Month: November 2014

“How State Failure Is Deepening Class Tensions in Egypt | Sara Khorshid”

“Egypt’s revolution must continue – Opinion – Al Jazeera English”

I chose both of these articles because they were both very current and helped me develop more of an idea of how Egyptians are seeing their life and the world at a more current spot in time. The first article I explored was based on how the failing state is causing even more tension between social classes. It explains how Egypt will continue to struggle due to unjust practices based on class prejudices. Without social thought being cohesive, Egypt may never be able to reach a stable state. The second article I chose was an artistic take on the Egyptian revolution, and was posted pretty recently. It’s from an Egyptian musician who was actually involved in Tahrir Square protests. His article talks about all of the simple things you could be missing out on from reading a less artistic article. He mentions all the song and dialogue he experienced and how that carried the uprising in so many ways.

“Why social media needs to be taught in high school | VentureBeat | Social ”

“Social Media Day – Egypt”

This two articles are completely social media focused. The first article I chose was about the argument of should high school student be taught about social media. I believe this is not going to be an argument for very much longer, due to the fact that social media and the internet is taking over everyone’s life. It is extremely integrated into almost everything we do now and it doesn’t show signs of stopping. If people were educated about the internet and the power of just one post, people in more remote places could put out messages to the world to help unite us all and find justice for the issues that exist. I also see this as a positive because we could be warned about issues related to cyber-security, and prevent agendas from being pushed on unknowing peoples of the world. The second thing i tagged was a Facebook page from Egypt celebrating social media day. This is a great example of Egyptians coming together as a community to celebrate social media and how its helped the Middle East.

“Blair’s doctrine in Egypt: the ‘anti-terrorism’ industry and counter-revolution ”

“The Muslim Brotherhood and the Future of Political Islam in Egypt”

“Egypt activist’s suicide grips social media – Yahoo Maktoob News”

“ArchaeoVenturers – media”

These two articles are strongly rooted in social media and the media in general. The first story I have found is a sad one. This article explains a tragic suicidal death of a young Egyptian activist. She was in such a depressive state after the uprisings that she decided to take her own life. The news of this suicide spread just as fast as any positive news, if not faster. It is said in this article that a large percentage of Egyptians are depressed because they see all the chaos around them still and are losing hope for the future. The second article I have Diigoed is about how a U.S. citizen might view whats going on in Egypt currently. This article goes back to the Civil Rights movement and the fight for free speech. This article talks about how many Americans wish they could give Egyptians the freedoms that are guaranteed to them everyday, and how they seem fundamentally right to us. A great bridge between historical American ideologies and Egyptian Uprisings.

“Online Activism to Real-World Activism: Social Media’s Role in the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and its Aftermath”

“Egyptians visit Washington to defend their ‘revolution'”

The first article I picked really shows how social media can be a great tool for change and a not so good tool for change. It goes into statistical evidence to show different numbers on social media interaction. It talks about the limits the social media aspects of the revolution had, and how they were dealt with. This article addresses the issue of anonymous activism and “perverting activism”. My second article I’ve chosen is basically an article that discusses meeting between Egyptians and U.S. authorities, that discuss the Egyptian Revolution and critique its methods and outcomes. The main thing I took from this article was the critique that Morsi’s rule ending may have not been the smarting move according to some U.S. authorities. These meeting both sides attend are basically Egypt defending what it has done and plotting for a successful future.

“Hard Evidence: how does false information spread online?”

“Use Of Social Media Leads To News Outlets Providing False Information – WIBW News Now!”

“Can the Arab revolutions survive Syria and Egypt? – Opinion – Al Jazeera English”

“Egypt’s stake in the Syrian revolution | openDemocracy”

These two articles present a great comparison and intertwining of revolutions in the Middle East. These happen to be about Syria and Egypt and how they relate to each other in terms of “Arab Revolutions”. The first article discusses the seriousness of both revolutions and whether or not the Arab Revolutions can make it through these two uprisings. This article explains that Syria has the most carnage out of all the uprisings. I fill like this article, paired with the second, are a great way to bridge the gap between these revolutions. More than the book does, these articles give you a better idea of how the Middle East in general is merging together to fight in some ways. The second article mentions an instance of helpfulness when describing how Syrian activists would go in Cairo Egypt during the revolutions to use Egyptians media to get word out about Syrians troubles.

“From Syria to Ukraine, social media opens up warfare”
By: Reuters

“Timothy Spangler: Ukraine’s brief social-media coup – The Orange County RegisterTimothy Spangler: Ukraine’s brief social-media coup – The Orange County Register”
By: TIMOTHY SPANGLER

These two Diigo posts are relating to the “revolution” happening in the Ukraine currently. The first article listed is a great story about a blogger from England who was involved in strikes via social media for the Syrians revolution and now is currently using his techniques for Ukraine. This article is a great way to look at two different examples of social media being used for social change in two different places. The second article on here is basically an overview of what is going on in Ukraine right now and how social media is being used to catch the Russian government in lies. They said they weren’t getting involved, but now people suspect that the Russian military is fighting alongside local authority because their Facebook pages had post that were geotagged by Russian soldiers inside Ukraine.

“Social Networking ProCon.org”

“In Post-Revolution Egypt, Social Media Shows Dark Side”
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani

These two post are a great combination for showing how social media can also be a negative thing when spreading information for change. The first article mentioned talks about positive and negatives of communicating through social media on a general level and discusses the similarities and differences it has to communicating in real life. This article’s information would likely be used in the earlier sections of my reflection project. The second article focuses on how social media has taken a turn for the worse for Egypt after the revolution. Rumors and lies are being spread in order to make people fight and persuade people to do things that groups with agendas want. The lack of legal monitoring is leading people to believe things that are not true in order to carry out actions, that in some cases are violent and detrimental. I would most likely be using this information towards the end of my reflection, but before a conclusion, to balance out the ideas of my project.

“The Arab Spring| Social Media in the Egyptian Revolution: Reconsidering Resource Mobilization Theory”
Nahed Eltantawy, Julie B. Wiest

“Spring Awakening: How an Egyptian Revolution Began on Facebook”
JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS

These two articles are great to start my project with because they both pertain to my exact topic I would like to do my project on. I’ve set out to research about how social media influence the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. The first article listed goes into great detail about how scholar find media-based social movements fascinating and strongly dissects the growing trend. This will be part of the introduction in my reflection paper for the semester. I believe it would be a strong start to explain how raw these methods of communication and persuasion really are. This article explains how scholars have a hard time finding ways to study these types of movement due to the fact that they are unable to effectively find exact origins and conclusions for information.

The second article is about Wael Ghonim, a 29-year-old Google marketing executive, and his experience with finding an image sent out via Facebook of Khaled Said. Khaled Said is someone we have talked about in class before and read about for homework. He was beaten by Egyptian police and inspired many, and in this case Ghonim, to take action and help out Egyptian revolutionaries from the outside, in Dubai. Ghonim is Egyptian born and was angered by this photo so he decided to create a Facebook page entitled “We Are All Khaled Said”. His page got a lot of traction and he began setting up rallying information. He was eventually arrested by secret police, but his mark was already made. This reminds me of a story about a Facebook page we read in class by Esra Abdel Fattah who set up an organized strike for better pay in Egypt. (BAS 52)