أرشيف التصنيف: AB14

Your Voices Shall Be Heard

Chairs reserved for missing bloggers remained empty during ab14 - Photo, Hisham Almiraat
Chairs reserved for missing bloggers remained empty during ab14 

This is the second day of the 4th Arab Bloggers meeting, happening in Amman, Jordan.

Even though I am meeting amazing bloggers from the Arab World, especially people that I have known only virtually up until now, I can't stop thinking about those who could not make it.
And I have one urging question: Why on earth, there is no one place we can all gather in?!
Why there is always someone, or more from an Arab country that faces visa denial, entry denial, trouble moving across Arab borders and so forth?
During the last Arab Bloggers meeting, in 2011, over 10 Palestinian bloggers were denied entry visas into Tunisia and were therefore absent.
متابعة قراءة Your Voices Shall Be Heard

Day One: Stories, Security and “Communicative Capitalism”

On day one of the Arab Bloggers Meeting, participants threw themselves into workshops and discussions stemming from our central theme: civic expression and action online. Working in groups divided by interest — storytelling, digital security, data visualization, and Internet policy — we found that many of us are facing similar challenges in our work.

Many of us want to find new, innovative, compelling ways to tell stories. In the storytelling session, Syrian participants pointed to the mainstream coverage of violence in their country and raised the question: How do you find new ways to tell an old or familiar story? How do you work to keep the public actively engaged and interested in stories about a violent conflict over a long period of time? A common desire among participants was to develop strong methods for telling stories, presenting data, and making policy arguments in order to affect political or legal reforms.

Participants planning a video project.
Participants planning a video project.

متابعة قراءة Day One: Stories, Security and “Communicative Capitalism”

Meet Our #AB14 MC Mohammad Alqaq

#AB14 MC Mohammad Alqaq
#AB14 MC Mohammad Alqaq

It was an action-packed day for Jordanian artist Mohammad Alqaq, who led an army of Arab bloggers at the Fourth Arab Bloggers Meeting, taking place in Amman, Jordan, until Thursday [January 23, 2014].

“I enjoyed every minute of it,” said Alqaq.

“My role at AB14 is to be the butterfly of the event. That means I try to make everyone as comfortable as I can; keep time; keep the group motivated and spread the positive energy. I try to make them move through group activities, which keep them energised.”

متابعة قراءة Meet Our #AB14 MC Mohammad Alqaq

#AB14 Kicks off in Amman: Iraqi and Syrian Bloggers Missing Thanks to Red Tape

It was a bitter sweet reunion for Arab bloggers and activists at the Fourth Arab Bloggers Meeting, which kicked off in Amman, Jordan, this morning.

The four-day gathering, bringing around 80 bloggers, activists and academics from across the region and beyond, includes a three-day retreat for Arab bloggers, which culminates with a public meeting on Thursday.

Missing from the meeting were prominent bloggers Egyptian Alaa Abdel Fattah and Syrian Bassel Al Safadi, both in jail in their countries.

Palestinan Abir Kopty tallies up those missing:

متابعة قراءة #AB14 Kicks off in Amman: Iraqi and Syrian Bloggers Missing Thanks to Red Tape

“Yes, I will leave the online world”

Mauritanian netizens are experiencing anger, sadness, and confusion, along with feelings of solidarity, after young Mauritanian blogger Mazid Weld ElSheikh, sent a letter to his father on Facebook in which he pledged to deactivate his Facebook account until his father forgave him for his recent activities on the social network.  Earlier this month, a group of religious extremists accused ElSheikh of blasphemy, printed the blogger’s Facebook updates and showed  them to his father. In response, his father demanded that ElSheikh shut down all of his social media accounts and stop writing. His mother pleaded with her son to leave his social media accounts. On her own Facebook account, she asked everyone to leave her son alone. متابعة قراءة “Yes, I will leave the online world”