Long before anything like blogging — or even personal webpages — there was a well-regarded form of personal journalism. It's an old technology, but I'm certain you've heard of it. Radio, that is.
With BBC dropping some of its transmissions to North America in favour of streaming and rebroadcasting, it could be tempting to think that the Internet was going to marginalize another communications technology. But the Internet depends heavily on a technology infrastructure, which in turn usually depends heavily on a stable social and political environment. It is certainly true that many newer cellular-style systems are far cheaper and far faster to set up — but when that stability is lost, communications towers and data centres can often be among the first targets.
Radio is perhaps the ultimate P2P system. A transmitter two countries away can reach out to receivers in areas that are otherwise completely out of contact with the world. The advent of wind-up shortwave receivers meant that even electricity and batteries were no longer needed. And amateur radio operators can provide live updates — granted, voice only — long after the last audio or photo blogger is out of contact.
With this in mind, mutatron points you to Radio Netherlands' Media Network and their news page. This is an extension of the now off-air Media Network program. You may find a completely different take here on many world events, largely because you are tapping into communications that you usually don't hear.
These days, you may want to go directly to the Iraq media dossier. Here also, you will find lots of info that doesn't come up elsewhere. They have a really nice map of Iraq to help you place the various events. In many ways, this is just a starting point to various analyses and links to other regional broadcast info. In particular, note the U.S. radio efforts to engage the Iraqi people themselves — both civilian and military — to either be a coalition partner, or to at least surrender. Also check out the Clandestine Radio Watch newsletter for summaries on radio-related news and happenings worldwide. For those who want to try their hand at shortwave listening, there are times and frequencies listed in many of the items in the dossier. For those who would need to buy a radio first, there is a receiver guide.
Keep in mind as you read that much of this material is for those in the path of potential military action. There is a certain reality underpinning this information. An ocean or two away, your views may be heavily dependent on media broadcasts, with no reality marching past your door to either confirm or deny what you are hearing and watching. Many of these broadcasts are there to prepare people who may shortly be more involved than that, with no choice in the matter.
Oh. Okay.
Technical Standards (a documentation consulting company I hadn't heard of before today) has for the last few years been running a contest for the worst manual of the year. Many of the runners-up or honorable (sic) mentions are clearly victims of poor localization, and there's no way to tell if they are bad manuals in their original languages.
The runner-up for 2003, though, is a real peach. And English is (apparently) its original language.
With so many things wrong with it (in the first five pages I don't think there's a single word that isn't in full caps) it's hard to single out any one thing to slap with a dead fish. But who could possibly resist violating this particular instruction (on page 4)?
"Do not open the brain otherwise you can screw it up and you will void the warranty."
(Note that I took it out of full caps. I just couldn't stand it otherwise.)
And I wonder why people don't read the *ucking manual...