Just an interesting announcement, the 2nd Arab Bloggers Meeting will take place in Beirut from December 7th to the 12th:
Arab bloggers from 19 countries [will] exchange knowledge, get training and support each other in their quest for freedom of expression in the Arab region. The event is organized by The Heinrich Böll Foundation and Global Voices Online.
Though this is not the first Arab Blogger Meeting organized in Lebanon by the Social Arab Web 2.0 group (they had one in August and October 2009) I haven’t been able to determine who this group consists of. Their press releases boast the usual “30 bloggers from a Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Palestine, Iraq, and Syria” and goes as far as describing them as the “creme-de-la-creme” but unfortunately I couldn’t figure out who these bloggers are.
You’d think an organization that plans to train and support bloggers would do a better job a promoting the bloggers that make up its rank.
[New Post] Arab Blog Meet in Beirut http://jadaoun.com/blog/2009/10/23/arab-…
Hi Jad, This is Doreen KHoury from the Heinrich Boell Foundation in Beirut. We co-organized the 2nd bloggers meeting with Global Voices. We were unable to give information on the bloggers attending to protect them, and respect their security. Most of them come from countries where bloggers are frequently arrested for what they do.
I can understand that but the blog page on arabloggers.com lists interviews with a number of bloggers and includes videos of these interviews. So clearly there are some that have no problem showing their faces. So why not have a section dedicated to the these bloggers and their blogs? I’m just asking from a marketing and communications perspective; technically, if I dont find what I want on a website in 10 seconds, I just leave the website.