1. YouTube statevideo

2. Blogstate

NEW YORK — The normally hushed corridors of diplomacy are about to get a jolt.

The State Department’s first-ever blog was to go live on the Internet late Tuesday in a launch timed to coincide with the buzz surrounding the U.N. General Assembly. It upgrades U.S. foreign policy to Web 2.0 interactivity for the new electronic information age.

” Dipnote” aims to give Net surfers an insider’s view of diplomacy and diplomats with informal, chatty posts from key senior players in Washington and abroad as well as a younger generation weaned on e-mail for whom traditional cable traffic communication is foreign.

Its first offerings are focused on the annual U.N. meeting in New York City and the role that the department’s diplomatic security agents play in protecting the foreign dignitaries that swarm Manhattan for the event.

“There’s an extraordinary amount of diplomatic activity going on right now,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, who came up with the idea for a blog during a recent trip to California’s Silicon Valley with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Condoleezza Rice | Rice | Youtube | Department of State | US foreign policy | Dipnote

“It’s a good opportunity to provide people with insight into what goes on here, what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and how we’re doing it,” he said.

With a host of planned regular features including video looks at a day in the diplomatic life of the country and specific foreign policy issues, the blog will not shy away from controversy.

“Dipnote” will ask readers weekly questions on topics ranging from whether Iran should be allowed to have a civilian nuclear program to whether the United States should engage directly with Iran and Syria over the situation in Iraq.

“This is a lot more creative than what we’re used to,” said Frederick Jones, the 30-something foreign service officer who will edit the blog and has been wrestling with its challenges for months.

Initially dubbed “Diploblog,” the venture has gone through a variety of changes, including its name and format, since McCormack first won Rice’s blessing.

Trial runs have been promising, even if some more sensitive topics, such as negotiations with North Korea, preclude the behind-the-scenes treatment the blog intends to provide.

“A lot of diplomacy has to be conducted behind closed doors,” said Jones. “The challenge we face is striking a balance between having informed and interesting comment and giving diplomacy the space it needs. Diplomacy is not transparent by nature. Blogs are.”

So, McCormack has encouraged officials at all levels to take part in the experiment and post items about their personal experiences in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy.

“We want to break through some of the opacity that surrounds this business,” he said. “We’re never going to completely do away with that but we want to make the process, policies and the State Department itself more transparent.”

Dipnote is the latest in a series of innovations blessed by Rice and set in motion by McCormack’s office to bring the State Department into the mainstream of 21st century information technology.

The department has already vastly expanded its Web presence and multimedia coordinator Heath Kern has set up a State Department YouTube channel, where special briefings and interviews with officials on key issues of the day are posted.

Since the effort began in 2005, page views for the State Department’s own website, (www.state.gov) have nearly doubled from 8-9 million a month to about 17 million.

A recent three-part series with a diplomatic security agent who played a key role in the case of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl had nearly 200,000 hits combined on YouTube.

And a Youtube video of Rice speaking with baseball legend Cal Ripken Jr. has had almost 50,000 views since it was posted last month.

That’s a good start and demonstrates public interest beyond what long has been the staple of diplomatic information: the mainstream media and fringes of the Internet populated mostly by foreign policy wonks and academics.

“The blog will give them another source and allow them to participate in a conversation about that,” McCormack said. “We want them to be active participants.”

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Africa needs to embrace wireless broadband as a potential solution to the digital divide, the chairman of Intel Craig Barrett has said.

France’s first international news channel has been launched into competition with BBC World and CNN.

France 24 was unveiled on the internet on Wednesday evening, and will launch on satellite and cable TV 24 hours later.

The channel has the backing of French President Jacques Chirac, who despaired at the lack of an outlet for French views in the run up to war in Iraq.

But some critics have complained it has insufficient funding to compete.

The network has a budget of 86m euros (£58m) a year.

That compares with 900m euros for CNN.

France is joining what Chirac calls the ‘global battle of images’ News ‘a la francaise’

France 24′s 170 journalists will be spread across two parallel services in French and English. Later it will add Spanish and Arabic broadcasts.

Some experts have said this will leave it stretched.

