Digital Media and Popular Uprisings

March 31, 2011
6-8 p.m.
Lesley University
University Hall Amphitheater
1815 Mass. Ave.
2nd Flr.
Cambridge, MA 02140

Google Map: http://bit.ly/edM4fz

The importance of digital media in building the recent wave of popular uprisings in the Middle East has been widely heralded in the global press. But how are social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, and digital communication devices like texters, cell phones and PDAs really being used on the ground to help organize millions of people towards a common goal - democracy. And is it true that these movements for democracy in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and beyond are completely spontaneous and being organized on the fly with the help of modern technology? Or is there more to the story?

Lesley University and Open Media Boston have invited three experts on digital media and grassroots organizing to speak to these and related issues. Each brings a unique perspective to the discussion.

Ethan Zuckerman is co-founder of the citizen media network Global Voices and senior researcher at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Jillian York is a writer and freedom of expression activist who studies Internet controls and online activism, with a focus on the Arab world. She is a project coordinator at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Suren Moodliar is a coordinator of Massachusetts Global Action and an organizer of the Majority Agenda Project. He is deeply interested in networks and social change.

The panel will be chaired by Jason Pramas, Editor/Publisher of Open Media Boston, www.openmediaboston.org, and introduced by a representative of Lesley University.

Doors will open at 5:45 p.m. There will be light refreshments served in the Atrium just outside the Amphitheater. The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, or press inquiries, please email info@openmediaboston.org.

Location