Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Off to Romania next week for the first World Blogging Forum

On Sunday I’m off on a little adventure, beginning my journey to Romania to be a guest at the first World Blogging Forum, to be held in Bucharest.

When I first received an invitation last month to be an invited guest at an event called the World Blogging Forum I was skeptical, but after some research and as more information became available it turned out to be a really interesting event that will bring together bloggers and new media journalists from around the world to discuss blogging and related topics.

Here’s a list of the topics on the agenda:

• Blogs & citizen journalism – global trends
• The influence of blogs on the civil society
• The importance of blogs for the governmental organizations
• E-Government – Democracy through participation
• Enviromental blogging and activism
• New media & renewable energy – using blogging to build a self-sustainable world
• Freedom do differ – ideas worth fighting for
• Business and Corporate Blogging
• Ethics & responsability – growing a healthy global community
• Blogging and global politics – building a better world
• The future for blogging – what’s next?
• Blogs and Education – new skills for the new world (Using New Media to Help Teachers and Students Achieve Excellence)
• Researching Blogs and Blogging Research
• How to Monetize Your Online Media
• Behind the Scenes – blogging and new media
• Mobile democracy – the truth is live and in full streaming
• Standing up for the community
• Science blogging and sharing ideas
• Sharing ideas – the global playground
• Opening the world – promoting transparency on a global scale

Some of the other guests on the roster also appear quite interesting, and really speak to the difference that blogging and new media is making in other parts of the world. While its more hobby and sideline here, in places with a less-developed traditional media its making a real impact.

For example, Zhou Shuguang has been active fighting media censorship in China. And Giorgi Jakhaia’s work chronicling the plight of civilians in Georgia made him the target of denial of service attacks. Some really interesting people with interesting stories and perspectives. It make me wonder what I’m doing on the same roster, but I look forward to learning and sharing my perspective.

I’m not currently aware of any other Canadian bloggers that will be attending, so I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts on the topics above and on blogging and new media in general, so I can bring your perspectives to the conference as well and share them with the group. Feel free to begin a debate on the comments or send me an e-mail if you prefer. I’ll also be posting regular blog and video coverage of the conference throughout the week next week, as Internet access permits.

I’m also looking forward to seeing something of Bucharest and Romania. I’ve traveled extensively throughout Western Europe, but this will be my first time visiting the East. It’s an interesting time to go, coming 10 years after the fall of communism. Under the Ceauşescu regime they had it particularly difficult. It will be interesting to see how they’ve progressed in the decade since his ouster.

I fly out on Sunday night on Lot (the Polish airline) via Warsaw, which should be an adventure in itself. I've read some questionable reviews. Haven’t flown Lot before but at least it’s Star Alliance, so Aeroplan points! The conference runs through the week and I head back Friday.

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1 comment:

CanadianSense said...

Have a safe trip. Hope you have great time.