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Interview with Elena Ignatova
Duration:
4 minutes and 53 seconds
Country:
Macedonia
Language:
English
Genre:
Video Blog
Producer:
David Sasaki
Director:
David Sasaki
Views:
182
(66
embedded)
Posted by:
oso on Nov 16, 2009
Elena Ignatova, Global Voices author for Macedonia and Lingua Editor for Macedonian. http://mk.globalvoicesonline.org
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- I'm Elena Ignatova
- I'm an author for Global Voices and the Lingua Editor for Macedonian
- and I'm working at Metamorphosis Foundation
- which is an organization for the development of information society.
- So, Macedonia is in the Balkans and it's the country that has problems with Greece
- and the name, but we are hoping that we will solve the problem very soon.
- David: OK, so that's probably what it is best known for in an international sphere
- but what do people not know about Macedonia that you have to tell them?
- Elena: Well, it is a country that is very small. It has two million inhabitants.
- And it's very pleasant to live here because everybody knows each other
- and you will always find a person who welcomes you while you're walking through the streets.
- David: You wrote another post about politicians on Facebook - Macedonian politicians
- - and I think there was a newspaper article that said "here's a way that Macedonians can flirt with politicians online.
- But have you seen any evidence that people are using it to engage with their politicians and become more active politically?
- Elena: I don't know.
- I didn't check the campaign afterward so I don't know what's actually happened.
- Because we had a research that we did about election campaigns
- for president and local elections.
- and most of the politicians didn't use new media or Facebook to react for their campaigns.
- So I'm not sure that they are using it so much.
- David: Have you been in touch with any politicians via Facebook?
- Elena: No. David: Why?
- Elena: Because they are not answering questions. Because we were sending them questions
- through new media ... not through new media only ... but with emails, Facebook, Twitter
- but we didn't receive any feedback so I don't try anymore.
- David: OK, so another story that you wrote about Facebook had to do
- with a protest and a counter-protest about a proposed church that they want to build in the main plaza
- Can you describe that?
- Elena: Well, the protest was actually because
- the students of the architectural faculty didn't want that they build a church on the main square
- and the problem was that
- some people that were for the church came to the protest also
- and there was a conflict between the two groups so it ended badly
- David: How did it end?
- Elena: Well, some of the students were beaten
- well, not beaten really, but they were attacked.
- David: Do you think that in this case Facebook was a productive use to protest?
- Elena: Yes because they were organizing everything through Facebook.
- Like sending invitations, planning the event, and everything. They didn't have a web page
- or email. Everything went through Facebook.
- David: And now it looks likely that the church won't be build, right?
- Elena: Yeah, probably.
- David: You published another post about reactions to a documentary called Whose Song is This
- and I thought it was a really insightful look at
- the role of identity in Macedonia
- and the former Yugoslavia. Can you describe a little bit
- about the documentary itself and then also the reactions to it.
- Elena: Well, the documentary was about a song
- that is translated into several languages
- in countries throughout the Balkans.
- And each country said that the song was theirs.
- And there were very good reactions because
- most of them were accepting the song. Like,
- "oh really? There is a song in that country?"
- It was very interesting. None of them were like, "this is our song."
- Or something like that. But everyone was pleasantly surprised that the song was translated into other languages.
- David: How do you choose what articles you translate into Macedonian?
- Elena: Well I choose articles that are interesting for me.
- Basically, if there is some article connected with ICT or something like that
- I translate it. Because it is connected with my work.
- If not, I choose some article that is about new culture or somehow connected with new media
- or something like that. And some of the articles need to be short. [laughs]
- David [laughing]: And what have you learned as a GV author and translator?
- Well, I learned about many cultures and very important things about the lives of people in other countries
- because our main newspapers and portals don't
- report about stuff happening in other countries
- so it is very interesting to know what is happening in the world.
- David: And you'll be seeing some other GV authors soon, right? At a conference?
- Elena: Yeah, we will have a conference
- eSociety.mk which will be on the theme iMedia
- ... actually, more about active citizen participation through new media.
- And Onnik and Sylwia will come to present.
- David: Great, thank you. Elena: Thanks.
- Read more articles from Elena on Global Voices


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