Dec 31, 2010

Girls Can Blog Charts 2010

In 2010, visitors from 112 countries stopped by to check out GIRLS CAN BLOG. Thanks so much for your interest, cooperation and support - I have been absolutely stoked you people like the project and I've already got plans and ideas for it for 2011. So please keep blogging, girls! (Not yet started? Here are five good reasons to do so!) For a list of most read articles in 2010, the top five blogger portraits, personal highlights and more, please follow the jump for a last time in 2010....

Dec 30, 2010

Eman Hashim

This year's last portrait is of Eman Hashim, an Egyptian blogger I met at the Young Media Summit in Cairo. Eman mainly concerns herself with violence against women and has attached a disturbing painting on female genital mutilation to her interview.  

Follow the jump below to get an extensive, interesting insight into blogging in Egypt. Issues discussed include the importance of speaking up loudly, the role of women in the fight against domestic violence, and why Eman loves twitter (@emanhashim).

> WARNING: EXPLICIT IMAGERY AFTER THE JUMP. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. <


Dec 29, 2010

International Summer Schools & Calls for Papers

During the holidays, I have amassed quite a list of summer schools, stipends and CFPs. Follow the jump for more information on programmes by the EU, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and more...

Dec 28, 2010

Dec 27, 2010

My Favorite Strings

Nikola Richter has started another German blog called My Favorite Strings. Topic: Jazz violins... Wow! Find out more in her "About". I had no idea she was into this - it's always so much fun to discover what your friends are into. Apart from blogging, I mean. ;)

Dec 25, 2010

Rosa Linke


This week, please meet Rosa, the Weimar-based graphic designer behind illustration blog Rosa Linke

Follow the jump below to find out which blogging network you should join in order to network with other visual artists, why blogs are great outlets for unused material, and which other blogs Rosa recommends.


Dec 23, 2010

Of Influencers and Mass Mavens

According to this FAZ article, only 4% of European Internet users are responsible for 80% of all brand-related opinions. These relevant users are called "influencers" and hardly ever produce own content. Instead, they share their opinions and reviews by distributing material they found elsewhere on the web: In blogs or on websites of an estimated another 11% of users called "mass mavens". In a combined effort, mass mavens and influencers might reach an audience of more than one million people. Curiously enough, marketing executives seem to have problems tracking these influencers down, though. Sounds like a rather lame excuse for not being able to convince them of promoting their goods...?

Dec 21, 2010

For German Readers: Deutsch-Französischer Dialog

Auch 2011 organisieren die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik (DGAP), die Robert Bosch Stiftung und das Institut français des relations internationales (Ifri) wieder den "Deutsch-französischen Zukunftsdialog": Ein Projekt, das dem Aufbau eines Netzwerks deutscher und französischer Nachwuchsführungskräfte dienen soll. Gesucht werden Hochschulabsolventen zwischen 25 und 35 Jahren, die ihre berufliche Laufbahn in den Bereichen Politik, Verwaltung, Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft, Medien oder Technik begonnen haben. Nähere Informationen sowie sämtliche Ausschreibungsformulare gibt es unten rechts auf der Seite des Zukunftdialogs, Bewerbungsschluss ist der 31.01.2011.

Dec 19, 2010

Some Interesting Articles

'Sorry, Hamas, I'm Wearing Blue Jeans' on blogger Asmaa Alghoul's work in Gaza, 'Sag. Einfach. Nein!' über die Kampagne PinkStinks und ein Hinweis von Lina Ben Mhenni darauf, dass sich jugendliche Selbstmorde aufgrund von Zukunftsangst in Tunesien häufen.

Dec 18, 2010

Anne Seubert of Kekstester


Christmas time is cookie time! What better season could there be to introduce Anne Seubert's tempting blog Kekstester ["Cookie Tester"], an homage to cookies in all shapes and forms?

Follow the jump below to find out more about cookie testing as a profession, the lack of German cookie culture (in spite of its long bread baking tradition), and why patience is key to successful blogging...


Dec 17, 2010

1 Post = 30 Breakfasts

mybestbrands.de

Mybestbrands.de promised to donate 25€ to the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk [German Children's Fund] for every banner published on a blog before 27 December 2010. More information and eligibility requirements here.

R.I.P. Delicious

Someone at the New York Times wrote an article on the digital execution of bookmarking service Delicious: Yahoo is to blame, yet no date has been set. (Via Franziska Schmid)

Dec 16, 2010

Wanted: German-Speaking Culture Bloggers!

