Rebecca MacKinnon reports from the fifth annual Chinese Bloggers Conference, held this year in Lianzhou, Guangzhou:
The sessions ranged from the inspirational and theoretical to the very practical. Some veteran activists spoke overtly about using the Internet to push for civil rights and even political reform. Others focused on the personal – one popular travel blogger described how he shows Chinese readers how to travel to as many countries as possible on as little money as possible. His motto is: “The world will be different because I have lived.” Several college students described how they use the Internet to run charitable efforts to help poor rural and migrant children. Zhou Shuguang (a.k.a. Zola) gave a tutorial on dozens of different ways to access Twitter. Another speaker gave a tutorial on how to be a citizen journalist. Tips included: Understand the basics of Internet and data security. Get a blackberry so that you can post live to Twitter. Be prepared in advance in the event you get in trouble. Know your legal rights and be confident when threatened that you’re acting within your legal and constitutional rights. Make sure you have contact information of a few civil rights lawyers.
PLease click here to see photos from the Chinese Bloggers Conference 2009.