It will be able to call on correspondents from private channel TF1 and state-owned France Televisions channels, which will jointly run France 24, but there have been concerns that it is not clear who will take priority.

‘Through French eyes’

The fanfare leading up to the launch included full-page advertisements in French newspapers Le Parisien and Le Figaro on Wednesday, alongside the channel’s slogan: “All the news you’re not supposed to know.”

The running order was said to include an interview with President Chirac.

The president visited the station’s newsroom ahead of the launch.

France 24′s journalists have signed a mission statement “to cover international news with a French perspective… and to carry the values of France throughout the world”.

But the channel insists it is independent and will not just follow the government line.

“Our mission is to cover worldwide news with French eyes,” said the channel’s head, Alain de Pouzilhac.

 Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6215170.stm

Cybersecurity

Alarm grows over China’s apparent capacity to wreak havoc in cyberspace
THE West’s military and government computers are attacked every millisecond. America’s State Department, for one, says its networks are probed about 2m times a day. The culprits may be computer geeks, vandals or bored teenagers. Of late, though, some of the most bold, even brazen, attacks are being blamed on the Chinese authorities.

Last May Chinese spy software was discovered in computers in the office of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and other ministries. According to one report the so-called Trojan Horse programme (attached to a seemingly innocuous electronic file) was siphoning off 160 gigabytes of information when it was stopped. German officials suspect that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was responsible.

This week it emerged that a similar Trojan Horse penetrated computers in the office of America’s defence secretary, Robert Gates, in June. The Pentagon says only an “unclassified” e-mail system was breached, and has not identified the suspects. Pentagon officials, though, are convinced the PLA was behind the attack.

In response to German criticism, the Chinese authorities last month promised, unusually, to fight the common scourge of hackers. This week, however, China’s foreign ministry denied any involvement in the cyberattack on the Pentagon. Any claim to the contrary, it said, was the product of “a cold war mentality”.

America’s military planners worry that China is using cyberspace not just for espionage but to prepare a future hot war, say over Taiwan. A recent Pentagon report said Chinese military exercises include launching a “first strike” attack on enemy computers, presumably to cripple America’s highly networked military operations or, worse, disrupt civilian life there.

Achieving “electromagnetic dominance” early in a conflict, says the report, is seen by the PLA as an important means by which the weaker Chinese forces could defeat the stronger American ones. Other “asymmetric” means would include trying to cripple America’s military and communications satellites, as demonstrated last January with a missile test that blasted an old Chinese weather satellite.

General James Cartwright, recently promoted from head of Strategic Command to vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said in June that China was carrying out widespread “reconnaissance” of America’s networks. This allowed China to steal advanced know-how, so as to skip generations in military and civil technology. A cyberspy can potentially steal much more information than a human one. Others argue that China wants to send a signal to America that a future war would be costly, and would not be limited to the Straits of Taiwan.

The Pentagon is probably better able to protect itself against cyberattacks than most. But in an increasingly internet-connected world, civilian life has become more vulnerable. Earlier this year suspected Russian hackers attacked the websites of ministries, banks and other bodies in Estonia, the tiny but highly-wired Baltic state that had offended the Kremlin by removing a Soviet war monument from the centre of the capital, Tallinn, to a military cemetery. The “denial of service” attack was crude, but disruptive.

Past American exercises to test the computer defences of critical services (such as electricity grids) have found that, without detailed inside information, an external cyberattack would be more disruptive than catastrophic. That assessment may be changing. The psychological effect of a cyberattack on America, in General Cartwright’s view, could be as severe as the use of weapons of mass destruction.

and refect on the mapmaking.

“These innovative uses of the social graph are, in Mr Zuckerberg’s mind, the precise analogy to the trade routes that were found once the ancient mapmakers had done their part.”

