Two days ago, I had second thoughts about blogging in the Arab World. Those thoughts did not change, but I’ve reached the conclusion that, as suggested by commentators, it would be great if we could do more than writing, but mean while, I think we should take advantage of our access to the online world, especially if we have something important and productive to say. I also agree with what was said about reducing our expectations of the online world.
I think the thoughts I had are the result of having certain expectations of the online experience in general, thinking that it should be more than posts and e-campaigns.
I have such an enthusiasm towards online journalism and the concept of citizen media; obviously because of the benefits they give, such as limited or zero censorship and more personalized environment for those who seek to express themselves more freely without the cultural and social pressures people tend to avoid in their daily life. And I honestly think that there are many young people out there who I wish would know their way to the Internet and the world of blogging.
I know I nagged on two or three of my friends to become bloggers, and two of them made it at last, Iman and Ola are best friends of mine and I’m so glad they joined the blogosphere, for they are highly intellectual and they have something to say. Ola is a great writer, I wish she could write more though. Iman is opinionated, very original and a true achiever. Hamzeh too, I was so glad that he finally started a blog, because he’s quite creative with interesting views on politics and everything else he decides to talk about.
What made me think of this, is this girl in my consumer behavior class, I hope she didn’t think I’m weird, well probably not, after class I couldn’t help but talk to her about blogging, because I think she’s simply brilliant, she writes political articles for two major newspapers that are specialized in politics despite being my age, I think she said they are Al-Jazeera and Al-Shahid. I think it would be a good step for her at this age to have her own Website or blog on which she could publish her writings without taking anyone’s permission. She would get to read what young Jordanian geeks think about different issues.
Anyway, I was a little disappointed that she knows nothing about blogging and online journalism but we agreed to meet again so that I can explain more what she can do and how.
I think it’s great if every young Jordanian knew how to market themselves easily by utilizing the Internet. They market themselves and they market their country too.
Shaden,
As I’ve mentioned before, the Internet can be used as a tool to promote awareness pertaining to a wide variety of ideas/initiatives, generate support for specific pre-defined campaigns…basically a reach out tool to achieve better results that will be beneficial to our community and society as a whole. For example, I’m starting a new project geared towards Palestinian Children in refugee camps; while I will be visiting local organizations, churches, centers, seeking my friends and family’s support, I also plan to use the Internet to help me generate as many more leads that can promote and support this project. You can help too by the way. I’ll tell you more about it soon.
By the way, Me? Opinionated? True, I stick to my thoughts and beliefs BUT I thought that I am very open to changing my stance on a particular issue provided that I’m presented with a logical strong argument that makes me see that issue in a different light that makes a lot more sense than the initial position I’ve taken.
no? :p
Iman, I meant that in a good way
yea I’m looking forward to help in your project!
i have also been thinking about ways that the internet can help others
my idea was something like cross between sponsor a child etc. programs and youtube…
any successful website/app unlocks some particular communication possibility on the internet, i haven’t seen it used well yet by almost any charitable org. - lots of scope for new ideas!
I was recently brought here through another blog: Topics from 192 countries, and I just wanted to say hi. I’m new to blogging myself and am pretty excited about it, although I don’t have much time and sometimes it’s hard to write because I’m not a writer. I think all of you are doing a great deal about your country and hope to read more about your projects and advances in the blogosphere and beyond.
Have a nice day guys!
Filip
Bulgaria
P.S. Iman, where will you be posting info about the Children of Palestine?
John, such programs would probably be the best way to utilize Internet but there’s always the problem of attracting people to the Internet in the first place.
I think in the Arab World, the majority of people do not trust the Internet and/or do not know how to use it for anything other than email and chatting and they probably think they don’t need to do something as serious as buying stuff or paying charity online if they can do it offline.
Filip, welcome to my blog, I write about Jordan in Topics from 192 countries. Good luck with blogging, you’re doing a great job too. About not being a writer, well I’m not a writer either, you don’t have to be one for you to write, that’s the good thing about it I guess.
shaden, the idea would be to develop the underlying architecture so that /trusted/ charities could make use of it easily.
also the tech would further the reach of an arab (for example) charity and its cause to the wider world (where the internet is perhaps better trusted).
imagine this: a management accounting system that can match expenditure with donations. for example, yossi (aged 9) in Yogyakarta (indonesia) receives this year’s school books worth ($50) from the charity, which in turn received $100 from Ms. Shaden in Jordan.
The charity records a short video of Yossi and his mother about how delighted they are, how this helps Yossi, and thank Ms Shaden personally. Ms S. receives an email a week later with a youtube style video embedded. The short video is subtitled for her. She forwards the email on to friends and family.
Yes there’s complications - but none insurmountable.
Filip You can briefly read about it here
John, the video and email msgs you mention is great! and is something a local non-profit organization I (sometimes) volunteer at is working on!
iman, sounds cool (suspect there must be many working on such systems…) i really need to investigate the tech further — google video and youtube web services in particular…
John, I’d love to see such a project in action!