SSituation of citizen media in ituation of citizen media in AzerbaijanAzerbaijan
Presenter: Emin Huseynzade, Presenter: Emin Huseynzade, New Media SpecialistNew Media Specialist
What is the general situation of the internet in your countryWhat percentage of the population use it
What social groups (e.g. students) have the best access to itWhich social groups are left out
How strong is the urban/rural division
More than 1.2 mln internet users in AzerbaijanSpeed is low, prices are high7 times lower, than it was 3.5 years ago. A lot of providers, low quality. iBurst technology – Elcell (prices is very high)Best access: students, youth, clerks, state organizationsWorst: regions, middle and old generation, all smaller cities.Interesting situation: it is the cheapest prices in Uninet
?
SpeedSpeed Azer.Azer. Rus.Rus. Den.Den. TurkTurk..
IrIraann Arm.Arm. Ukr.Ukr. Kirg.Kirg.
6464 kbit/s kbit/s 50 $50 $ 5-10 $5-10 $
128128 kbit/s kbit/s 100 $100 $ 5- 10 $5- 10 $ 15 – 15 – 25$25$
51 $51 $
256 256 kbit/skbit/s 170 $170 $ 10- 15$10- 15$ 15 – 15 – 30$30$
25 $25 $
512 512 kbit/skbit/s 400 $400 $ 10 -15$10 -15$ 5- 10 5- 10 $$
50 $50 $ 95 $95 $
1028 1028 kbit/skbit/s
(1 M/bit)(1 M/bit)
700 $700 $ 25$ - 25$ - 280$280$
10 $10 $ 50 $50 $ 450$450$ 580$580$
2048 2048 kbit/s kbit/s (2 M/bit)(2 M/bit)
1500 $1500 $ 30 - 45 30 - 45 $$
10-15 10-15 $$
75 $75 $
44 Mbit Mbit 3000 $3000 $ 25 $25 $ 40 $40 $ 95 $95 $
Are there any mobile phone-based services other than just telephonyIf so, which ones are the most popular
Are mobile phones used for citizen media creation ?There are 3 GSM (Azercell, Bakcell, NarMobile) operators and 1 CDMA – Catel
Different services (Zengimcell, MMS)4mln 440 tsnd. mobile users - 51% of population
WAP is very popular (wap.xana.az)
Mobile internet is also expensive
Interesting situation: WiFi in Baku
Map of central BakuMap of central Baku
What are the most significant new media projects in the countryHow popular are they
Do they reach outside the core high tech usersAre there companies based on new media/citizen journalism products ?
The most interesting for Azerbaijanis’ are blogs, more than web sitesMix.az, Load.az, People.az, Baku.ws – all are blogs, mostly entertainmentAzeriblog.com and story about blog.azAccording to Alexa: in Azerbaijan - 6 in Russian Day.az 27 in Azeri Mix.azSirr.az Myxazar.com – networks Working with youth, mostlyThere is no new media company, but some has insideInteresting: The most popular blog Mix.az
Who are the new media authorsDo any of the local opinion leaders/intellectuals blog ?
Mostly youth, lack of money a lot of ideas. There are a lot of blogs. Example: Ilgar Mamadovs blog
Are podcasts or other forms of multimedia popular ?There is no voice podcast in Azerbaijan yet, but some online TV (AN TV,
Channel 13, just started in 2008) Internet speed creates problems for them. There is some online radios – day.az 1news, etc.
How there been cases of spectacular use of the new media in your country ?
A lot of people uses internet forums, but most active is internet groups in yahoo, google,etc. Networks will involve these people. Most active group is Azeristudents:
What are the new media mostly used forHave they been used for social activism ?
ADR forum, FASE, Barcamp, Blogging training, news, actions, flash mobs. Mostly is speaking about current situation in country. There were
people trying to make groups speaking about Iran, Islam, love, state policy- unsuccessfully. People talk about everything
Do social networks existAre they popular
Have they been used for social activism ?There is myxazar.com, dream.az and latest sirr.az They just started and
becoming popular. Needs money for PR. Sirr.az:
Little money, big job. Groups, Blogs, Photo/video sharing, Internal mail system, Friends, etc.
EventsStill in beta till middle of November. Working on new structure on test.sirr.az
Example: Sirr.az Profile page
What new media infrastructure (e.g. blogging platforms, training center, aggregation projects) there exists in your country
How much dependence there is on the global toolkit (gmail, yahoo, etc) or the Russian one (mail.ru, yandex.ru) or the
Turkish in the case of Azerbaijan
Are there strong local competitors
?Transition Online – Caucasus project. Some part of blogs is in English,
Russian and a little in Turkish blogging systems. People prefer Azerbaijani language or supporting Azerbaijani language systems.
Azeriblog.com case. Need to develop more!!!Is there internet censorship in your country
How is it implementedWhat is the impact it is making on the new media
Have there been threats or direct attacks against bloggers/new media people ?
Eynulla Fatullayev, editor-in-chief Gundelik Azerbaijan were jailed because of the words in Internet forum
fikrini.de closed, tinsohbeti.com non-accessibleCensorship based on speed, only one entry in whole country, fiber-optic
cable is not using.
How do the traditional and the new media interact ?Mediaforum.az case. Having old type of web page. A few forums. A lack
of knowledge
Networks and blogs is the biggest potential. Digg, Tecnorati type site. Creating special blogs, podcasts and vblogs could be the main Bridge.
Mailing lists, photo blogs.
Where do you see the biggest potential forthe new media in your country or in the region ?
Contacts:Contacts:
Emin HuseynzadeEmin Huseynzade, new media expert, new media expert Transition Online, Caucasus Project ManagerTransition Online, Caucasus Project Manager
[email protected]@gmail.com oror
[email protected]@barcamp.az
Phone: Phone: +994 70 31790 70+994 70 31790 70..
Baku, AzerbaijanBaku, Azerbaijan