[Air-L] ISOC Statement on Egypt’s Internet shutdown

Jacob Groshek jgroshek at gmail.com
Mon Jan 31 08:00:42 PST 2011


I am very refreshed by these comments.  I left Egypt yesterday (after
staying in the south, away from the protests) but I can say that the
government shut down of Internet services was effective and thorough.
Though it is clear social media played a role in initiating the
demonstrations, it did not sustain or organize the demonstrators once
access was disrupted--which is when the demonstrations became the
largest and more violent.

I left feeling that social media were clearly not driving this social
change, at least from an outside perspective formed with the opinions
of those Egyptians I spoke with.  Though my experience was certainly
not social scientific, the still-important roles of traditional media
and interpersonal communication seemed to be highlighted more than
other cases elsewhere but that is definitely not coming through in
press reports.

Jacob

--
Dr. Jacob Groshek
Assistant Professor
Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
(+31)-010-408-8627 office
(+31)-062-304-2346 mobile
groshek at eshcc.eur.nl
http://www.jgroshek.com

On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 4:33 PM, elham gheytanchi <elhamucla at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> I agree. just wanted to point out the importance of "oral tradition" in Middle Eastern countries. Although majority are literate (can read blogs and social media text-based messages), audio and visual media are far better received.
>
> Best,
> elham gheytanchi
>
>
>> Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 10:06:19 -0500
>> From: jeremy at tmttlt.com
>> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
>> Subject: Re: [Air-L] ISOC Statement on Egypt’s Internet shutdown
>>
>> I think social media has very little to do with this event. From my
>> perspective, it looks very much like 1960s-70s organizational
>> patterns. Television, radio, etc. has some to do with it though. I
>> will say that it is likely that social media is being used to connect
>> interested transnational elites to some extent, which also then drives
>> media attention.
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 10:01 AM, Richard Forno <rforno at infowarrior.org> wrote:
>> >
>> > I may end up being labelled a black sheep here, but I find the US media's infatuation with social media in regard to the Middle East protests to be overdone and a distraction for folks in understanding the real issues involved in the Arab world..
>> >
>> > In terms of SM, people have been organising and protesting in large numbers all around the world long before the Internet or social media came into being --- but watching much of the US "news" coverage  one is led to think the Internet is the primary force behind the coordination and street-level control of these recent gatherings.
>> >
>> > IMHO social media is playing a supporting role in all of this.  Is it helpful?  Sure - but hardly essential.  To wit:  the Egyptian gov cut off many modes of communication helpful for social media applications, but did it adversely impact the protests?  Nope.   What does that tell us?
>> >
>> > My view is that SM is very helpful 'strategically" in terms of offering a long-term opportunity for folks to communicate/collaborate/organise along shared views/goals/purposes -- but less so in terms of "hitting the streets" so to speak.  Helpful, sure -- but not absolutely necessary.
>> >
>> > I'll defer to those who specialise in this stuff to offer more theoreticaly rooted comments, for I need more caffeine.
>> >
>> > -- rick
>> >
>> >
>> > On Jan 31, 2011, at 09:35 , Aziz Douai wrote:
>> >
>> >> Dear AoIR scholars,
>> >>
>> >> I have been watching the contribution of social media to the street protests
>> >> in Tunisia, Egypt, and other parts of the Middle East.
>> >>
>> >> My question: What sort of theories would best explain social media's role in
>> >> the contagion-like spread of these popular movements?
>> >>
>> >> Any thoughts on the subject would be appreciated.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks,
>> >>
>> >> Aziz
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>
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-- 
Dr. Jacob Groshek
Assistant Professor
Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
(+31)-010-408-8627 office
(+31)-062-304-2346 mobile
groshek at eshcc.eur.nl
http://www.jgroshek.com



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