Nikola Richter of the blog Theatertreffen is looking for international German-speaking arts & culture bloggers willing to report from the Theatertreffen 2011, the most important theatre festival in German director's theatre. More information on how to apply (in German) here. 
Nikola Richter vom Theatertreffen-Blog sucht internationale Kunst- und Kulturbloggerinnen, die live vom Theatertreffen 2011 der Berliner Festspiele berichten möchten. Einsendeschluss für Bewerbungen ist der 01.02.2011, mehr Informationen zu Anforderungen und Ablauf gibt es hier.

Dec 15, 2010

For German Readers: Buchtipps zu Weihnachten

Seit gestern sammelt die liebe Simone Finkenwirth auf ihrem Blog literarische Empfehlungen von "Freunden und Verbündeten". Falls Ihr also noch Inspiration für Weihnachten oder einfach mal wieder ein gutes Buch braucht: Hier geht's lang zur Klappentexterin...

20 Facebook Infographics

Today, I found 20 infographics on Facebook on Facebookmarketing.de. That's a German blog, but 18 of the infographics are in English, so they're definitely worth a look for international readers, too. 
(Source)

Dec 14, 2010

For German Readers: Sinnvoll schenken!

Über das Piratenweib hat der Mädchenblog erfahren, dass auch Frauenhäuser Wunschlisten führen. Und nein, da steht nicht nur "Geld" drauf! Wer also ein Päckchen bei einer Institution in der eigenen Umgebung vorbeibringen möchte, informiere sich bitte hier, was gebraucht wird.

Dec 13, 2010

Margaret Heckel of Starke Meinungen

I met journalist Margaret Heckel a couple of months ago and was immediately struck by her no bullshit attitude. All the more happy I was to hear about Starke Meinungen [Strong Opinions], her blog that provides us with exactly that: No bullshit.

Follow the jump below to find out about Margaret's famous partner in digital crime, how her team blog works, and why tweeting is a supreme form of journalism...

Dec 12, 2010

Stanford Summer Fellowship

Stanford University is currently accepting applications for their annual Draper Hills Summer Fellowship on Democracy and Development. This is a three-week education program during July and August 2011, aiming at bringing together up to 30 early to mid-career policymakers, academics, and leaders of civil society organizations. Please find more information on eligibility criteria and the application process here.

Dec 11, 2010

Dec 8, 2010

Anna Bas Backer of Chicks on Comics

Today, please meet visual artist Anna Bas Backer of group blog Chicks on Comics. Those of you who know their stuff might have seen her illustrations in the Exberliner magazine before. All others, especially those of you interested in South America, just follow the jump for work samples, link tips, and... the odd joke! :)


Dec 6, 2010

Hollaback!

In a recent post entitled This Woman is my Shero: Standing up to Sexual Harassment, Starrene Rhett mentions Hollaback!, a New York City based initiative dedicated to ending street harassment by the use of mobile technology. Interesting!

Dec 5, 2010

For German Readers: Wählt die Bloggerin des Jahres!



Wie bereits 2009 suchen die Kolleginnen der Mädchenmannschaft auch dieses Jahr wieder die Bloggerin des Jahres. Vorschläge samt Begründungen werden noch bis zum 31.12. um 14:00 Uhr angenommen, dann wird von der Redaktion nominiert bevor zuletzt nochmal das Publikum die Siegerin wählt. Nominiert Euch also schnell die Seele aus dem Leib! ;)

Dec 4, 2010

Oriana Fallaci on Disobedience


"I have always looked on disobedience toward the oppressive as the only way 
to use the miracle of having been born.

Dec 3, 2010

Franziska Schmid of Veggie Love

Veggie Love, edited by consultant Franziska Schmid, is the first vegan blog I came across. In spite of the blog's very young age, Franziska puts great effort into her posts - which makes reading it highly enjoyable.

Follow the jump below to understand why to Franziska, Veggie Love is not just a blog name but a whole way of life, whom she really writes for, and why the most difficult thing when it comes to blogging is finding an issue to blog about...


Dec 2, 2010

For German Readers: What is Sexual Assistance?

The other day, Jule recalled an interesting conversation she had with her friend Lotte. Lotte is a professional sexual assistant for physically disabled people. Sexual assistance might consist of anything from counseling to hands-on demonstrations of masturbation and is similar to sexual therapy/ Sexualtherapie. Both are accepted forms of social pedagogy that have nothing to do with prostitution. This means that anyone who is interested in receiving sexual assistance from experts like Lotte needs a prescription or doctoral referral.

Nov 30, 2010

"What Happens When We Educate Girls"

Remember The Girl Effect, a video I posted in September? American writer Melani Ward has written her own post regarding the campaign, suggesting measures each of us could undertake to promote women's education. It's called "What Happens When We Educate Girls".

