Online Discourse in the Arab World: Dispelling the Myths

at the United States Institute of Peace

The Internet & Democracy presents the Berkman Center's new research on the Arabic blogosphere, which analyzes over 10,000 blogs from 18 countries and which follows last year's "Mapping Iran’s Online Public: Politics and Culture in the Persian Blogosphere." The Arabic blogosphere findings will be discussed by an exceptional panel of speakers, with the online participation of bloggers from the Middle East. This event will be webcast live at 10 AM ET.

The Internet and Democracy: Lessons Learnt and Future Directions

This event, organized in collaboration with the OII and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism brought together leading researchers to assess the current state of research on the impact of the Internet on democracy.

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same: Online Audiences and the Paradox of Web Traffic

Dr. Matthew Hindman, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Arizona State University

Many areas of Internet scholarship make strong--and often erroneous--assumptions about patterns of Web traffic. Still, there has been little comprehensive research on how online audiences are distributed, and even less work on how site traffic changes over time. Professor Matthew Hindman will discuss what certain traffic patterns mean for the openness the online public sphere.

Challenges of Activism in the Middle East

Esra’a Al Shafei of MideastYouth.com

Esra’a Al Shafei of MideastYouth.com will take us on a tour of her cyber community, and discuss the challenges of activism in the Middle East.

Berkman Luncheon Series

The Blogging Revolution: Going online in repressive regimes

Antony Loewenstein

In 2007, Australian journalist, author and blogger Antony Loewenstein traveled to Egypt, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and China to investigate how the net was challenging authoritarian regimes, the role of Western multinationals such as Google in the assistance of web filtering and how misinformed we are in the West towards states considered "enemies" or "allies."

Russia Online: the Russian-Language Blogosphere and Participatory Internet

An all-day conference in New York City made possible by the collaboration of the Harriman Institute and the School of Journalism at Columbia University, and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

An all-day conference made possible by the collaboration of the Harriman Institute and the School of Journalism at Columbia University, and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

Berkman@10

Civic Engagement and the Youth Vote in the 2008 Elections

The Berkman Center co-hosted a Forum event with the Institute of Politics, a spirited discussion and lead up event to the Berkman@10 conference.

Berkman Luncheon Series

Social Citizens: Millennial Activism in the Connected Age

Allison Fine

Entrepreneur and writer Allison Fine discussed how "Social Citizens" engage in civic participation in a way that combines social causes, idealism, and digital influence.

Digitally-Empowered Activists: Getting the Tools to the People Who Need Them

Hosted by the Internet & Democracy Project

The Berkman Center's Internet & Democracy Projected hosted an event on "Digitally-Empowered Activists: Getting the Tools to the People Who Need Them," in Istanbul, Turkey.

Berkman Luncheon Series

Internet & Democracy

Victoria Stodden, Harvard Law School

Victoria Stodden By discussing the potentials and pitfalls of the internet in a democratic society, Victoria Stodden examined "Internet & Democracy."