Recent Changes

Ideas...
Hi Michelle,

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

Internet censorship was a topic of debate in Saudi Arabia for as long as I can remember, and it still is! It’s worth noting that many individuals have opted to just bypass the censorship using proxies & satellite connection!

In regard to the links about Saudi Arabia, they all are US based except for the last one which is a Saudi website run by the Saudi employees of the Saudi Embassy in the US.

The government is currently using the internet to mainly run the citizens’ official matters (e-government), whereby many can be carried online. Most of the ministries and governmental departments has its' websites, yet not all of them are up to the standards, and many are way behind when it comes to social media! It would be really interesting to see how the governments would use the social media to its own good, and the greater good of the people of Saudi Arabia!

I would slightly disagree on when we are going to see a new media impact on the countries beyond first worlds. I think the current revolutions are the beginning and a sign of a huge impact of the new media! I can see the difference even in the way I choose to express my opinion & the way my parents or people from a previous generation would choose to do so, that considering that they would express it in the first place!

I've personally find the discussion about my country and the Arab world in general with you, or anyone from outside the area very interesting!

Thanks for your input, Michelle! You are welcome to add any thoughts beyond the original purpose of this wiki. Would love for this discussion to continue! : )

Culture crash


Hey Mette,

Thank you!

The ongoing discussion on why citizens of Saudi Arabia are not as dissatisfied with their king as the other countries could be refereed to so many reasons, on top of it is: living conditions in Saudi Arabia as not as bad as it is in the rest, but it could worsen as the days passed by. Saudi Arabia government can make things better if it want to and prevent similar uprisings from occurring, with long term solutions to improve the quality of its' citizens lives!

The protest that had been organized via facebook failed to say the least, as very few participated in it. It could be due to religious regulations that ban protests based on Islamic teachings, and it may be because the citizen had so much to lose and they didn't reach the tipping point where it's enough to risk what they have to gain something better in return!

Many Saudis share the opinion of Dr. Alsaif, yet the tribal structure of the country would hinder such step. Democracy won't interfere with the religion itself, as its political regulations are poorly democratic, but the culture which in so many cases had been placed above the religion would so much affect the success of democracy in Saudi Arabia!

The younger generation wants more out of the government, and they in return are willing to give even more! And if there were any protest to succeed in SA, it'll be led by them but as a last resort!

I found the articles you've posted very helpful and relevant, thank you for your interest in the topic!

New Media Beyond First Worlds
{Screen_shot_2011-08-26_at_2.59.08_PM.png}
platform will be examined in
1.0 Media history in the Arab world
1.1 State-run media channels and freedom of speech

Saudi Arabia history with social media started with blogs in 2005. The government blocked blogger, a blogging service provided by Google, and prevent political bloggers from accessing their accounts, potentially arresting users, like the famous political and national reform activist, Foud AlFarahan4. AlFarahan was arrested in 2007 for several months, where in later years, several twitter pages of Saudi human rights activist were blocked. This caused the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information to announce a regulation in early 2010 stating that all Internet publishing sites must obtain a license, permitting the Ministry to treat websites the same way they treat newspapers.
{http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/twitter_cage.jpg}
resolving issues5.
On the other hand, Saudis actively used social media to demand national reforms, fight corruption and critique current local events. Examples of such uses would be the extensive use of the hash tag in Twitter to discuss local matters within hours of it occurrence. Some of these hash tags were directed to the king himself, or members of the royal family. Other topics included women driving and voting rights, arresting activist, strict opinions of religious scholars, living expenses, and most of all the Ministry of Culture and Information latest web publishing regulation.
Many young Saudi stand-up comedians were "discovered" in new media, where they used YouTube as a type of sacred haven to communicate their message and demands of national reforms in an entertaining way. YouTube and other social media networks enabled them to interact with their subscribers and discuss local issues of high importance to them.

Ideas...
Hi Najla,

I really liked your post - good work!

I found your future predictions quite interesting. It does seem likely that governments around the world will see the importance of monitoring internet security. However where is the line in the sand that divides national security and freedom of speech? I found this article quite interesting: http://www.future500.org/blog/tag/internet-censorship/
This article is more India based - but do you think this will be something that will developed around the world?

Additionally here is a website related to Australia that talks about the same kind of censorship (although on a different scale) http://nocleanfeed.com/learn.html
You can see here that the topic of censorship is being debated in first worlds too.

