By Janine Mendes-Franco

Dominica Weekly highlights “a real beauty spot” on the island that is “barely 13 years old.”

By Janine Mendes-Franco

Live De Life is concerned about “Tropical Storm Gaston, soon to be Hurricane Gaston.”

By Janine Mendes-Franco

Luis Felipe Rojas “can’t help but wonder about how, in the 21st century, an island that is so close to the country which exhibits the greatest digital advancement, can be traveling in the opposite direction.”

By Janine Mendes-Franco

Response to the government's 2010 census has been poor, and it's no wonder, according to Vexed Bermoothes: “Simply put: many people do not trust our Government to have this much detail of their lives in one place.”

By Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaican diaspora blogger Geoffrey Philp is beginning to worry about the U.S.A.

By Manuela Tenreiro

Blogger Paulo Teixeira writes about the history and value of net neutrality while opposing to Google-Verizon's “jeopardy deal”. He explains how Internet as we know it promotes creativity and cultural diversity, and calls readers to become active on defeating the increased power of big corporations.

By Manuela Tenreiro

The deadline for submission of proposals and suggestions [pt] by Brazilian citizens concerning the reform of copyright law ended on August 31st. The online public consultation was hacked in a blog for transparency [pt] which illustrates the results.

By Lee Yoo Eun

The Doughnut Hamburger that comes with a glazed donut in place of the bun and chocolate covered bacons, landed South Korea with a new nickname “폭탄버거”(:Bomb Burger as in 1,000 calorie bomb). Not a few curious bloggers have already posted reviews[kr]; some disappointed at the burger’s reduced size to 1/3 of the original.

By Lee Yoo Eun

Twitter has scored again in South Korea with a live weather report during a typhoon that pounded Korean Peninsula today. The typhoon Kompasu battered the country immediately prior to and during rush hour — shattering glass, uprooting trees, tearing down walls and even destroying a stadium. People have tweeted to notify others which routes are not blocked by trees and flying signboards and have (re)tweeted recent updates and uploaded photos of chaotic scenes.

Typhoon Kompasu (compass, in Japanese) was in the  Seoul metropolitan area for only five hours, but it hit hard enough to cause the devastating scenes pictured below. The strongest tropical storm to hit the area in 15 years, has paralyzed metro operations, caused massive power outages, and forced airlines to cancel or divert. As the typhoon reached its maximum strength at around 5 to 6 am local time, tens of thousands of commuters encountered its destructive power on their way to work. These photos were tweeted by citizen journalists to show others what the storm has done around their location and give tips on road conditions.

@demoon84: 종합운동장 펜스도 태풍 앞엔 어쩔 수 없네여 http://twitpic.com/2kclkp

@demoon 84: 길거리는 아수라장입니다… 태풍 정말 무섭네여

@runintosky: 맞은편 아파트 창문이랑 난간이 다 떨어졌어요..

@tomato 1981 : 홈플러스 간판 떨어졌어요.

@drumboy83: 압구정 갤러리아 앞 상황입니다 참고하세요 http://twipl.net/AklW

Many shared tips on traffic conditions;

@taiji410: #gangnam_ 은마파출소에서 휘문고올라가는 언덕 우측 가로등이 쓰러져있었는데… 아까 6시30분쯤… 도로 절반을 막아서 중앙선 넘어 올라갔네요~ 흐아~ 지금은치웠을래나… http://yfrog.com/3dn1qjj

@TheAPLLL: 7호선도 청담대교 건널때 서행하느라 모든 역에서 1분씩 정차하네요…

@cocmoon: RT @Twit_Korea: 강풍에 아파트 베란다 유리창이 깨지고 있습니다. 신문지에 물을 적셔서 유리창에 붙이면 깨짐이 방지된다네요. -재난대책본부 #태풍_ 곤파스 http://twitpic.com/2kcl4c

With almost all above-ground sections of the city's subway lines out of service, commuters have undergone the worst transportation disaster in years, but Twitter has made it more manageable for some.

By Oiwan Lam

David Bandurski from CMP translated Wu Danhong's account of the senseless murder of his sina microblog. Wu is an assistant professor at China University of Political Science and Law.

By Oiwan Lam

PH translated a tweet about a class headmaster's tactics in identifying the source of dissenting opinions in the classroom.

By Scilla Alecci

Twitter users debate [ja] on tachiyomi, the (very common) habit of standing and reading books or magazines in shops without necessarily buying them.

