From: Lexie Koss
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 16 June 2009
19:50
To:
[log in to unmask]
Subject:
[report-release-list] Berkman Center Internet & Democracy Project Releases
Study Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere
Good afternoon,
It is with great pleasure that the Berkman
Center for Internet & Society announces a major research release from the
Internet & Democracy project: “Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere: Politics,
Culture and Dissent” <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/publications/2008/Mapping_the_Arabic_Blogosphere>.
“Mapping
the Arabic Blogosphere” uses a unique methodology that blends link analysis,
term frequency analysis, and human coding of individual blogs to investigate the
online discussions taking place across the Middle East and North Africa.
Internet & Democracy project director Bruce Etling and his team, with
Morningside Analytics founder and Berkman affiliate John Kelly, and co-authors
Robert Faris and John Palfrey, identified a base network of approximately 35,000
active blogs (about half as many as found in their previous study of the Persian
blogosphere), created a network map of the 6,000 most connected blogs, and with
a group of Arabic speakers hand coded 4,000 blogs. Congratulations and thanks to
all who collaborated on this significant work!
The goal for the study was
to produce a baseline assessment of the networked public sphere in the Arab
Middle East, and its relationship to a range of emergent issues, including
politics, media, religion, culture, and international affairs. Whereas the
previous study of the Persian blogosphere revealed a network organized primarily
around political ideologies and topical issues, such as reformist and
conservative politics, religion, and poetry, the Arabic blogosphere is organized
primarily around countries. Moreover, personal life and local issues are the
most important topics of discussion: most bloggers write mainly personal,
diary-style observations, but when writing about politics, bloggers tend to
focus on issues within their own country. Bloggers link to Web 2.0 sites like
YouTube and Wikipedia (English and Arabic versions) more than other sources of
information and news available on the Internet. The overall picture is one of
country-based groupings of blogs focused on domestic issues.
* To
download the paper, including the full Key Findings, or to view the map of the
Arabic blogosphere, visit http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/publications/2009/Mapping_the_Arabic_Blogosphere
*
The paper’s findings and related issues will be discussed at a public panel
(with live webcast) at the United States Institute of Peace tomorrow: http://blogsbullets.eventbrite.com/
*
As always, we welcome comments, which can be left on the Internet &
Democracy blog at
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/idblog/2009/06/16/internet-and-democracy-releases-report-of-arabic-blogosphere/
For
more information about the Internet & Democracy project and access to
previous research, visit http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/research/internetdemocracy.
A
formal press release follows. If you would like to speak with the Arabic study’s
authors or with other researchers at the Berkman Center, please contact me at [log in to unmask] /
617-495-7547.
Lexie Koss
Berkman Center for Internet &
Society
Harvard
University
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BERKMAN
CENTER INTERNET & DEMOCRACY PROJECT RELEASES STUDY MAPPING THE ARABIC
LANGUAGE BLOGOSPHERE
June 16, 2009 - Cambridge, MA - The
Berkman Center for Internet & Society’s Internet & Democracy project has
released a major study on “Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere: Politics, Culture and
Dissent.” Using a unique methodology that blends computational analysis and
human coding, the study investigates the contours and scope of the discussions
taking place in the Arabic language blogosphere.
“The Arabic blogosphere
is a dynamic public space,” writes John Palfrey, faculty co-director of the
Berkman Center and principal investigator for the Internet & Democracy
Project, “We have found a far-reaching conversation about virtually all aspects
of life, culture, religion, and politics. This public conversation
surfaces local and national issues of political reform and the global tensions
related to human rights and conflict between nations. We have much to
learn from the rich tapestry that this study reveals.”
The study reveals
that:
* The Arabic blogosphere comprises approximately 35,000 routinely
updated blogs from a mix of predominantly young and male bloggers, with the
highest proportion of female bloggers found among Egyptian youth.
* The
Arabic blogosphere is organized primarily around countries, with the Egyptian
and Saudi Arabian clusters being the two largest. A Levantine/English Bridge
cluster connects bloggers in the Levant and Iraq to the US and international
blogospheres.
* Bloggers link to Web 2.0 sites like YouTube and Wikipedia
(English and Arabic versions) more than other sources of information and news
available on the Internet.
* Personal life and local issues are the most
important topics of discussion. When writing about politics, bloggers tend to
focus on issues within their own country, with the exception of Palestine, which
concerns bloggers across clusters.
* The US and terrorism are not major
topics. When discussing terrorism, Arab bloggers are overwhelmingly critical of
terrorists.
“Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere,” including the full Key
Findings and the map, can be downloaded at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/publications/2009/Mapping_the_Arabic_Blogosphere
.
This case study is part of a series of studies produced by the Internet
& Democracy Project. The project’s initial case studies investigated three
frequently cited examples of the Internet’s influence on democracy. The first
case looked at the user-generated news site OhmyNews and its impact on the 2002
elections in South Korea. The second documented the role of technology in
Ukraine’s Orange Revolution. The third analyzed the network composition and
content of the Iranian blogosphere. Fall 2008 saw the release of a new series of
case studies, which broadened the scope of the project’s research and examined
some less well-known parts of the research landscape. In a pair of studies, the
project reviewed the role of networked technologies in the 2007 civic crises of
Burma's Saffron Revolution and Kenya’s post-election turmoil. In April 2009, Urs
Gasser's three-part case study examined the role of technology in Switzerland’s
semi-direct democracy.
About the Internet & Democracy
project
The Internet & Democracy Project is an initiative of the
Berkman Center for Internet & Society that examines how the Internet
influences democratic norms and modes, including its impact on civil society,
citizen media, government transparency, and the rule of law, with a focus on the
Middle East. The goal of this work is to support the rights of citizens to
access, develop and share independent sources of information, to advocate
responsibly, to strengthen online networks, and to debate ideas freely with both
civil society and government. More information can be found at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/research/internetdemocracy.
About
the Berkman Center for Internet & Society
The Berkman Center for
Internet & Society at Harvard University is a research program founded to
explore cyberspace, share in its study, and help pioneer its development.
Founded in 1997, through a generous gift from Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman,
the Center is home to an ever-growing community of faculty, fellows, staff, and
affiliates working on projects that span the broad range of intersections
between cyberspace, technology, and society. More information can be found at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu.
Contact
Lexie
Koss
617.384.9100
[log in to unmask]
###
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the full list of the Berkman Center's publications and research reports, please
visit our Publications page: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/publications
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