It's hard to make comments about how the internet and its progress has affected places like Saudi Arabia - and it's not really my place (as someone outside of Saudi Arabia) to critique their use of this new media. However it is interesting to research how things work in different countries - and this has been one of the things I have truly enjoyed about working in our group - such diversity! :)

I did wonder how the government in Saudi Arabia might feel about the internet if it were used more to promote their own agenda (just as politicians use it here is Australia)? I'm not sure how they use the internet now? When I searched for Saudi Arabia on Google I came up with these top results:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3584.htm
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sa.html
http://www.saudiembassy.net/

I couldn't help noticing they were all US based??? It would be very interesting to compare the Saudi Arabian governments use of the internet to that of the US' interpretation of Saudi Arabia.

Perhaps the real evidence of new media's impact on all countries beyond first worlds (not just Saudi Arabia), will be in the next 20 years. When the children of the revolutions, the children of the age of the internet are in seats of power and influence - will we see a difference???

Good work again! :)

Cheers,
Mx

New media in the Saudi Arabia as a tool to express demands for political & national reformsMedia Beyond First Worlds
{Screen_shot_2011-08-26_at_2.59.08_PM.png}
Arab world, there has been an increasingincrease in global interest started to surface inwith the use as a meanmeans of expressing grievancespersonal opinions and demanddemanding political changes regimes. New media power to elevatemedia's effect on the level of freedom of Saudi Arabia and its ability to provide citizens with a platform will examined
1.0 Media history in the Arab world
1.1 State-run media channels and freedom of speech
regimes and propaganda (1).propaganda1. Any information
Before the internet, such political demands were stopped by simply arresting the individuals involved for long terms without charging them with any crime or giving them a fair court trial. The government hoped that this would serve as an example of the consequences if others followed in their footsteps.
1.2 The Internet and censorship
to the Internet (2)Internet2 after realising
high prices in exchange for very slow Internet connection speed
limiting the use of it to specific classes of rich and highly educated people, mostly male adults above the age of 25
Even after the prices for use of the Internet dropped, speeds increased and demographics broadened, some governments continued to strictly supervise the transmission of information within their networks.
{http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/UpLoadFiles/PGallery/9446511595.JPG} The Saudi Communication & Information Technology Commision's Blocked websites message
levels of strictness.(3)strictness3.
2.0 The social media genie is out of the bottle
Until the launch of social networking sites in the mid 2000s, most Arab users found their like-minded groups via Vbulletin forums or blogs, and in cases where political reforms were demanded, governments would either block the websites, arrest the individuals involved, or in most cases, both to prevent it from spreading. The introduction of networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter prevented governments from blocking these sites as blocking networks known worldwide would draw international media attention. It is this use of social media to express political and national reform demands in Saudi Arabia that will be further examined in this section:
2.1 Saudi Arabia & social media
activist, Foud AlFarahan.(4)AlFarahan4. AlFarahan was
{http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/twitter_cage.jpg}
of resolving issues(5). Onissues5.
On the other women driving &and voting rights, scholars, living expenses &expenses, and most of web publishing regulation!regulation.
Many young Saudi standupstand-up comedians were
3.0 Looking to the future
to outset presidents(6),presidents6, however it
4.0 References
Hafez,1bHafez, K (ed)(ed.) 2008, Arab Power and Weakness 2008.Weakness, Continuum, New York.
Wheeler,
2bWheeler, D 2004, 2011, <http://www.riifs.org/guest/lecture_text/Internet_n_arabworld_all_txt.htm>.
Teitelbaum,
3bTeitelbaum, J 2011, 'Saudi"Saudi Arabia Contends Social Media Challenge',Challenge", Jerusalem Issue 2011, <http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=442&PID=0&IID=6006>.
Loewensten,
4bLoewensten, A 2008, ‘Saudi"Saudi Arabia: Blooming a fundamentalist desert’,desert", The Blogging pp. 116-140.
Merza,
5bMerza, N 2011, 2011, <http://www.kabobfest.com/2011/03/not-a-failure-saudi-arabia-before-and-aftermarch11.html>.
Ghannam,
6bGhannam, J 2011,
5.0 Further reading
The truth about Twitter, Facebook and the uprisings in the Arab world: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/25/twitter-facebook-uprisings-arab-libya