Social media for emerging civilizations!

[Croatia hrvatska]

Sepideh Mohabadi from Iran won a Gold medal at the Informatics Olympiad 2007, becoming the second female Gold medal winner in the history of these contests since 1989. The Olympiad is aimed at encouraging interest in information competence and technology and promoting friendship among students who are from diverse countries and cultures.
Nearly 300 of the best students from 73 countries attended the five-day event in Zagreb, Croatia. Each country was represented by four high school students, while Iran sent two boys and two girls who won a gold and three silver medals in all.

Although the top 50 percent of the contestants were awarded, I believe the future problem-solvers of the IT world are among these guys. Through this, they finally get to join the top-ranked universities and R&D department of the most innovative companies.

A network of people, the best of the poor and rich or advanced and developing countries like Poland, China, the US, Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Japan, Thailand and others advance the science and technology. I can imagine them as the people who make the technologies behind the next-generation iPhones, iPods and Google services.

If we generalize the concept, we can say that networking people and friendships makes profit, creates a global village where everyone helps others and borders fade away.

We already have such a utopia in cyberspace where the social Web is going to bring it to the masses. Wikis, social networks, and virtual reality applications like secondlife.com are the foundations of this new era. Web sites like Myspace, Orkut and Facebook will evolve and become more global as people get used to social networks and want more sophistication, flexibility, and a lot more customization.

Now, consider that most of these young Iranian medal winners who shine in high school will fade away in university or after graduation in Iran unless they go to another country. We give the best of Iran to the world and just receive the opportunity to collaborate and socialize with others, but Iran misses this opportunity by banning all social-networking Web sites like Orkut, Facebook, and Myspace or banning blogging services or many Internet Web sites.

Is it for cultural protection? Are we protecting ourselves from the bad cultures? The culture of nudism, gays, lesbians and pornography? No, we are isolating Iran and its shiny stars from the rest of the world. The world around us has changed, human culture is a group experience and emerging civilizations are a result of the social Web. Civilizations are defined as forms of social existence, based on the written language, arts, belief ,religions and relatively high technology and cyberspace existence.

Persia is a fallen civilization that has made its contributions to the formation of human culture. Every civilization can dominate the world for only a short period on the scale of the history of mankind. High technology and cyberspace are two important factors of the current world and cyber Persia can be an emerging civilization.

If there is one thing decision-makers for Internet & communication in Iran should know, it is that evolution is not about progress or innovation. It is about adaptation. Every change and decision can be progressive. This is a matter of value judgment and public opinion, but evolution and modernization are about adaptation and survival under given conditions. Hasty decisions and the activities of politicians and economists leave traces and wounds in the body of a richly cultured nation and predominate its social life.

"Remember, if you are not out in the social media space representing your interests, someone else will speak for you... and they may not be your friend!" This was what Jag said in his recent post titled Social media for corporate newbies. I got inspired by this title and I would like to complete it by saying that the social media is for emerging civilizations.

[billy holiday]

Immemorial media fuss about the entry of the first gay tenant into the Croatian Big Brother house is still ongoing. Already upon entering the BB house, Hrvoje pointed out that he was “the only true diva” in the house: he loves television, cameras and the spotlight come naturally to him. In the opening scenes upon the presentation of tenants, Hrvoje greeted his boyfriend Gregor (25), who was shown, without his consent, by RTL television network in one shot.

Who is the mystery boyfriend?

Seeing how this is the first time a public figure came out in Croatia, the nation is interested in how will the other tenants react to Hrvoje being out of the closet, and the organisers made sure that this year`s BB spectacle really will be a spectacle. The media have already started researching in order to find out as much as possible about Hrvoje`s two-year long relationship. However, only the team of Javno portal managed to find him! In an exclusive interview, we were asked to keep his identity secret and you will find out the reasons why.

Pressure from his surroundings and the media

After Hrvoje`s brave confession, and winning the hearts of all gay and lesbian associations, which have immediately pointed out that this 27-year-old banker from Rijeka has done more to promote the right to diversity than all gay prides put together, problems started surfacing for Gregor as well.

Several people recognised him after the piece was broadcast on RTL Network and severely condemned him. Additionally, his family, friends and acquaintances found out about his sexual orientation after seeing him on TV. Due to great pressure, he will soon move away from the county, but, he adds, perhaps he will come back to see the winner announced, if Hrvoje gets a million and half kuna.

“If you are homosexual, accept it!”

This is the attitude of both Rijeka-citizens who met several years earlier at a friend`s party, but also a sentence with which Hrvoje said his good bye to the outer world upon entering the house. His boyfriend agrees, but he adds that revealing his identity is his private matter and he does not understand why the RTL crew violated their spoken arrangement and still showed his face and publicised his name, even though it was arranged the mentioned young man would present himself as a good friend of his. Reasons for his discretion are his family, friends and neighbours who had no idea of his sexual orientation until now, who, as he fears, might cause problems from him in the environment he lives in.

Hrvoje`s family likes Gregor

-Honesty, communicativeness, willingness to help, tidiness, fun, punctuality… are the traits with which this likeable Rijeka boy won me over- Gregor reveals.

-I met his family and I am in touch with his mother. I admire her for bravely enduring all the pressure and being there by her son`s side. I would also like to thank all other family members and friends who agreed to talk about him-.

But, he adds, after his name was publicised, and these information were written on RTL`s official website, many who know him figured out who it was. Fortunately, his family is exceptionally liberal and nobody “renounced” him, even though he believes he could have determined the time of his “outing” at his own free will and not when reality show producers wanted, with his boyfriend competing in the show.

Hrvoje`s greatest support

-Hrvoje wants to pursue a “celebrity career”. He truly is a diva, but I love him exactly because of this! This wacky and childish Aquarius might turn out to be a real bomb in the house and win over the hearts of even some of the conservative tenants, Hrvoje`s boyfriend believes. We have a circle of people we socialise with on a daily basis who support us because we are what we are. As it has been said many times, quantity does not count – quality does. He has a few good friends, but there are a lot of acquaintances he has coffee with, chats to and has fun with- he goes on.

Comments of his surroundings

-Emotions and comments of acquaintances and friends to Hrvoje entering the BB house changed from surprised to delighted. Anyway, they support him- Gregor says. Understandable and expected, he also has the support of gay and lesbian associations. Although he is not an activist himself, Hrvoje has done a great deal for the appearance of “different” people in society and sensibilization of the public for what they advocate, among other things. I am completely there with him in this matter, but this does not mean we both have to walk down the Rijeka waterfront holding hands, holding a sign “We are in love”. It seems Croatia will have to wait quite a bit for this…- says Gregor.

Conviction in Hrvoje`s victory!

-Upon ending this interview, Hrvoje asked us not to publish his photo or personal information. We complied out of respect for him, his discretion and family. He added he believes there is great probability for his boyfriend to come to the finals and win. His emotionality and insecurity that sometimes comes across in his appearance will definitely be holding him back, but he is persistent and I think he will get through it!

FIRST AND FINAL MESSAGE TO THE CROATIAN PUBLIC:

I appeal to all media not to disturb me anymore or publish anything about me. I am planning to go away for a certain period of time until all of this blows over. I would like to thank everyone for their understanding and support, I hope you understand, but also accept my right to privacy and discretion.