Mapping Mexico’s drug traffickers

Published
by
omar
on 4/2/2009
in Multimedia
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Al Jazeera’s running a special report on the web and TV about the drug-related violence that has been racking Mexico of late as the government wages a “war” against drug traffickers and cartels fight amongst each other for control of trafficking routes.

The map embedded above shows areas of the country under the control of, or fought over by, Mexico’s major drug cartels. Click on the territories for a little more info.

Built using UMapper, which allows you to make Flash maps using Google’s, Yahoo’s, Microsoft’s or others’ mapping services. UMapper has a nice stats breakdown, but the best part is the ability to fullscreen maps, though that’s only available on their site, not in the embed.

But as javascript is still more cross-platform functional (to my understanding) than Flash, I ended up exporting the KML (mapping data) to Google and using that on the AJE site.

An added benefit of Google Maps is the thumbnail breakdown / legend key automatically added to the left-hand side of the map.

TimeSpace - A world of news

Published
by
omar
on 2/10/2009
in Briefs
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Timespace - A Washington Post interactive map

The Washington Post (WP) has a new plaything which, though I’m sure still needs some refinement (fullscreen mode just crashed my Chrome browser), seems to be off to a good start.

TimeSpace presents WP stories, photos etc on a map within a specified timeframe, further refined by keywords (tags?). It utilises Google Maps, and has embed functionality built-in (although I couldn’t get it to show up here).

I don’t like having to view an advertisement before using it on their page, and the help option plays you a video instead of offering text instructions. Perhaps the interface could be simplified too, but on the whole, I like it.

Looks like they first launched it for Obama’s inauguration.

Found via Cyberjournalist.net

Covering a war in Gaza

Published
by
omar
on 1/13/2009
in Community
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Media access in Gaza

Israel’s is continuing to wage war in Gaza, but due to a lock down of the Palestinian territory’s borders, almost no international journalists have been able to get in to cover it.

The case has been appealed to the Israeli supreme court, but things don’t look likely to change anytime soon.

Al Jazeera is considered the only major international broadcaster with a presence in the strip - AJ English correspondents Ayman Mohyeldin and Sherine Tadros were in Gaza before the war began, along with producers, cameramen and a team for the Arabic channel.

As with other media based in the region - both Arab and Israeli - Gaza has been the mainstay for the past three weeks on Al Jazeera.

Online, we’ve been working to give greater context and depth to the story. We’ve put together profiles, analysis and features in a War on Gaza focus section. Nir Rosen’s piece from the first few days of the war has been one of the most popular articles.

Protester in Doha marching for GazaWe’ve been trying to post short updates as often as possible via the Twitter channel @AJGaza.

Our New Media team has also built an interactive map that allows users to track daily events in Gaza, and submit any information they might have. And just launched today is a Creative Commons repository, to make freely available our footage from Gaza.

If you read this blog, you’ll likely have seen the audio slide shows I did about rallying in solidarity and marching in anger over Gaza. Lots more on the AJE site I’ll leave you to explore. Continue reading ‘Covering a war in Gaza’

Doha takes to the streets over Gaza | Audio slideshow

Published
by
omar
on 1/12/2009
in Multimedia
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Thousands of people turned out on Doha streets on Friday to protest two weeks of Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip.

As of posting, the war in Gaza has left about 900 people dead, and according to Palestinian medical sources, hundreds of those are women and children.

The attacks have drawn an angry response from across the Arab world, while demonstrations against the war have been held from Sydney to Sao Paulo. In Doha, an estimated 15,000 people marched in a “day of anger” called by Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qardawi.

To watch this slideshow below as it should be, click here (pop-up).

Rallying for Gaza | Audio slideshow

Published
by
omar
on 1/3/2009
in Multimedia
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Rallying for Gaza in Doha

Some 15,000 people gathered at a Doha sports arena to protest against Israel’s week-long assault on the Gaza Strip, and to show support for the Palestinian territory’s besieged populace.

Another soundslides for Al Jazeera, this time with somewhat improved audio. Click here or on the photo above to watch.

“The Working Man”

Published
by
omar
on 12/9/2008
in Community
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Building Doha is hard work. Migrant labourers are the driving force behind this and other oil & gas rich economies, often toiling under poor conditions for little pay.

Friend/colleague Omar Khalifa shot an audio slideshow focusing on these labourers, set to the music of Burial|UK.

Watch more of Omar K’s works on Vimeo.

Tracking Hajj (again) with Google Maps

Published
by
omar
on 12/8/2008
in Multimedia
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Millions of Muslims have descended upon Mecca and the city’s outlying areas once again for Hajj, the annual pilgrimage.

Last year I made note that most news orgs have rather light coverage of the event, and the same holds true this year.

All the big names - Washington Post, Guardian, BBC, etc - have news stories on the event, but have done little to go beyond wire-driven copy.

NYTimes does have a couple blog posts. And LA Times once again stands out from the pack, this time creating a niffty Hajj Blog tracker

I’m happy to report Al Jazeera’s coverage online has fared better this year. News stories, photos on Flickr, diary pieces and YouTube videos. One thing we tried to do a little differently was a Google Map to synthesize it all.

What to do you think though - Is putting the photos and videos and stories and the multitude of different colored lines just too much to take in? Or is it great to be able to access all this stuff in one place?

Check the page out on Al Jazeera though, for a larger view of the map.

Qatar opens museum of Islamic art | Audio slideshow

Published
by
omar
on 12/7/2008
in Multimedia
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Qatars Museum of Islamic Art

After years of waiting - at least for those of us in Doha - Qatar’s Museum of Islamic Art has finally opened its doors, offering possibly the largest collection of works inspired by Islamic artistic trends in the world.

I did a short audio slideshow for AJE about the museum, though bear in mind I’m still learning how to do this stuff.

The two areas in need of most improvement (as pointed out by my boss): Sound quality/balancing needs work, and my vocal delivery could be better.

Click here or on the pic above to watch it.

Attacks across Mumbai

Published
by
omar
on 11/27/2008
in Multimedia
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Indian police say armed men have attacked seven or eight places across Mumbai with guns and grenades, killing up to 80 people.

Al Jazeera English is tracking the attack points in India’s financial hub. If you have information on the flashpoints, add it on at the larger Google Map.

Or follow all the story’s updates on Twitter.

DC reacts to Obama victory | Audio slideshow

Published
by
omar
on 11/5/2008
in Multimedia
. Comments

Hours after Barack Obama was declared the president-elect - the next US president - throngs of supporters filled the streets of downtown DC chanting mantras of support outside the White House, and celebrating any way they knew how.

Get an idea of the sights and sounds:

Updates after the jump

Continue reading ‘DC reacts to Obama victory | Audio slideshow’