Abit Bayar and Catherine Salter Bayar. (Source)
Californian textile expert Catherine Bayar, too, has picked up the video in an inspriring post entitled "The Girl Effect Hits Home". Catherine married into a Kurdish family and has become a resident of Istanbul's Old City, where she holds workshops supporting local Turkish handcraft. Writes Catherine:

"I know that (...) education starts with the women of the family, so they can teach their children, boys and girls, how to behave as decent human beings.
(...) If my large family of uneducated women were having a tough time making ends meet in the sleepy town of Selcuk, what must life be like for similar women who had moved to sprawling Istanbul?"

Nov 29, 2010

Is this Shade of Grey Acceptable?

Steffi Schubert posted an interesting visual dialogue between a street artist and Newcastle's graffiti cleaning service.

Nov 28, 2010

Pia of UR-STYLE


Pia of UR-Style's mission is to walk around campus at the University of Regensburg and take photos of stylish students. This week, her mission also includes celebrating her birthday: Pia turned 24 the day before yeserday. :)

Follow the jump below to congratulate her and find out about upcoming trips to unis in foreign countries, the "fashion prison" also known as working world, and a couple of style blog recommendations...


Nov 27, 2010

For German Readers: Warpaint Interview

Music journalist Ann-Kathrin Eickhoff has interviewed Emily Kokal of Warpaint. Among the topics discussed are spontaneity in composing, perpetual further development of existing songs, and what it means for rock music that most female musicians have started their career learning how to play the piano (-> Mavis Baton mentioned that in her book How Women Become Musicians).

Nov 24, 2010

"Here I Sit, Lighting a Candle for One of the Best on This Planet"

Elisabeth Rank has written a very nice German birthday post for her friend Carmi:

"Ich sitze da und lege meine Stirn in Falten, weil noch niemand Telekinese erfunden hat, weil es nun wirklich mal an der Zeit ist, dass jemand Fortschritte erzielt in Bereichen, die uns wirklich etwas nützen würden, (...) so geht es nicht weiter, ich kann nicht hier rumsitzen, während dieser Mensch (...) durch San Francisco läuft und sich einen Cupcake kauft und da niemand ist, der ihn ihr mit Schmackes ins Gesicht drückt und danach einen neuen kauft, das geht so nicht."

Nov 23, 2010

Starrene Rhett of Gangstarr Girl

Listen up, everyone! I am absolutely stoked to introduce to you today multimedia journalist Starrene Rhett of Gangstarr Girl, a clever blog on women in hip-hop and pop-culture.
Follow the jump below to watch original video content produced by Starrene, to learn how to not only blog, but exist online instead, and... so much more! What a cool interview!


Nov 22, 2010

FYI - ✒ Typo Competition Winners ✎

Design Sponge has announced the winners of the Design Your Own Alphabet contest I posted about at the end of October. My personal favorite, the hand drawn font called Peacock above, won a $100 bonus prize.

Nov 21, 2010

Wikipedia - Get Editing!

Picking up the video I posted a couple of days ago, Helga of the German team-blog Mädchenmannschaft wondered about Wikipedia's gender balance. Her article was entitled "Das Frauenproblem der Wikipedia", or, in English, "Wikipedia's  issues with women". Helga's findings for Germany resembled Rachel McCarthy James' findings for the UK: Wikipedia pretty much ignores women on the main page. On average, only one of about ten articles featured on Wikipedia's starting page mentions a woman. On some days, there is no word of any women at all on the front page. As Rachel put it:
To look at Wikipedia's main page on August 24, 2010, you would think that men made and did everything, and women had nothing to do with anything.
Since most authors on Wikipedia are male - according to Rachel only 13% of Wikipedians are women - this might not be very surprising. However, both Rachel and Helga argue that Wikipedia needs to a) promote more articles written by women to the main page, b) highlight new articles about women on the main page, and c) explicitly invite more female editors to participate in the project.  Writes Helga:
Are women irrelevant? Do we not know by now that, often enough, history has been made by men who simply ignored female accomplishments, or, even worse, ascribed them to men? History seems to repeat itself on Wikipedia.

Nov 19, 2010

Essay Competition in European Philosophy

Has Western philosophy been built on the exclusion of certain groups of people? 

The University of Kentucky would like to know! The topic may be addressed historically and/ or systematically, and the winning essay will receive a prize of $1000. Please find more information and detailed submission guidelines here.

Nov 18, 2010

Cathrin Karras

Having lived in South East Asia for a year myself, I took special interest in historian Cathrin Karras' blog. With a focus on Vietnam, she covers anything from politics and popular culture to traditional blood soup dishes.

Follow the jump below for one of my favorite interviews so far, and to get to know yet another female blogger who has had to put up with death threats because of her views...


