How new media works so well in Egypt

Here’s a testament to the desire to use new media tools and the ability to adjust to new technology in Egypt. It’s from a blog on crowdsourcing:

The author-expert writes:



A fifth map on the Egyptian elections is the Abu Balash map, a voluntary Initiative of a group of Egyptian bloggers.

Now, I have to say: of course, this sound a bit ridiculous, 5 interactive maps to monitor the same event. I started laughing when I heard about it the first time. But lets’ be honest: THIS IS A GREAT THING!!!

In a country like Egypt, where election monitoring is not exactly the most common action taken, and where lots of activists and young people use Facebook, Twitter and Internet in general, the fact that there are many platforms is an awesome achievment!! Egyptians will not have one, but 5 different means to report, and in this way the government is not only going to deal with the U-Shahid project but they have to deal with 5 platforms that will challenge their propaganda and their media control.

Get the full explanation here:

http://crisismapper.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/ushahidi-egypt-when-open-data-is-not-so-open-or-when-people-just-don%e2%80%99t-get-it/

A strike by the second and the hour وكان اضراب من جانب ثان ، وساعة

This is an example of how technology has changed reporting in the Arab world. At Islam Online, the strikers are sending out twitters and al Masry al Youm quickly produced a photo and audio display to describe what is happening at the large facility in Cairo.

If you know of other examples of covering of breaking news using new technology in the Arab world let me know. And what do you think of this? What difference does it make for Arab journalists?

salaam

Steve

Read here:

http://nadiaelawady.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/islamonline-nets-future-in-question/

http://twitter.com/search?q=%23IslamOnline

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/going-line



How the Internet has snowballed in the Arab world

“The internet in the Arab world has a snowball effect; now that the snowball is rolling, it can no longer be stopped. Getting bigger and stronger, it is bound to crush down all obstacles.
In addition, to the stress caused by the Arab bloggers, a new forum was opened for Aran activists; Facebook. Arab activists have been using Facebook in the utmost creative way to support the democracy movement in the region, a region that has one of the highest rates of repression in the world. Unlike other regions where oppressive countries (like China, Iran and Burma) represent the exception, oppression can be found everywhere in the Arab world.
The number of Arab internet users interested in political affairs does not exceed a few thousands, mainly represented by internet activists and bloggers, out of 58 million internet users in the Arab world. As few as they are, they have succeeded in shedding some light on the corruption and repression of the Arab governments and dictatorships.”

This is from the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information – released today. Read the whole report here: (Arabic and English)

http://www.openarab.net/en/node/1612

On bloggers in Egypt, from the LA Times. الحرية هي حرية الكلام

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-blogger8feb08,0,1169678.story?track=ntothtml