By Veronica Khokhlova

Marina Litvinovich (LJ user abstract2001) reports (RUS) from Beslan on the sixth anniversary of the 2004 school hostage crisis, posting photos of the school building back in 2004 and now, and of the commemoration held there in the evening of Sept. 1. “The town is also empty,” she writes. “School year doesn't start until Sept. 6.”

By Onnik Krikorian

A petition has been started urging U.S. President Barack Obama to raise the issue of imprisoned video blogging youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, at the United Nations General Assembly this month. The petition can be signed online here.

By Sara Moreira

A Verdade [The Truth, pt] released a statement from the Government of Mozambique, appealing to citizens for calm, as the night fell after a day of unrest in the city of Maputo.

The PSD Blog is going on an end-of-summer hiatus for the next two weeks. While we're away, check out our most popular posts from August if you missed them while at the beach:

• A Universal Definition of Small Enterprise: A Procrustean bed for SMEs?
• Coming Full Circle: Bucket baths at IFC
• Development 2.0: The skills gap
• Harnessing development’s information shadow
• Is the mainstream ready for output-based aid?

Also of interest to PSD Blog readers -- Professor Benjamin Powell takes the saddle over at Bill Easterly's Aid Watch blog to make the case for sweatshops. See an earlier post on the sweatshop debate on the PSD Blog.

I haven't yet had a chance to read Bateman's book. From what I can glean from the blog post and comments, Bateman ascribes support for microfinance, even the careful and conditional sort that Roodman has, to a desire to advance one's own career. Roodman is too nice to point it out, but Bateman has an obvious interest in being a noisy advocate for his own position in order to advance his own reputation (and consequent book sales). I would not insist this skews Bateman's view (how can anyone glean what another's true motives are?), but the same goes for Roodman.

Update: To clarify my last sentence: When I stated that "the same goes for Roodman", my intention was to say "It it not fair to dismiss Roodman's arguments by implying that they are a product of his desire to advance his career, just as it would not be fair to dismiss Bateman's views even though he may have a desire to pump up sales of his book."

Last week I announced the launch of the 360 DI series on Gov 2.0 and our upcoming DI Ogilvy Exchange. There has been a phenomenal response to the upcoming panel. The following panelists are confirmed Ari Melber, The Nation and Politico; Mark Murray from NBC Universal; Lovisa Williams, Deputy Director from the State Department’s Office of Innovative Engagement; Alex Howard, O’Reilly’s Gov 2.0 correspondent; Micah Sifry, co-founder of the Personal Democracy Forum. The date is set for Monday September 27th.

As we enter the second week of our series of posts on Gov 2.0, we wanted to highlight/introduce some of the other members of the DI team interested in this space and their musings on Gov 2.0.

Kelly Ferraro-

In 2008, how I connected to the world began to change during the presidential election. A graduate student, I was more than familiar with the word-of-mouth power of Facebook, and was an early adopter and avid user. But at that time, I had been using social media simply to communicate with my law school peers, and keep in touch with family and friends.

Enter the election of 2008.

Suddenly, a platform that I had used to stay connected with people became a news resource for campaigns, expressing political views, sharing articles, and making donations. Instead of reading the New York Times or the Washington Post online, I would log in to Facebook for my daily news. There, I would find the latest campaign development through a shared article, or a conversation thread about a candidate.

But more importantly, Facebook coupled with other social media tools  helped Barack Obama secure the presidency. With the use of various digital platforms, Barack Obama rejected public financing and raised a record-breaking $650 million, largely from private, individual on-line donations. And now, for the first time ever, we have a President who is accessible via Facebook, Twitter, and a blog.

To me, this shift means two things: ACCESSS and POWER.

In my view, Gov 2.0 is about the power and ability of citizens to gain access to government like never before. Gone are the days when writing a letter to Congress helped voice an issue. Today, you can send a 140-character message that’s publicly available to every follower of a Congressman.

Think about the bargaining power that holds! You can publish your message not just to the leader with whom you want to speak, but to every person paying attention to every move that leader makes. The pressure on the figure to respond is heightened when he or she is up for re-election, or is working on a contentious issue. In this sense, Gov 2.0 not only gives citizens greater access to their government, but also gives them greater power to leverage their voice and perhaps a greater change of  getting a response.

