My host at the Institute for Distributed Creativity in New York, Trebor Scholz, prompted me again for someone to dedicate my public lectures in September and October to. Perhaps happily, my search for bloggers or other citizen journalists who were killed in action (see [weblink:234]) came up empty, so I've now looked for bloggers who were gaoled for their investigative work and open reporting. As I found out, there are whole Websites dedicated to this issue, including the Committee to Protect Bloggers who highlight the persecution of blogger-journalists around the world. Very interesting reading, especially also on the emerging networks of bloggers under threat in very different areas of the world.
I'm now likely to dedicate the lecture to Mojtaba Saminejad, an Iranian blogger who was arrested for blogging the arrests of a number of fellow bloggers, and was subsequently charged with insulting the prophets (punishable by death), and convicted on the lesser charge of insulting the Supreme Guide, receiving a two-year gaol sentence.
We've also completed the announcement for the lecture (attached below) - if you're in New York, hope to see you there!
