If you're a regular Workforce Developments reader, you know I don't often go off topic. Around here, it's all workforce development, employment and jobs, all the time. Today I'm making an exception.
What's happening in Iran right now is too important to ignore. Whenever people anywhere in the world take great personal risk to stand up for their rights, we must pay attention.
Some of the best reporting of what's happening there has taken place on blogs, Twitter and other social media sites. Yes, it's messy and confusing, but it's also live, real-time and personal. The Iranian government has tried to stop the story from getting out by shutting down Facebook, text and cell phones; by slowing internet access, ordering foreign reporters to leave and denial-of-service attacks on websites that are getting the story out. They know how powerful these tools are.
Social media and web 2.0 tools have made it impossible for the government to stop coverage of the protests and crackdown. By sharing this story, those of us outside the country can help keep it alive.
For more up-to-the-minute reporting on the uprising in Iran, here are some good sources:
--Tehran Bureau (back up after being mysteriously shut down for several hours)
--Liveblogging from Huffington Post contributor Nico Pitney
--Live updates from the National Iranian American Council blog
--Twitter feeds from Iran and around the world on Twazzup
--Many more links on Mashable's guide on how to track the Iranian election on social media
You can also read mainstream media coverage here, as well as an analysis of CNN's failure to effectively cover the election protests, known in the Twittersphere as the #cnnfail.
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