The hope is that this heightened access and power will lead to action, and ultimately, change. I believe that is what will define the next iteration: Gov 3.0

Jackie Titus-

My Georgetown colleague, Mike Rupert, a Communications Director for a major government agency in DC was the first to introduce me to Gov 2.0 communications. By watching his work I learned about the power behind social media and digital communications for Government agencies. Mike changed the way his agency communicated with college students through a new website www.thisshouldbeillegal.com – the goal of the page is simple, “Helping Keep College Students Safe and Healthy in DC”. What I love about this work is the core mission of the agency stayed the same but the new approach facilitated a more direct conversation with the target audience.

At its core Gov 2.0 is taking the information the public is entitled to and makes it more accessible. However we know that this new form of communication is not just about pushing out more information and providing more access, it is also about a dialogue. Government agencies can scale their approach use it to raise widespread awareness or communicate at the local level about public safety and neighborhood alerts.

Charlie Tansill-

Integrating social media into government agencies will be a mammoth challenge. Bureaucracy, special interest organizations, national security, and resistance to change all present incredible obstacles; however, it is crucial that these challenges are overcome and that government begin to incorporate social media for many reasons.

1. Transparency: Especially in a democracy where officials are elected, it is crucial that the government be as transparent as possible. Citizens are not comforted by a government that is trying to hide their operations; rather, when a government is open, it breeds trust and confidence. Social media does exactly that: facilitates a more open, translucent, corruption-free and accountable government. Obama is a huge proponent of transparency and its importance in holding officials and policies accountable for their actions. There are even international organizations that exist for this very purpose such as Transparency International!

2. Empowerment: For the most part, social media is inexpensive, simple and mobile and, because of this, it brings a voice to more people; it provides another outlet through which common citizens can share a voice and be empowered. It encourages the power of Collective Intelligence!

3. Collaboration: Social media tools allow for quick information-sharing between international organizations, agencies, politicians, and humanitarian agencies, which allows for more partnerships and collaboration. Especially at a time when special interest groups have so much influence, social media tools could be used to combat this trend so that organizations can cross boundaries and work together toward the collective good.

These are just a few of the reasons I believe social media is critical to the future of government.

More details, including the launch of the Eventbrite are forthcoming. Please stay tuned to our blog for further information. Thank you for all your interest and support. We are very excited about the upcoming event.

When I applied for work at the International Finance Corporation way back in 1996, I had no idea that the battle against poverty would involve so many bucket baths, or that I would be taking them throughout my career.

It started with my very first assignment, in Sumy, a town of 300,000 in Ukraine. My water was heated by a frightening device, now rarely seen, called a kolonka, which was a metal box in your bathroom that heated water by gas. A good kolonka worked well; when you turned on the hot water tap, the device would fire up and provide enough hot water to take a shower or wash dishes. But my kolonka only worked if the water moved through it at a trickle, making a shower impossible. So every morning, I would slowly fill my red plastic bucket with hot water and take a bucket bath before heading off to do IFC business.

A couple years later I opened IFC's first office in Tbilisi, Georgia. Hot water was the least of my problems: there was no heat, and both water and electricity were sporadic. My water was heated in an Ariston tank, but it only worked if the water was running. And the water would only be hot if there had been electricity within a few hours of my shower. From time to time I could take a hot shower, but most of the time I had to resort to my old friend, the bucket. Sometimes, during long power outages, I would have to heat the water in a metal bucket on my kerosene stove. Inconvenient, but it worked.

In Indonesia I was luckier, although I didn't have hot water at all. I lived in an Indonesian house which had a mandi, which is a water storage basin found in almost every bathroom. You bathe with a scoop. It was a little chilly but it did the job; I was able to appear in the IFC office fresh and perky every morning.

Which brings me to the present day. Mongolia, like most countries with a Soviet heritage, relies on centrally heated water that is piped through the city. Every summer they turn it off for a month for maintenance, and it so happens that August is the special month in my neighborhood. So now, near the end of my IFC career, I am back to where I started: the bucket.

Only now it's blue, not red. Some things have changed after all.

When marketing on behalf of regulated industries (such as the healthcare companies that I spend the majority of my time focusing on), working within strict guidelines is a large part of the process - both from an external perspective (FDA, FTC, HIPPA, etc) but often internally as well.  Legal and regulatory experts work to help companies stay within safe boundaries by providing review and oversight, which can often challenge marketers who want to be cutting edge as they draw attention and appeal to their target audiences.

Using new communications channels, such as social media, can provide new challenges for those working to keep their companies safe. But regulation and innovation don’t need to be at odds with one another. Below are just a few sample ways marketers can work with those providing regulatory and legal oversight to leverage the Social tools their customers are rapidly consuming.

