Discussion with Gulf blogger Sultan al-Qassemi and PS21 executive director Peter Apps on the changing face of social media in the middle east from the Arab spring to ISIS. Read more »
Media
Social Media in the Arab World
Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi, of the MIT MediaLab, speaks on social media and broadening of India-GCC relations. Read more »
Euro-Arab Dialogue Forum
In November 2014 the Lutfia Rabbani Foundation organized a conference on ‘The Arab Future & the role of Europe’ as part of the Dialogue Platform. The conference in the Peace Palace was a gathering of Arabs and Europeans to reflect upon the Euro-Arab relationship. Under the leadership of BBC Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet and with a keynote presentation by United Nations diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, panelists from a broad spectrum of fields addressed the challenges of political transition, economic development, education and social engagement. Read more »
The Arabian Gulf in the Social Media Era
In this interview with SAMAR, Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi discusses his writings, the increasing influence of social media and the challenge of censorship in the Gulf, as well as the position of Arab media and citizens before and after the events known as the “Arab Spring.”
Read more »
On MIT Media Lab: imagination realized
The Media Lab was founded almost thirty years ago in 1985, however it was reenergized following the appointment of Japanese venture capitalist and entrepreneur Joi Ito in 2011. Joi, who is also an activist and DJ, immediately embarked on a rebranding exercise bringing in ‘antidisciplinary’ individuals to the 400 person strong institution which had an annual budget of $55 million USD. The most important ingredient of the MIT Media Lab however is not the state of the art technology or my admirably professional peers but the very students we are meant to inspire. Read more »
Gulf atheism in the age of social media
The Gulf states have a long association with Islam; after all, the religion was founded in the Arabian Peninsula more than 1,400 years ago. More recently, movements such as Wahhabism and Salafism were also founded here. However, over the past few years a rising number of Gulf nationals have started to distance themselves from religious practice and in some cases started to openly criticize the application of religion in society. Read more »