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

COMMUNICATION STUDIES

Version 1.0

(Last Updated 3 September 2007)[1]

CONTACT DETAILS:

Class time: TR 08.00 to 09.20

Class place: 4/101

First class Tuesday 30 August 2007

Last class Monday 10 December 2007

Total 30 classes

Supervisor: Mohammed Ibahrine

Office: Building 6, Room 9

Tel.: (212) 0 35 86 24 42

Email: globalcommunicationauifall2007@googlemail.com

OFFICE HOURS:    Monday: 09.00 – 12.00

                                   Monday: 13.00 – 15.30

                                   Tuesday: 09.30 – 10.15

                                   Wednesday: 09.00 – 12.00

                                   Wednesday: 13.00 – 15.30

                                   Thursday: 09.30 – 10.15   

                                   Friday: 09.00-12.00 by appointment

COURSE SYNOPSIS

The course examines the major issues in global communication through analyses of international news and information flows, media imports/exports, privatization and globalization within communications industries and the various models of global media systems. Students will evaluate the social and economic impacts of ICTs, the shifting relationships between developed and developing countries, and the socio-economic trends associated with globalisation of media, and explore concepts such as nationalism, regionalism, globalization, and cultural identity.

THE AIM OF THE COURSE

The aim of the course is to introduce students to the main concepts, theories, practice and controversies of the history and modern state international communication. The overall objective of this course is to develop the knowledge for understanding and critically assessing the role of global communication, especially in the international relations, diplomacy, international business and intercultural relations.

THE COURSE DESCRIPTION

The course presents a comprehensive examination of significant economic, cultural, legal, social, and political issues in the exciting field of global communication. The course also offers the examination of history, theories and future trends from diverse perspectives such as mass media, journalism, and international business, international relations and international studies.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

The lecturer will follow lectures and seminars format. The student’s participation in class and seminar discussions is expected and encouraged and will be considered in final course evaluations (20%). Broad understanding of participation includes the preparation of outline before the class and a detailed content outline after the class, the maintenance of a blog and contribution to the Wikipeida. Students should also be prepared, during each class session, to discuss current media events and news as they relate to the subject. Each student has to present two required chapters of the textbook (25%) and one research paper (20%). Video production is highly encouraged. Six tutorial quizzes (12%), mid term exam (10%) and final exam (13%). The deadline for the paper is October, 30^th 2007.

One of the major requirements for this course-seminar is a term paper. It should be from 2500-3,000 words, excluding notes and references. It should be typed, double-spaced with one inch margins, 12-point font, and consistently adhere to an accepted style. The papers will be presented in class, prior to the final session, and discussed from time to time throughout the term. The paper could take the form of a proposal for future capstone.

The research paper should be based on desk research, conducted in the library and over the Internet, including the readings central to this course. However, students should move beyond this base, where feasible in the context of a one semester course. For example, they might include a limited number of interviews, a pretest or pilot of a survey or questionnaire, secondary analysis of an existing database, content analysis, direct observations, participant observation, ethnography or other approaches that involve you directly in researching your topic.

ACADEMIC HONESTY:

If you expect others to respect you, please respect yourself. So if you feel desperate, don’t make things worse by acting out of desperation: please come and talk to me about your problems before you do anything foolish. We will find a way. Office hours are of great value for intellectual and educational exchange, please respect the office hours. This is useful for the professionalism.

Please note that the intellectual involvement in the co-creation process of the lecture (attendance + participation) has the lion’s share of this class’s grade. And since there is no class participation without attendance; attendance is highly encouraged to increase your grade. The university’s new attendance policy will be enforced in this class.

READINGS:

Do the readings before class and come to class. You will come to class having completed the assigned readings and participate fully in class discussion. I expect you to be a fully contributing member of the class by being prepared, taking responsibility for having productive discussions, helping yourself and others understand the material, and generating interesting ideas. I want to avoid the “professors teach, students learn” view of this enterprise.

Please note: The course requires a minimum of 8-10 hours of outside work per week (e.g., reading, analysis, group meetings, writing assignments).

REQUIRED READINGS

There are Two sources of reading for this course: one textbook.

Yahya R. Kamalipour. (2007). Global Communication, (2^nd Edition)

Larry A. Samovar, Richard, E. Porter & Edwin R. McDaniel. (2006). Intercultural Communication, A Reader, (Eleventh Edition) (Three brief chapters)

[1] This syllabus is subject to change if necessary.

This is my third experience with blogging for higher education. I would like to thank my students, who attended my last Summer international Communication class. The class was a success story. (see blog).

I hope that my current students will help to do better than the last Summer class.

Good luck.