Caitlin Watkins
02-11-11
It seems as though technology, specifically Facebook and Twitter, played very prominent roles in Mubarak's final resignation today. These social networks are used so frivolously and so often that we may not always realize the impact they make on the way we receive and perceive information. Because they are so globally accessed, and by so many people, it has proven to be an important forum for communicating political ideas and updates on what is really happening on the streets of Cairo. It was especially important for the Egyptians who were not in Cairo, but were receiving information through Egyptian news which was giving a little bit of a different account than that of the protesters. Students in Cairo would go out on the street and record videos and interviews of the corruption that was going on, then post it to Facebook and twitter so people all over Egypt, and the world even, could see for themselves what was happening. However, The use of technology in political upheaval isn't new. In 1989, during the fall of the former-Soviet bloc countries, for example, the fax machine played a critical role. In 1979, during the Iranian Revolution, organizers relied somewhat on smuggled cassette tapes of inspiration speeches. Facebook and Twitter are just the latest tools. Social Media allowed most protesters to be heard online and to organize so that they could be heard on the streets.
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/02/08/world/middleeast/1248069622796/cairo-s-facebook-flat.html?ref=technology
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704329104576138643482318336.html#articleTabs%3Darticle
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