Steve Rubel points to Sam Fleming's succesful argument that Technorati was not correctly weighing Chinese blogs. This demonstrates once again that data about Internet traffic and usage are unreliable– especially when we're talking about the non-English Internet. Chinese actress Xu Jing Lei doesn't have a (English) wikipedia entry yet– other than the stub I just started– but Sam in Shanghai gives some of her data:
She can get well over 100,000 page views per article and at least 1,000 comments per article, sometimes 3-4,000. I would be curious how many blogs can generate thousands comments per article on a regular basis. Granted, Xu Jing Lei is not your typical "citizen" blogger, but her not being on the list suggests that Technorati is missing Sina. And if they are missing Sina, Bokee, and Blogbus…then they are missing a big chunk of the Chinese blogosphere.
Ethan Zuckerman says all thisgoes to prove the need for projects like Global Voices and Blogamundo:
All of which suggests that English-language blogging is becoming a smaller plurality each day. Which makes me very happy that we made the decision a few months ago at Global Voices to focus heavily on translating blog posts as well as linking to them. Haitham, Veronica, David, Feng and Alice have been steadily translating content from Arabic, Russian, Spanish, Chinese and French, respectively, and we’ll be introducing our new Portuguese translator in a few days. This has let us run fantastic posts, like this analysis of the Spanish blogosphere’s reaction to today’s boycott of US goods in much of the Spanish-speaking world by David Sasaki. But it makes me hungry for even more, including projects like Blogamundo, which promise large-scale systems to help translate blog content.
In the meantime, monolingual idiots like me are made even more aware of what we’re missing…
If all monolinguists were as "moronic" as Ethan, the world would be a much better place.
May 6, 2006
David, a blogger in Xiamen, China, shares his discovery of reggaeton and Daddy Yankee:
I just know this kind of music a few days ago…. I know this kind of music from a song of Daddy Yankee.The song is ” Gasolina”.I knew this song in Park Latin.The DJ there always play this song.And everyone in the bar like the song….During the Lunar New Year,when I was at my hometown,I downloaded some songs of him in my Mp3 player.And I fond that his songs are quite great!!!Even the songs are not in English!They are in Spanish.I have no idear about Spanish.But “Its infectious, driving rhythms and the sexy bump-and-grind dancing that it inspires” make me fell in love with his music,such as Gasolina,Lo.Que.Paso,etc.
The first time I heard the song Gasolina,I was attracted.It was absolutely new to my mind.It’s just like a stranger is knocking your door.When you open it,you find she’s a beautiful girl or a hansome boy.
Most reggaeton songs are in spanish.But it also can be very popular in non-spanish countries.That’s means what attract the audience is not the lyric,but the rhythm,”the rhythm that can make your hips move”,like someone says.
February 25, 2006
Rebecca MacKinnon and John Palfrey have their an essay, “Censorship Inc.” in Newsweek on China and the Internet. Dan Gillmor shares his takeaway, here’s mine:
An unfettered Internet is an extraordinary tool for activists, helping them grow new networks at virtually no cost. But it’s also true that China has managed to bend the values of U.S. tech companies in ways that could have a significant effect on the evolution of the Internet, not only in China but throughout the world.
February 20, 2006
The China Digital Times translates, and links, to some thoughts from those really affected by the Google.cn decision:
From Zhengweekly blog (�周刊�外):
This sentence which appears under the search result makes me feel slightly feel comforted: “In order to operate from China, we have removed some content from the search results available on google.cn, in response to local law, regulation or policy.” At least they did not try to cheat ……
And, the non-castrated version of Google still can be visited. The Google company statement is understandable and can be accepted: “While removing search results is inconsistent with Google’s mission, providing no information (or a heavily degraded user experience that amounts to no information) is more inconsistent with our mission.
From Cathayan’s Blog on the 27th Floor:
I also think that our own matters must not depend on others, whether individuals or companies. What belongs to us we can only go fight to get by ourselves…Google is apparently still caught in the conflict between idealism and reality, and has not finally decided its behavior,
January 30, 2006
