currybetdotnet Greece archive
Etz-Hayyim Synagogue in Chania attacked twice by arsonists
The Etz-Hayyim Synagogue in Chania, which serves as a monument to the fate of the Jewish community on Crete at the hands of the Nazis during the Second World War, has been attacked by arsonists twice in the space of a couple of weeks.
Olympic Memory Marathon: Part 3 - My Olympic memory
On November 7th I took part in the Olympic Memory Marathon, a video project by artist Simon Pope capturing 104 Londoners talking about their experience of the Olympics, whilst he walked the length of a marathon through the streets of the boroughs hosting the 2012 games. These are the memories that I related to him. I've never been lucky enough to go to an Olympics, but I have visited several of the stadiums where the games have been held....
"Maps and legends" - The Macedonia naming dispute on currybetdotnet
Just after I left Greece last year I published a series of three posts exploring the issue of Greece's relationship with her northern neighbour, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The first was a fable set in the future, putting forward a vague parallel situation that might resonate with UK readers - "The Former Scottish Constituency of Northumbria". The second and third posts looked at maps - a Greek political map where FYROM was nameless, and a German school-children's map...
Tracing pictures of Chania's Germaniko Pouli German War Memorial
Our old house in Chania was almost next door to a 1940s era war memorial to the Nazi parachute regiments that invaded the island during the Second World War. The Battle for Crete was a bloody one, with the Germans initially suffering heavy losses in their airborne assault, followed by several years of local resistance and accompanying brutal reprisals. Until the early 2000s this monument, erected during the war, stood mostly intact. The swastika held in the talons of the...
My kri-kri photo joins the ARKive
I was recently approached by the ARKive project for permission to use one of my Flickr photos. ARKive is run by British based charity Wildscreen, and the aim is to preserve a multi-media record of the planet's endangered species before they become extinct. Low resolution copies are available for free on the ARKive website, and high resolution copies are kept securely offline to preserve the collection. "Like the wildlife they depict, the images of these rare species are themselves endangered,...
ERT re-design takes a cue from the BBC
Just as I was leaving Greece, state broadcaster ΕΡΤ relaunched their news website. The design follows a new set of visual graphics on the three state-owned TV channels, and makes some significant improvements on the previous design. The news site now much more closely resembles a blog, and, according to the metadata on the pages, it is being powered by Joomla. All stories are clearly date-stamped with permalinks. There is also a very prominent calendar for navigation via date, which...
A (dead) lemon tree of our own
I know from the subscription and visitor numbers that only a fraction of regular currybetdotnet readers also read my other blog - 'A lemon tree of our own' which my wife and I co-wrote about setting up home in Chania, Crete. I thought, therefore, it was worth cross-posting and clarifying that we have now permanently moved back to the UK from Greece. Why move back? Well, I was spending increasing amounts of time away from Crete in order to work...
A German child's eye view of FYROM: Mazedonien
Over the last couple of days I've been writing about the dispute between Greece and what is officially known as 'The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia'. It is a battle that Greece has struggled to make understood outside of the Balkans, to the extent that apart from official bodies of international law and sporting relations, the majority of people simply refer to FYROM as Macedonia. This was typified by a children's map I saw in a shop window on my...
A Greek political map of Europe is also a map of the Greek political mindset
Yesterday I published a little fable - "The Former Scottish Constituency of Northumbria"- intended to make the Macedonian name dispute between Greece and FYROM intelligible to anyone who understands the geography of the UK, but not of the Balkans. It is very interesting to consider how much of our world view is shaped by maps and geographical labels, and a look at a Greek map of the world can be very telling. One of the places I went to watch...
"The Former Scottish Constituency of Northumbria"
The year is 2058. It is 12 years since the Scottish Civil War ended. Scotland finally achieved independence from England in the 2020s, but the newly founded Republic of Scotland was short-lived. Initially a handful of the northernmost islands seceded from the Republic in disputes over their level of funding and self-sufficiency. Then, old Sectarian fault-lines, political wrangles between the party power-bases of Glasgow and Edinburgh, and an ideological split over whether the new Republic should retain close ties with...
A storm in the Ionian for the BBC and The Guardian
I got back from a round-trip to Amsterdam, London and Gelsenkirchen to pick up a copy of my local Greek newspaper and find a media storm surrounding the BBC and The Guardian over their reporting of Corfu. Reports appeared in the UK media about some members of the community on Corfu wanting a measure of independence from the political elite in Athens, who are perceived to be growing rich on the back of Corfu's tax payments, and giving little in...
Take-away facts and quotes from the 2008 Euro IA Summit in Amsterdam - Part 4
Over the last three days I've been blogging my take-away facts and quotes from the 2008 EuroIA Summit in Amsterdam. On Saturday morning I was giving my own talk on how to take the 'Ooh' out of Google and get site search right for news. Here is my final installment of commentary on the conference. "Documenting Mobile 2.0 IA" by Scott Weiss "Now you understand why the animated chart is so helpful, you wouldn't want to do this before...
So far so good...no bing-bang at the LHC according to ERT
I know that the Large Hadron Collider has suddenly made physics exciting and sexy again, but it looks like in their rush to publish the translations of today's news, ΕΡΤ skipped over the subs desk. It's actually the prospect of the "big ban" further down the article that worries me more - just how big is this ban, and what will it encompass?...
Mac users very unwelcome at the Google Chrome download party
The blogosphere is awash with early reviews of Google's Chrome browser, but, as a Mac user, I've been struggling to get hold of it - and not just because the Mac version is still under development. Initially, Google detected that I am in Greece, and so presented me a Greek welcome page for the Chrome download - full marks there for product localisation at launch. However, once I switched to English I found that Google had also detected I was...
