Global Voices Online

Andy Carvin

Stories

March 12th, 2006

Mauritius: Video Montage Honoring Independence Day

Andy Carvin · 16:17 ·

The Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius is a veritable paradise, but is going through hard times due to an outbreak of the mosquito-borne illness, chikungunya. Since the disease has scared away a lot of tourists, Andy Carvin has put together this video montage celebrating the country's 38th anniversary since independence. The five-minute montage features footage taken from all over the island, including its beaches, national parks, Hindu pilgrimage sites and the national dance known as sega.

1 comment · »»

November 17th, 2005

Video Blog from WSIS: Negroponte's $100 Laptop

Andy Carvin · 14:23 ·

Eight-minute video documentary of the prototype of Nicholas Negroponte's $100 laptop, which premiered yesterday at the WSIS summit in Tunis. Andy Carvin talks with the chief technology officer of the initiative and gets a first-hand look at this highly anticipated device.

6 comments · »»

November 8th, 2005

Video blog: The Liberian Refugees of Buduburam

Andy Carvin · 20:45 · Sub-Saharan Africa

Video documentary of my July 2005 visit to the Liberian refugee camp in Buduburam, Ghana. I learn about the challenges faced by Liberians forced to flee their homeland, as well as some of the training programs available to them. I visit one of the camp's telecentres, as well as an women's literacy support group. Music used with permission of Alula Records.

Nine minutes, 50 megabytes.

Low-res version (20 megabytes):
http://www.andycarvin.com/video/refugees-low.mov

3 comments · »»

October 26th, 2005

Video: Scenes from a Bangladeshi Telecentre

Andy Carvin · 07:49 · South Asia

Video montage of a telecentre based at a girls school in Comilla, Bangladesh. The telecentre is run by Relief International's Schools Online program, which coordinates 20 telecentres across the country.

2 comments · »»

October 23rd, 2005

Video from Bangladesh: Rickshaw Traffic

Andy Carvin · 09:14 · South Asia

Video of bicycle rickshaw traffic in Comilla, Bangladesh.

0 comments · »»

September 1st, 2005

Sept 2, 2005: International Blogging for Disaster Relief Day

Andy Carvin · 11:23 ·

Tomorrow, Friday September 2, is International Blogging for Disaster Relief Day. Why? Because it needs to be done.

If you have a blog, here's what you can do. Sometime tomorrow, take a break from whatever it is you usually blog about, and post something constructive related to disaster relief. You can keep it topical to your blog; or, you can just dedicate blog space to listing websites where people can donate money (maybe even challenge people to match your donation). Or, share a story of a hurricane survivor. This goes for photo bloggers, podcasters and video bloggers as well - there's no reason why this should be text-only.

Though this is inspired by Hurricane Katrina, the goal is to deal with disaster relief efforts worldwide, posting about a disaster relevant to your community. Post lists of supplies needed for victims of yesterday's stampede in Baghdad. Post an update on how your family is recovering from the tsunami. Post multi-lingual resources for African families in Paris displaced by the recent apartment fires. Blog about whatever you choose, as long as it supports some kind of disaster assistance in a constructive way.

When you've posted to your blog, be sure to include a link to this Technorati tag: International Blogging for Disaster Relief Day. That way, when people follow that link, they'll be able to find a collection of all relevant postings published throughout the blogosphere. There will also be an RSS feed on that page, which can be used to aggregate all of the postings and display them on a single webpage. I plan to aggregate them on my Katrina Aftermath blog; you can do the same. (Later, I'll post a javascript on my Katrina blog to make it easy for anyone to do this - more soon.) One collection of disaster relief resources, countless bloggers. That's the power of the blogosphere.

So please join me tomorrow and participate in International Blogging for Disaster Relief Day. Take a break from whatever it is you normally blog about - even if it's just for one post - and give back to the Net.

5 comments · »»

August 20th, 2005

Khmer Dance

Andy Carvin · 17:36 ·

Video of a Cambodian dance troupe performing a blessing dance at the opening of the Lowell Water Festival, one of the largest Southeast Asian festivals in the US, organized jointly by the local Cambodian, Lao, Vietnamese and Thai communities.

5 comments · »»

August 12th, 2005

Americas

In the city of Denver, Colorado, there's an ugly fight breaking out over whether public libraries should provide books and other materials in Spanish. Anti-immigration groups argue that publicly funded libraries should be English-only, while library supporters retort that curtailing Spanish-language content is discriminatory and doesn't reflect the ever-changing population demographics of the United States.

Image from Thailand

Andy Carvin · 12:16 ·

Two hilltribe girls in Mae Sai, Thailand, standing along the Thai-Myanmar border, by Andy Carvin.

2 comments · »»

Sub-Saharan Africa

Human Rights Watch's news blog is reporting that six henchman of Chad's former dictator Hissène Habré have been ousted from positions in government.

“The Chadian government’s move follows a report last month by Human Rights Watch naming these six and 35 other leading Habré-era figures, many accused of torture and killings, who still hold key posts in Chad. Those dismissed include the powerful director of the Judicial Police who was deputy director of national security under Habré; a surveillance chief who was the director of Habré’s dreaded political police, the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS); and a man described by a Chadian truth commission as one of Chad’s ‘most feared torturers.' It is believed that more sackings may be forthcoming.”