People living in Iran, Sudan and Cuba will have access to a wider array of Google products now that the U.S. government has decided to loosen some restrictions, according to this AP article:

Bob Boorstin, Google’s director of policy communications, said the Web search company would now be able to offer some of its other products in those countries, such as the mapping satellite software Google Earth, photo management program Picasa and Internet chat client Google Talk.
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Everyone has seen the photo of the little Vietnamese girl running away from the napalm, the man in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square and the death of Neda during the Iranian protests.  UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave an inspiring talk at TED and explained why these images came to symbolize and publicize a movement for the rest of the world to see.  These moving photos evoke a strong emotional response and are testaments to the power of the image to inspire action and civic participation.

As I discussed in an earlier post, technology and social media are helping to give a voice to people whose stories might otherwise not be heard.  In his talk, Brown says:
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I was asked about the role of storytelling in civic participation at the Futures of Entertainment Conference.

I don’t think the average person typically connects policy or legislation to their daily lives.  They probably don’t know that Section 2704 of the recent 2,074 page health care bill prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage due to a pre-existing condition.  But they can relate to the story of the family who lost their house because the pre-existing condition wasn’t covered by insurance.  People can relate to such stories on an emotional and human level.   And I think that emotional connection is what often inspires civic participation and activism.

Technology and social media are changing the game because people now have the opportunity to tell their own story and don’t need to rely upon traditional media to do it for them.
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James Fowler, professor at UC San Diego and co-author along with Nicholas A. Christakis of Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, will be one of the presenters at iDiplomacy.

Among the theories Fowler and Christakis posit in Connected is that you can influence people up to three degrees – such as your friend’s friend’s friend – who you might not even have met. For example, one of their studies found that obesity is contagious – a multicentric epidemic.

I spoke with Fowler on the phone last week about technology, social media and public diplomacy. (The interview has been condensed and edited.)

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The New York Times has an interview with Iranian blogger Mojtaba Saminejad, who was a key disseminator of information during the Iran protests and continues to provide information about what is happening in the country.

Here are is an excerpt of the interview conducted by Azadeh Ensha and Robert Mackey. Ensha conducted the interview in Farsi and translated it into English.

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The reaction to President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize ranged from supportive to outraged. The common emotion shared by his supporters and critics shared was surprise.

There were a record 205 nominees – 172 individuals and 33 organizations – topping the previous record of 199 set in 2005.  Although the nominations are kept secret for 50 years, some of them become known sooner if those making the submissions choose to publicize their choice.

Among the other reported or speculated nominees were Colombian activist Piedad Cordoba, Afghan woman’s rights activist Simi Samar, Congolese physician Denis Mukwege, Macedonian humanitarian and artist Zivko Popovski-Cvetin, Austrian children’s charity SOS-Kinderdorf International, American Greg Mortenson for his Asian school building charity, Vietnamese religious leader Thich Quang Do, American musician Pete Seeger and Chinese dissidents Hu Jia and Wei Jingsheng.

The Washington Post editorial board had an interesting suggestion for who they thought should have gotten the award instead of Obama: a woman who was entirely unknown in the world until she died, but whose first name now evokes a whole movement.

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates were jointly interviewed by Frank Sesno, George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs director, and Christiane Amanpour, CNN chief international correspondent, Oct. 5 at GW’s Lisner Auditorium. CNN broadcast the interview Oct. 6.

Clinton and Gates touched on public diplomacy a couple of times. The full transcript is also available.

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