• Partner early and often with regulators to develop guidelines: by developing guidelines together of what is acceptable use of social media, and the precautions the company will take, marketers and legal/regulatory specialists can both become invested in the rules of the road. The teams can and should work together to update the guidelines as new channels are used, leveraged in new ways, and new media emerge (as they frequently do these days…)

• Get regulatory specialists to weigh in and become a part of the development process - and not just be a “reviewer”: involve regulatory experts throughout the process - from concept development through to final review - to incorporate their feedback, guidance and best practices. Often other groups in the company have worked on similar concepts or ideas where best practices or even sample language can be shared by review groups.

• Provide real and relevant examples: showing what others in the industry - or related industries - have done before can help alleviate fears or help provide precedent to move forward. Things have been done before are inherently less scary - especially to those tasked with keeping their employers away from risk. When making a case to regulatory and legal teams, we often look for similar examples from those in the industry working in other specializations - or tap into colleagues who work in fields that are similarly regulated.

• Provide samples: Beyond showing examples, nothing helps sell-in a concept than providing samples of how a project will look and feel. Demonstrating a user experience with samples takes concepts out of others’ imagination (where you have no control) and brings them to life. Proposing a microsite? Develop wireframes to demonstrate. Integrating Twitter in your campaign? Mock up sample tweets that show the range and types of information you’ll communicate. Driving your target to YouTube? In addition to storyboarding out your video concepts, show regulators channels that are laid out and have similar controls (such as turning off comments) to what you are proposing so they can interact with a similar idea.

• Have an issues management review and response plan in place: As the boy scouts say, be prepared. Reviewing the risks - and having a plan in place to address them - from smallest issue to biggest crisis, can help alleviate some of the fear around the unknown. And working with legal/regulatory experts to develop the response plan can help bring them around to feeling a smart approach is in place.

If you haven’t yet seen the Emmy winning Old Spice commercials in action and haven’t quoted the Old Spice Guy at least once in conversation over the past few months, you must be sleeping under a rock (well, okay, maybe only a few fanatics are actually quoting the commercials…).

Never-the-less, the Old Spice phenomenon has created a surge of conversation around virality and brand engagement with the online audience. But let’s talk about the brand personality, because - to me - that’s one of the main things that really made this campaign go big.

So, what makes a great brand personality?

- Authenticity: Companies like Sharpie and VTech (an Ogilvy client) have recruited either internal brand fans (like @SharpieSusan) or external fans to actively get involved in social media conversation. These individuals are fully transparent with the audience, helping the audience to understand where they come from and how they can relate. Maria Pilar Clark, the VTech Mom, is a mom of two and loves helping her kids learn, so she has a great connection with other moms interested in VTech toys.

- Consistency: Talk about consistency - how does 205 Old Spice videos sound?? Whatever your brand personality is, make sure you keep it consistent. Don’t be the voice of the Old Spice Guy one day and Jimmy Fallon the next. Think about the conversations you plan to have through the eyes of your brand personality. Answer a few of the questions from Brian’s Solis’ new book, Engage:

If the brand was a person, how would it appear? How would it sound? How would it interact with others? How would others describe it?

Then keep that in mind whenever you create your content and conversation.

- Engagement: As John Bell mentioned in his CNN Commentary, the Old Spice campaign actively listened to the audience and engaged on a one-on-one basis with some of the audience members through direct video response.)

- Entertainment Factor:Whether you are creating a new drama skit every day/week like the Old Spice Guy, sharing new Sharpie art work or simply bantering back and forth with others, your audience will come back if they like what you’re giving them. This goes back to the ever-present value exchange — what is your audience looking for? What will make them come back to your brand time and again? Now add in your brand personality and ‘voila!’ you may just have entertainment!

- Versatility: Expand your brand personality’s horizons from commercials to direct response viral videos, from a Twitter handle to a personality column in the consumer e-newsletter. (*LIGHTBULB*) From an online presence to an offline presence! A great example: If your bored, or need some more Old Spice entertainment, go ahead and create your personalized Old Spice voicemail…

Of course all this goes back to your brand definition. Make sure you understand your brand’s core values, it’s history, it’s business and communication objectives as you look to define (or spice up) the brand personality in social media. To help with this understanding, check out Brian Solis’s Brand Reflection Style - a great way to map out your brand’s personality and persona.