Greek TV station Head of News receives death threats from blogger
You might recall that one of my regular moans about Greece is the lack of infrastructure and interest in the Internet. Although web usage has gone up from when I first arrived in the country, I still can't get broadband to my front door, and the Internet rarely makes the news. Occasionally there will be a bit a bit of police brutality or censorship by the Government/judiciary*, but pretty much the Internet stays off the news radar. [*delete as appropriate]...
A brief history of Olympic dissent: Athens 2004
Before and during the course of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing I've been writing a series of posts looking at the complicated history of politics, protest and dissent that have surrounded the modern Games since they were first held in Athens in 1896. On that occasion they were marked by an overt display of national pride by the hosts, and a protest run by Stamata Revithi who wanted women to be allowed to partake in the event. Athens...
'F' for 'Former', 'R' for 'Republic' or 'M' for 'the M word'?
There will be one piece of Olympic politics and protocol closely observed from the spiritual home of the Games during tomorrow's opening ceremony in Beijing - whereabouts in the parade of athletes those representing Skopje will feature. Politics have featured in the athlete's entrance several times over the course of the history of the Games. Most recently, in 2000, the significant event was the way that the athletes from divided Korea marched. Although their separated nations are still technically...
A brief history of Olympic dissent: Athens 1896
The selection of Beijing and The People's Republic of China to host the 2008 Olympics was always a controversial choice, which has thrown a sometimes unwelcome spotlight on the country. China's record on Internet censorship, human rights, the death penalty and the environment have all been questioned by the Western media as they cover the build-up to the games, and the torch relay, intended to be a celebration of the spirit of the games, was instead a focal point...
This Dopplr duck wants to travel by sea!
According to Dopplr, I have the velocity of a duck. I suspect that might go up a bit as I've got some more globe-trotting coming up in the next few weeks. What should I aim for? A goose? A peacock? As well as the animal-velocity meter and public profiles, Dopplr recently introduced a feature to calculate (for fun) your carbon footprint based on the amount of traveling you register with the site. That also means you have to let them...
.cc not .cy for the TRNC
I spotted this poster on the Underground the other night, and I was quite intrigued - no, not because of the lady in the bikini - but because of the domain name being used to promote tourism in 'North Cyprus'. Of course, one man's 'North Cyprus' is another man's 'Turkish Republic of North Cyprus', which is another man's 'Turkish occupied Κύπρος'. Whichever way you look at it, the TRNC does not have an internationally recognised TLD for the Internet, although...
Euro 2008: The websites - League table
Euro 2008: The websites - Russia & Greece
Measuring the interactivity of the Greek press online
1906 Athens 'Intercalated' Olympic Games anniversary
My Flickr photos from Torcello, Salzburg and Frangokastello on the web
From Athens, Georgia, to Athens, Greece - Democratic primary goes global
Some very British reporting of the Chania court case
Greece admits defeat against Olympic phone-tapping spies
The ripples of the Zahopoulos scandal reach The Times
Greece lets Athens Olympics domain names lapse
Protection of journalist sources at the centre of the Zahopoulos affair in Greece
Voting for your American Idol in Greece
Return of 'A lemon tree of our own'
It is so hard to be a Depeche Mode completist these days
Watching the FIFA World Cup draw in Greece and online
Not qualifying for Euro2008 - as it happened in Greece
Take-away facts and quotes from the Euro IA Summit in Barcelona - Day 2
Apple iPhone hits Greece ahead of the O2 deal in the UK
Heraklion airport doesn't quite live up to the BA online check-in promise
Greek police beat up a photo blogger
Free public wifi in the Lasithi region in Crete. Well, almost
I love my Flickr photos being on We Love Crete
Athens News apology for racism due in the shops today. Again.
Madeleine McCann and Alex Meschisvili - a culture contrast
6.5% have "Fast internet" in Greece - but not me
Games and Social Networking driving more young Greeks to use the internet?
Today's burning question: "What will the weather be like on the UK's Bank Holiday?"
"This Is Not My Country" blogger outed by racists and nationalists in Greece
Will virtual representations of sporting events become part of the online rights economy?
BBC News linking to the TRNC "government" in Cyprus related stories
Turkish YouTube ban unleashes the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast within
More reaction to Arsenal's move to ban all national flags from their stadium
Arsenal forced to ban all national flags over Cypriot dispute
Cypriot flag dispute at Arsenal
Media coverage of a shocking sex attack in Greece
Where did hosting the IGF leave Greece on the internet?
Blog censorship in Greece ahead of the IGF forum in Athens
Erratic search quality on Google Earth
Greek Universities against the use of the internet
Using Wikipedia as a statistical source in the Athens News
Usability issues with OTEnet's On Wireless wifi service at Athens airport
Greek internet usage is the lowest in the EU
The Olympics have started on the BBC
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Talks & presentations
"Journalism in the digital age"
I'll be appearing on a panel with Sarah Hartley and Iain Hepburn at the Edinburgh International Science Festival on Sunday April 11th. More details...
Posts of the moment
Day of the Triffids
If everyone suddenly went blind, how long would the Internet survive, and could you still publish news on it?
With professionals of this quality, who needs 'citizen journalist' enemies?
It is hard to argue that ethics and quality set the 'professional journalist' apart from the amateur blogger, if the 'professional' keeps publishing articles so wrong that they have to be deleted.
Read more about...
- The future of news
- IA and UX events
- Local and hyperlocal news
- Martin Belam talks and presentations
- Media policy and regulation
- New media best practice
- Newspaper website design
- Notes and quotes from media and web events
- 'Old' media relationship with 'new' media
- Site search management and design
- Working at the BBC (2000 - 2005)
- Working at The Guardian (2008 - now)
Also on the site
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Contact: martin dot belam at currybet dot net. © Martin Belam where appropriate.
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