Nov 17, 2010

"Sexy, but not Sexual"

Photo: Source
Hugo Schwyzer analyses Paris Hilton's remark about being sexy, but not sexual, and explains why it is important to give young people "tools to navigate their way through the bewildering blitzkrieg of messages which they receive about sexuality". The task is, Schwyzer finds, to stand up for sexuality while standing against sexualization. Found at Jezebel via Mädchenblog.

Nov 15, 2010

For German Readers: Bloggerinnen leben gefährlich

Die Ruhrbarone haben meinen Post über die Morddrohung gegen die Bloggerin Asmaa Alghoul aus Gaza heute Morgen auf Deutsch veröffentlicht: Bloggerinnen leben gefährlich.

Tavi will Become an Editor

Blica alerted her readers to the fact that teenage blogging wonder Tavi of Stylerookie will soon be editing her own magazine, modelled after American example Sassy of the early ninties. Cool, maybe someone should send her a copy of Missy Magazine, too? For inspiration only, like fashion bloggers would say.

Nov 14, 2010

Bloggers Live Dangerously



Lina and Asmaa in Cairo, Oct. 2010.
Source
Blogger and journalist Asmaa Alghoul from Gaza, whom I met at the Young Media Summit in Cairo, has received a death threat: Someone calling himself 'Masirek' has threatened to kill her in front of her son's eyes. Lina Ben Mhenni, who was also a participant of the summit, has written a solidarty post in French, where she rightly condemns Masirek's verbal attack. According to Egyptian blogger Tarek Amr, the threat was not prompted by any particular post, but by Asmaa's stances and points of view in general. Asmaa has been fighting against so-called honour killings and for the rights of Palestinian women.

Physical threats to bloggers, by the way, are not as rare as you might think. Even in Germany there have been cases of severe harassment, up to the involvement of Police - as has also been demanded in Asmaa's case. It is important to remember that threats, even if they aren't followed by action, are a) litigable and b) abuse, too. See this related post on verbal abuse for more information.

From London with Love: Maria & The Mirrors

Last night I ran into two of the three members of Maria & The Mirrors in a Berlin washroom. In between "Entschuldigung" and hand soap, I asked them whether they had any acapella or unplugged clips I could use for my blog. Bewildering looks. "We have live clips?" It dawned on me that maybe their music wasn't for me - and, frankly, it wasn't at all - but the girls were real nice, and I liked this picture, so I wrote a post about them anyways... Industrial tribal beats, anyone?

Nov 13, 2010

Kirsten Brodde of Grüne Mode


Today, please meet author and activist Kirsten Brodde. With an interesting biography and lots of front-line editorial work experience, her blog Grüne Mode is certainly worth a visit.

Follow the jump below to read up on Kirsten's environmental background, why she thinks that choosing an unmistakable blog name is essential, and why to Kirsten, blogging is purposeful work.


Nov 12, 2010

For German Readers: "Sign of Life"-BotschafterIn gesucht!

Die Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW) sucht  noch bis zum 10. Dezember 2010 eine/n BotschafterIn für die Belange von Mädchen und jungen Frauen in Afrika. Zu dessen Aufgaben  soll in erster Linie Öffentlichkeitsarbeit für die von der EU finanzierte "Sign of Life"-Kampagne zählen; im März 2011 steht aber auch ein einwöchiger Trip nach Kenia auf dem Programm, währenddessen man sich einen persönlichen Eindruck der Situation vor Ort verschaffen kann.  Klingt gut?  Finde ich auch!

Weitere Informationen zu der Ausschreibung, der DSW und dem genauen Bewerbungsablauf finden sich hier.

Nov 11, 2010

RSS-Feeds Save You Lots of Time by Surfing for You!


Here's the English version of my German article on RSS feeds. Have you ever wondered what the symbol to the left means? Or what RSS feeds are? Just follow the jump!

Nov 9, 2010

On Verbal Abuse

Liisa pointed out a post discussing verbal abuse and calling for a change in our approach to the topic:

The way that children are educated about abuse needs to change. The way that people involved in interventions, like police officers and crisis counselors, needs to change and these people need to be involved in helping people identify and name verbal abuse. Helping people articulate what is happening. We need to stop telling people that words can never hurt them.

Nov 8, 2010

Reem of Reemsite.com


I am honored to introduce to you today Saudi Arabian blogger Reem of Reemsite.com, whom I met at the Young Media Summit 2010 in Cairo. Reem usually blogs in Arabic, but in order to facilitate intercultural dialogue, she has been working on an English version of her blog, too. Want to know what life as a female Saudi Arabian blogger is like? Just follow the jump! 
Photo: Hardy Prothmann