＜今朝７時半過ぎ、Ｒ大学の駐車場に駐車してふと草むらを見るとなぜか黒い猫が草むらの中に座っている。思わずデジカメで撮った！初めて見る黒猫で、その眼光が、なぜか今日が誕生日の小説家の視線を感じさせた！いい作品を書いてほしい！＞
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久しぶりにNew Significanceを訪れると、前と同じ情報が並んでいたりするが、例えばシリアのレズで反政府ブロガーが誘拐されたことなど、またギリシャやスペインの市民運動の現況などが並んでいる。目を惹いたのは最近のアラブ諸国での市民革命について、Twitter, Face bookなどの社会メディアの影響について専門家を交えた論議についての話題が興味深い。Egypt, Tunisia, Iranに 起こった電子メディアの影響やグラス・ルーツをどう位置付けるかの話題である。
それらはPanacea（万能薬）ではない、という意見はその通りで、Facilitator(促進・進行する役割）であり、しかしあの民主的革命のInstigator（煽動者・主体）ではないというまとめである。それらのネットメディアが革命を起こしたのではない。ずっと前からそれらの国々の人々が、自ら民主的解放を念じた運動がなされ、人の口から口へと様々なルートでそれらの思いが広がっていったという事は確かなようだ。つまり自発的な思いが広がったのである。４人に１人がネットにアクセスするエジプトと３人に１人がアクセスするチュニジアがある。
テクノ・ユートピアには異論が起こる。
エジプト革命は人々によってなされたのであり、それらのネットメディアの道具（tools)によってなされたわけではない。そうね！
--the new Egyptian constitution as a textbook case social media-inspired democracy.エジプトの新しい憲法が社会メディアによって影響を受けた民主主義の模範になる、も面白いが、【the “strongest impact” of social media in the Arab Spring was simply “allowing the world to witness each event.”】この方がなるほど、そうね、と思える。つまりネットによって、それらのメディアによって世界がエジプトの出来事を目撃した事は事実である。それはTwitter や Facebookが可能性を秘めているという事でもありえる。世界はもっとつながりえるのである。
そして身近なコミュニティーでの対話であり意志疎通であり、より拓かれた民主主義の模索が常に必要という事だろう。ああ私はTwitterやFace bookの常連ではないし、なかなかそれにFollowできない。ただブログだけで精一杯である。
以下は原文で文章は読みやすい。
New Significance » Articles » Jameson Berkow: The Myth Of The “Social Media Revolution”
Jameson Berkow: The Myth Of The “Social Media Revolution”
June 3rd, 2011 | Add a Comment
By Jameson Berkow:
TORONTO — The revolution was indeed twittered, as many have long expected. But Twitter did not cause the revolution.
As scholars and journalists alike continue to extol the pivotal role of social networks in the recent Arab Spring of popular uprisings across the Middle East, a panel of experts gathered in a conference room in downtown Toronto on Thursday evening to try and put that role in perspective.
The overwhelming consensus was that social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter were facilitators of recent events in Egypt, Tunisia, Iran and elsewhere in the region.
What they were not, however, were instigators.
“Social media is not a panacea, I don’t believe it can cause a revolution,” Jillian York, director of international freedom of expression for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told the packed conference room in the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs.
“But it can assist one with efficiency.”
Since the headlines began pouring in following the first wave of protests in Egypt on January 25, some have already tempered the rush to credit Facebook and Twitter as the champions of freedom in a heavily repressed region.
But so-called “techno-utopians” — as author Evgeny Morozov calls those who blindly believe in the democratizing power of the Internet — refute those arguments.
Those critics would usually point to dramatic case studies such as Wael Ghonim, the Google Inc. executive who was temporarily imprisoned by Egyptian authorities for his role in organizing demonstrations on Facebook.
In early February, he told his followers on Twitter that he would no longer communicate with them through traditional media, opting instead to send messages solely through the Facebook page he created.
After being released on February 8, Mr. Ghonim was given the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his efforts just last week. The honour served to solidify the supreme importance of social networks in fomenting modern dissent in the minds of many.
But those critics need to look at the larger forces which had been at play in the region since ‘twitter’ still referred to a sound a bird made.
