Presidential campaign in Gabon

The electoral campaign is in full swing on the Web. Gabonese citizens will vote on Sunday to elect their president.

Bongo’s son, Ali, is the favourite, and with significant resources at his disposal, he has carried out a large-scale online campaign. His official site includes a Web TV channel, which he uses as a platform to present his policies. It is also a way to appeal to young voters with videos in which we see him singing a rap song.

Meanwhile, several of his adversaries have also used the Web to address Gabonese citizens. Casimir Oyé Mba, the former prime minister and André Mba Obame, former interior minister, both have interactive websites, including opinion polls and discussion forums.

The independent candidate, Bruno Ben Moubamba has gone on a hunger strike to demand a deferment of the vote. He denounces irregularities in the electoral process. Hospitalised last weekend, he continues nevertheless to supplement his blog.

Net users are mobilising in support of their candidates on social networks. And many have joined the Anyone but Ali movement. The aim is to prevent the party in power from imposing a Bongo dynasty.

Finally, Gabonese citizens in France have made this video to encourage citizens to make their voice heard at Sunday’s elections.

US Web users investigate

It’s a first in the world of the Internet. Users of ‘4chan’, a community network, have identified and tracked down a man suspected of complicity in an attempted murder 25 years after the crime took place.

In what is claimed to be a violent video dating back to 1984, Bobby Joe Blythe, a former karate instructor, orders a student to beat up a mentally handicapped man. The victim, covered in blood and convulsing, is finally abandoned in the road.

These shocking images quickly spread around martial arts discussion forums. Video bloggers and Net users were quick to express their disgust.

Believing that the victim had been beaten to death, users of the site 4chan decided to track down the people involved in the attack. Net users extracted the personal details about the instructor from his Facebook and Myspace accounts, which were subsequently deleted.

A handful of budding investigators began searching the Web for information regarding Bobby Joe Blythe. Some discovered this TV report from the 80s in which we see the instructor giving self-defence lessons for women.

Others scanned the video carefully and made screen shots to try to identify the five witnesses, who could be prosecuted for failing to assist a person in danger.

And after refuting the rumours according to which the victim died from his injuries, the police in Hanford, California, where the suspect lives, have now taken over the case and have opened an official investigation.

Rare-book room

Here is a site that should please old book lovers. The Rare Book Room offers Net users an up-close view and even a chance to read old manuscripts, such as originals by Shakespeare, Galileo and Copernicus. Approximately 400 books have been made available to anyone wishing to discover these precious works.

Tape yourself

Covering your head in cellophane tape isn’t of much use, but then again, why not? What’s more, the creators of this site guarantee it to be great fun. So if you have nothing better to do, take a photo of yourself with your face covered with adhesive tape and send it in to this blog.

Video of the day

1,500 hours were needed to create this video, approximately four minutes long. Entitled "8-Bit Trip3, the video, created by two Swedish men, is a tribute to 80’s video games using a mind-blowing assembly of Lego bricks.