Exploring the Arab Spring

Overview

Tuesday, 3:45-4:45pm
Format: Roundtable Discussion
Lead: John Palfrey
Participants: Yochai Benkler, Bruce Etling, Charlie Nesson, Nagla Rizk, and Ethan Zuckerman TBC

What has become known as the “Arab Spring” will serve as a synthesizing case study that will help to weave together the core themes outlined in both the Open Systems/Access and the Online Liberty and Freedom of Expression sessions, with a particular focus on the use of social media and the rise of information control and counter-control activities during recent protests and uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. In this highly interactive sessions commentators will not only analyze the role of social media, but also consider the different roles and actors that influenced the events, including governments, activists, citizens, and companies.

Required Readings

• Dubai School of Government, "Civil Movements: The Impact of Facebook and Twitter" Arab Social Media Report, May, 2011.
• Masashi Crete-Nishihata and Jillian York, “Egypt’s Internet Blackout: Extreme Example of Just-in-Time Blocking,” ONI Blog, January 28, 2011.
• James Cowie, “Egypt Leaves the Internet,” Renesys, January 27, 2011.
• Yochai Benker, "Chapter 1: Introduction: A Moment of Opportunity and Challenge," in Wealth of Networks: How Social production Transforms Markets and Freedom (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006). Update: read all Chapter 1.
• Yochai Benkler, "Chapter 7: Political Freedom Part 2: Emergence of the Networked Public Sphere," in The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006). Update: read first 22 pages of Chapter 7.

Recommended Readings

• MENA Net Watch, Open Net Initiative
• ONI's Middle East and North Africa Profiles and News

"Hard Questions" from John Palfrey

• John Palfrey, Hard Questions for iLaw2011's Freedom of Information/Arab Spring Sessions, blog post, September 6, 2011.