“The Arab uprisings were not as spontaneous as everyone has been led to believe,” said the journalist for National Public Radio (NPR) and operator of the Twitter feed@feb17voices. She was rumoured to have been arrested in Cairo while covering ongoing events in Egypt early last month (rumours she later put to rest).
“The Egyptian organizers had been planning it for years, they even went to Europe to train,” Ms. Abdurrahman said.
All other arguments aside, social media quite simply does not have the penetration necessary in those countries to reach a significant percentage of the population. Less than one in four Egyptians have access to the Internet. In Tunisia the figure is higher —close to one third — but still not enough to spread a widespread message of popular dissent.
“There is still a huge chunk of people who are not online and so [social media] can only go so far,” said Ms. Abdurrahman.
“Word of mouth is still very strong.”
One can see how little the revolutionary process has changed over decades, despite the recent rise of the social Web. Harken back to Europe in 1848, or to Africa in the 1960s, and you will find examples of revolutions that seemed to move with a “magical interconnect,” noted Brian Stewart.
“There, word was spread through pamphlets and at church meetings,” said the senior Munk Centre fellow and veteran foreign correspondent (he was introduced as the “godfather” of foreign correspondents by the Munk Centre’s Rob Steiner).
“People have always found a way at various points in history to get things off the ground.”
All of this is not to suggest social networking and Web-based communities do not have an extremely important role to play in growing and sustaining a democracy. There is even a fascinating project led by mostly Canadian scholars and diplomats in Egypt right now called Cloud to Street designed to support grassroots political activity online.
Sonia Verma, a Globe and Mail journalist who was detained while covering the Egyptian uprising, pointed to plans for crowd-sourcing the new Egyptian constitution as a textbook case social media-inspired democracy.
Rather, it is intended to provide some badly needed perspective during a time of democratic awakening in arguably the world’s most volatile region. After all, as Ms. York noted, the “strongest impact” of social media in the Arab Spring was simply “allowing the world to witness each event.”
Those events were conceived of and carried out by people, not by the tools they used.
jberkow@nationalpost.com
Source: National Post (5/26/2011)
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（こちらの写真はなぜか眼を閉じて草むらの中で瞑想している雰囲気である。不思議/感動はいつも身近にある！）
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
久しぶりにNew Significanceを訪れると、前と同じ情報が並んでいたりするが、例えばシリアのレズで反政府ブロガーが誘拐されたことなど、またギリシャやスペインの市民運動の現況などが並んでいる。目を惹いたのは最近のアラブ諸国での市民革命について、Twitter, Face bookなどの社会メディアの影響について専門家を交えた論議についての話題が興味深い。Egypt, Tunisia, Iranに 起こった電子メディアの影響やグラス・ルーツをどう位置付けるかの話題である。
それらはPanacea（万能薬）ではない、という意見はその通りで、Facilitator(促進・進行する役割）であり、しかしあの民主的革命のInstigator（煽動者・主体）ではないというまとめである。それらのネットメディアが革命を起こしたのではない。ずっと前からそれらの国々の人々が、自ら民主的解放を念じた運動がなされ、人の口から口へと様々なルートでそれらの思いが広がっていったという事は確かなようだ。つまり自発的な思いが広がったのである。４人に１人がネットにアクセスするエジプトと３人に１人がアクセスするチュニジアがある。
テクノ・ユートピアには異論が起こる。
エジプト革命は人々によってなされたのであり、それらのネットメディアの道具（tools)によってなされたわけではない。そうね！
--the new Egyptian constitution as a textbook case social media-inspired democracy.エジプトの新しい憲法が社会メディアによって影響を受けた民主主義の模範になる、も面白いが、【the “strongest impact” of social media in the Arab Spring was simply “allowing the world to witness each event.”】この方がなるほど、そうね、と思える。つまりネットによって、それらのメディアによって世界がエジプトの出来事を目撃した事は事実である。それはTwitter や Facebookが可能性を秘めているという事でもありえる。世界はもっとつながりえるのである。
そして身近なコミュニティーでの対話であり意志疎通であり、より拓かれた民主主義の模索が常に必要という事だろう。ああ私はTwitterやFace bookの常連ではないし、なかなかそれにFollowできない。ただブログだけで精一杯である。
以下は原文で文章は読みやすい。
New Significance » Articles » Jameson Berkow: The Myth Of The “Social Media Revolution”
Jameson Berkow: The Myth Of The “Social Media Revolution”
June 3rd, 2011 | Add a Comment
By Jameson Berkow:
TORONTO — The revolution was indeed twittered, as many have long expected. But Twitter did not cause the revolution.
