A first of its kind Middle East virtual conference is being held from August 1st until the 15th on the www.mevic.org web site. Initiated by the Middle East Virtual Community (MEViC), founded in Amman last year, it is part of an effort to network the region by creating a virtual community of academic nationals.
The conference titled "People across Borders" aims at providing an open forum for discussion and dissemination of research information. Contributors will join in from America, Europe, the Arab Gulf, Iran, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine.
Held online, the event involves both invited and contributed online presentations, debates, and question-and-answer bulletin boards. Proceedings are available online, and a hard copy will follow. All submissions are handled electronically.
Jon Anderson, chairman of the Department of Anthropology at Catholic University of America, delivered the conference’s keynote address, titled “New Media and Globalization in the Internet Age”. He spoke of information technologies in developing countries, and the opening channels of "participation in an expanding public sphere fostered by popular access to new media."
According to Anderson, "today's new communication technologies have two complementary effects. One is the expanded access for more people to participate in computer mediated communication, from the commercial to the cultural." The other is "to extend participation beyond previous confines of time and space."
Demonstrating his argument, Anderson mentioned "an energetic and ever-changing group of Palestinian students and professionals overseas who have taken the discussion of the Palestinian nation-building challenge to the Internet," noting however that in general "more senders and more messages, and more space for them, does not mean an effortless transition to new communities."
A second MEViC conference is expected to follow this winter, addressing the topic of "National Identity in an Era of Globalization" in the Middle East region. ― (Albawaba-MEBG)
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
