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Friday, 30 June 2006 |
Back in March Blogscholar drew attention to a blogging spat between Juan Cole, Professor of History at the University of Michigan and Martin Kramer, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. What made it interesting for us is the debate was conducted online and involved critiques and responses that appeared and disappeared from the web at the whim of the combatants. At the core of the debate is Cole's views on the Middle East (sometimes critical of Israeli and US actions) and the responding critique from US conservatives.
The story has taken a dramatic turn in recent weeks with the apparent rejection by Yale University of Cole for a faculty post in Middle Eastern history. Conservatives relentlessly lobbied the University to reject the appointment on the grounds that Cole's published blogs on Informed Comment blame the United States and Israel inapproriately. Again what is interesting for Blogscholar is that the critics are not pointing to Cole's views in academic or commercial publications but to his blogging posts, and in so doing instilling them with an embedded credibility.
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Wednesday, 28 June 2006 |
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Junichi Semitsu, professor at the University of San Diego School of Law, has been appointed official blogger for the all-girl US band Dixie Chicks. He was selected by MSN after they reviewed his blog and writings and they gifted him an all-access pass to the band's summer tour to write about it on the official Dixie Chicks blog. If you are a fan or not, or even if you've never heard of the ultra-successful outfit, it is just another example of how getting your voice heard through blogs offers unique and exciting opportunities. What's next? Stephen Hawking touring with the Rolling Stones? Anthony Giddens with Girls Aloud? Get your blog on. Rock and Roll is waiting ... |
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Monday, 19 June 2006 |
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My visit to Egypt last week reconfirmed my love for an incredible place and people. In Luxor muslim and christian weddings pour out on the street at the same time to join in celebration. Friendly locals became friends and guides out of the tourist traps and false economies. Visiting Queen Hatshepsut's temple brought back a grim reminder of the 1997 tourist massacre at that spot but the stern and focused faces of countless police and a general disdain for extremists, more vocal here even than in the west, spoke to a determination to prevent violence of this kind again. Our cab driver had three horns: one for the desert, one for the police and one for women. So why amidst all this positive energy is Alaa Seif Al-Islam, winner of the Reporters Without Borders Special Prize in the 2005 Deutsche Welle International Weblog awards still being held in jail? It is a signifier of the underlying complexity and contradicitons of freedom, politics, culture and social life in Egypt. There is a wealth of material on this topic available on the Internet and some links are provided here to guide you through a romanticised story full of uncertainty but a genuine echo of cultural engagement with digital media and blogs.
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