As scholars and journalists alike continue to extol the pivotal role of social networks in the recent Arab Spring of popular uprisings across the Middle East, a panel of experts gathered in a conference room in downtown Toronto on Thursday evening to try and put that role in perspective.
The overwhelming consensus was that social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter were facilitators of recent events in Egypt, Tunisia, Iran and elsewhere in the region.
What they were not, however, were instigators.
“Social media is not a panacea, I don’t believe it can cause a revolution,” Jillian York, director of international freedom of expression for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told the packed conference room in the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs.
“But it can assist one with efficiency.”
Since the headlines began pouring in following the first wave of protests in Egypt on January 25, some have already tempered the rush to credit Facebook and Twitter as the champions of freedom in a heavily repressed region.
But so-called “techno-utopians” — as author Evgeny Morozov calls those who blindly believe in the democratizing power of the Internet — refute those arguments.
Those critics would usually point to dramatic case studies such as Wael Ghonim, the Google Inc. executive who was temporarily imprisoned by Egyptian authorities for his role in organizing demonstrations on Facebook.
In early February, he told his followers on Twitter that he would no longer communicate with them through traditional media, opting instead to send messages solely through the Facebook page he created.
After being released on February 8, Mr. Ghonim was given the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his efforts just last week. The honour served to solidify the supreme importance of social networks in fomenting modern dissent in the minds of many.
But those critics need to look at the larger forces which had been at play in the region since ‘twitter’ still referred to a sound a bird made.
“The Arab uprisings were not as spontaneous as everyone has been led to believe,” said the journalist for National Public Radio (NPR) and operator of the Twitter feed@feb17voices. She was rumoured to have been arrested in Cairo while covering ongoing events in Egypt early last month (rumours she later put to rest).
“The Egyptian organizers had been planning it for years, they even went to Europe to train,” Ms. Abdurrahman said.
All other arguments aside, social media quite simply does not have the penetration necessary in those countries to reach a significant percentage of the population. Less than one in four Egyptians have access to the Internet. In Tunisia the figure is higher —close to one third — but still not enough to spread a widespread message of popular dissent.
“There is still a huge chunk of people who are not online and so [social media] can only go so far,” said Ms. Abdurrahman.
“Word of mouth is still very strong.”
One can see how little the revolutionary process has changed over decades, despite the recent rise of the social Web. Harken back to Europe in 1848, or to Africa in the 1960s, and you will find examples of revolutions that seemed to move with a “magical interconnect,” noted Brian Stewart.
“There, word was spread through pamphlets and at church meetings,” said the senior Munk Centre fellow and veteran foreign correspondent (he was introduced as the “godfather” of foreign correspondents by the Munk Centre’s Rob Steiner).
“People have always found a way at various points in history to get things off the ground.”
All of this is not to suggest social networking and Web-based communities do not have an extremely important role to play in growing and sustaining a democracy. There is even a fascinating project led by mostly Canadian scholars and diplomats in Egypt right now called Cloud to Street designed to support grassroots political activity online.
Sonia Verma, a Globe and Mail journalist who was detained while covering the Egyptian uprising, pointed to plans for crowd-sourcing the new Egyptian constitution as a textbook case social media-inspired democracy.
Rather, it is intended to provide some badly needed perspective during a time of democratic awakening in arguably the world’s most volatile region. After all, as Ms. York noted, the “strongest impact” of social media in the Arab Spring was simply “allowing the world to witness each event.”
Those events were conceived of and carried out by people, not by the tools they used.
jberkow@nationalpost.com
Source: National Post (5/26/2011)
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
（こちらの写真はなぜか眼を閉じて草むらの中で瞑想している雰囲気である。不思議/感動はいつも身近にある！）
