Social Bookmarking (10%): Choose from the topics below or propose one of your own. You will research the topic and track digital artifacts related to it in your own Diigo account, posting at least four items weekly between Week Three and Week Twelve (40 artifacts in all over 10 weeks). The weekly due dates for social bookmarking will be Wednesdays at 5:00 pm.

You can start with a broad topic first and narrow it down as you learn more. Almost anything you find on the web can count as a digital artifact: YouTube clips, news articles, Twitter accounts, images, professional or shoestring websites, Facebook groups, etc.

Sample Rubric: Each of the 40 items in your Diigo library will be evaluated for the following criteria for 400 points total: 6 points for basic completion; 1 point for adding keyword tags (at least three per item); and 2 points for a two-sentence general summary of the item.

Protips: Add the Diigo widget to your preferred browser. Here are instructions on how to do that as well as other tools from Diigo.

When you save your internet finds on Diigo, be sure to add them to our Diigo group.

To make it easier to locate things to tag, start following lots of magazines, newspapers, and blogs that have Facebook presences, as well as the public profiles of prominent people related to the Middle East. If you use Twitter, follow lots of commentators who frequently talk about the Middle East. Soon you’ll find yourself casually saving four things a week without really noticing that you’re doing it!

Turkey

• Ottoman revivalism
• Syrian intervention
• Kurdish question
• Civil protests, political crackdown
• Islamic State terrorism

 

Iran

• Nuclear program
• Political reform
• Regional strategies
• Cyber warfare

 

Egypt

• Muslim Brotherhood
• Coptic question
• Women’s rights
• Labor and economics
• Sinai disturbances
• Arts and literature
• Cyber activism
• Youth politics
• Constitutional reform
• Mubarak prosecution
• Soccer hooliganism
• Sisi’s Government
• Counter-Terrorism
• Civil Society and Non-Governmental Organizations

 

Tunisia

• Secularism vs. Islamism
• Economics and youth
• Women’s rights, gender and sexual orienation

 

Libya

• Civil war
• Constitutional reform
• Benghazi Consulate

 

Saudi Arabia and GCC

• Shia question and conflict with Iran
• Women’s rights
• Petroleum economics
• Middle Class Expansion
• Migrant labor
• Media
• Political succession and democratization
• Qatar, Bahrain or UAE
• War in Yemen

 

Syria

• Intervention
• Post-Assad Government
• Chinese and Russian strategic interests
• Chemical weapons
• ISIS/Iraq
• Sectarianism

 

Lebanon

• Syria and Hezbollah
• Sectarianism
• Islamic State

 

Israel/Palestine

• Boycott, Sanction and Divestment Movement
• One-State/Two-State Dilemma
• Hamas
• Youth culture and activism
• Settlement expansion/security barrier

 

Yemen

• Drone attacks
• Transitional government
• Sectarian conflict
• Houthi Rebellion
• Saudi military intervention

 

General Topics

• IMF and World Bank
• Global War on Terror
• Human rights
• Gender and rights
• US regional strategies
• Global cultures
• Urban space