.

This could be from both the authorities and the international donor community which means that there is also the possibility that such control could destroy any real potential unless handled correctly and in consultation or genuine cooperation with those already working in this area.

Onnik Krikorian will be making a presentation on the role of blogs and the Internet on the democratic process as part of a panel, The Wired Electorate in Emerging Democracies, at the Global Voices Online Citizen Media Summit in Budapest, Hungary, on 27-28 June 2008.

An interview with Emin Huseynzade on the Azerbaijani blogosphere is here. Other Global Voices posts on blogging in Armenia during and after the 2008 presidential election are here and here.

Photos © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

On the sidelines of this weekend's Caucasus BarCamp in Tbilisi, capital of the Republic of Georgia, Global Voices Online's Caucasus Editor Onnik Krikorian had a brief opportunity to talk to BarCamp Ambassador and Regional Program Manager for Transitions Online, Emin Huseynzade, on blogging in Azerbaijan and the potential for its future development.

Emin Huseynzade with Azerbaijani participants, Caucasus BarCamp, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia

Huseynzade was also in Tbilisi to coordinate special training by Transitions Online for journalists and bloggers from all three South Caucasus republics. The training deals with the latest trends in new media, including podcasting, video casting, RSS feeds, and social networks, as well as the impact of blogs on the traditional media.

Azerbaijani participants registering, Caucasus BarCamp, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia

Over 150 people from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia as well as Eastern Europe and Central Asia registered for the conference although not all attended. Neverthless, the unconference dealt with topics such as the use of mobile telecommunication for social and environmental surveys, research and activities, as well as other topics as diverse as social networks such as Birge.az.

With the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh still frozen, both events also gave bloggers and journalists from both countries the rare opportunity to meet each other. Although interaction was minor for the BarCamp, participants from both countries attended presentations by the other and Huseynzade says that communication between the two would likely be greater for the smaller Transitions Online training.

However, with Azerbaijan due to stage its own BarCamp on 29-31 August in Lenkoran, Azerbaijan, it is unlikely that Armenians will be able to participate.

GV: You’ve arrived in Tbilisi with a large group from Azerbaijan for the BarCamp and the training which will take place afterwards.

EH: For the Caucasus BarCamp we have nearly 30 people. Some are students while others are from different companies or IT specialists – programmers, designers and so on. For the Transitions Online training, however, there will be just 6 people attending from Azerbaijan, 6 from Armenia, and 10 from Georgia.

GV: You’re planning to stage your own BarCamp in Azerbaijan. Why the interest?

EH: The first time I heard about BarCamps was last year. Jeremy Druker, Executive Director of Transitions Online, told me about this idea of an unconference and I was intrigued. I was very interested in the idea and so I contacted some people in Latvia to find out more. I then decided to become the so-called “Ambassador” for Azerbaijan and took people to attend the BarCamp there. Five people went and it was very amazing for us. There were nearly 500 people attending and presentations of different ideas, projects, and the possibility of finding funding for our own projects. I decided I’d attend other BarCamps.

GV: Of course, BarCamps are not just about blogs, but what is your specific interest in them? Will that be the main focus of the Transitions Online training?

EH: Actually, we’re thinking about blogs as the first phase for citizen-journalism, but it isn’t just about new media. There are also social networks, podcasts, and many other things. However, we decided to start with blogs and we’ll present the practice and experience of other countries in this respect. If there are new forms of new media, we’ll also implement those and start to develop them in our own countries too.

GV: Yesterday you told me that blogging is quite well established in Azerbaijan.

EH: There are different groups of bloggers in Azerbaijan and they started mainly on Blogspot and Blog.com before Russian blogs appeared on LiveJournal. Then some started to appear on blog.az, but there were a few problems with that. However, Azeriblog.com created a new blogging system a few years ago. Actually, the system was created by a blogger from what some call South Azerbaijan in Iran. In fact, many of those using that system were from there. On that system alone there are nearly 5,000 bloggers out of a total of some 8,000 spread across different platforms.

We’re also developing another project in Azerbaijan with the European Journalism Center. It’s a network – sirr.az – and there will be blogs there as well. So, we’re using new opportunities to provide people with not only social networks, but also networks and blogs within both. Some will be able to blog specifically for particular groups within other networks, for example. As a result, I think that in two years we won’t just be able to double the number of bloggers in Azerbaijan, but perhaps even triple it. We can also say that if a few years ago the Azerbaijani Internet was mainly in Russian as a result of the under-development of the Internet as well as the general situation of the country, it is now 80 percent in Azerbaijani.

GV: Given the lack of communication between neighboring countries in the South Caucasus for obvious reasons, do you think that blogs could be a way of bridging that divide?

EH: Maybe, but perhaps not blogs themselves. Instead it might be blogging systems or bookmarking sites such as Digg or Technorati because I don’t think that many people will access each other’s blogs so much or be quick to comment. Nevertheless, I would like to see Armenians comment on Azerbaijani blogs and vice-versa.

Transitions Online also operates a number of blogs from Armenia, Georgia and other countries via a main portal here. The official site of BarCamp Azerbaijan is here while last weekend's
Caucasus BarCamp is here.

Azerbaijani participants, Caucasus BarCamp, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia

Armenian and Azerbaijani participants, Caucasus BarCamp, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia

Azerbaijani participants, Caucasus BarCamp, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia

All photos: © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008