May 23, 2005

How To Blog From Darfur

Glenn Reynolds and Bill Quick have been discussing what kinds of mobile equipment an independent online blogging journalist would need to do their job well, with the emphasis on both small and portable and also on inexpensive and yet effective and tough enough to take a beating.

Of course, all the cool digital cameras and laptops and digital audio and video recorders in the world won't help a blogging reporter actually publish if they don't have two things: power and Internet access.

No power, no Internet, no blogging.

In the civilized world, electricty and Internet access are readily available, and usually in the same place - a hotel room, a public Internet cafe, a Starbucks. But much news occurs in places that aren't so civilized or blessed with abundant electricity and ubiquitous wifi networks. It's one thing to blog from Martyrs Square in the middle of Beirut, Lebanon, a city where cell phones, electricity and Internet access are common. It's quite another to report via a blog from a village of burned out huts and shops in the Darfur region of Sudan.

A truly mobile blog-journalist working in some remote location where electrical utilities and phones are scarce might also consider getting a portable solar charger and satellite Internet access. I have started looking at some options. The good news: They're available. The bad news: They're not inexpensive.

The Dell Inspiron 700m that Glenn and I both have and that Bill Quick is recommending for a mobile reporter-blogging kit, would need a solar panel capable of generating 65 watts of power. I found a 75-watt panel that would cost around $600. I'm still searching for a better alternative here, but a solar panel capable of charging a laptop battery should also be able to charge any other portable electronic device in the blogger's kit.

As for satellite Internet access, Thuraya is preparing to launch ThurayaDSL, which will offer satellite Internet access across Thuraya's entire coverage area, which includes more than 120 countries in Europe, North and Central Africa, large parts of Southern Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia. The service covers most places where you might have no other Internet access - places Thuraya diplomatically describes as "areas lacking adequate terrestrial infrastructure."

ThurayaDSL will work using a notebook-sized plug-and-play device that offers a speed up to 144 kbps on a shared channel. The terminal, which is SIM card operated, would need to be connected via Ethernet to a notebook or a computer for normal Internet/data usage.

Another option is to get a Thuraya satellite phone and use it to connect to the Internet, as Thuraya describes here.

Of course, either the ThurayaDSL device or the Thuraya phone will need power.

Solve the power problem, and you can even report to the world, via a blog, from the remotest burned out village in Darfur.