Teaching plan

• Arabise your computer if necessary (to read & write Unicode Arabic and transliteration)
• Fronter-assignment (until 1.9.): Five important or interesting sites from 'your' country
• Read Svennevig chap. 3 & app. A
• Read Hofheinz: "Arab Internet use: popular trends and public impact" (or IPG-article )
• Read rest of ?????? ?? ????????? ???????? ?? ?????? ??????
• Think of a topic for your semesteroppgave

• Fronter assignment: min. 10 most popular sites, + 10 most popular Arabic sites, from ¡®your¡¯ country; short description; background?
• Read ???????? ?? ?????? ?????? ??? ??????? ??????? as intro to unit on infrastructure
• Read ???????? ?????? : ????? ???? ?????? ???? (balanced reflections on usage)
• Check 2008 Egyptian youth poll ??????? ??? ?????? ??? ????????? ????????
• Read A brief history of the Internet , by its creators
• Listen to Jon Bing om hvordan internettet ble til
• Look at Hobbes¡¯ Internet Timeline
• Do you need suggestions regarding your semesteroppgave ?

• Fronter-assignment: Internet history, infrastructure, and censorship in 'your' country
• Read ???? ?????? ?? ???????? ????? ???????
• Subscribe to Twitter; follow Wael Abbas
• Check Wael¡¯s blog ????? ??????
• Read Andersen, The Internet and Islam¡¯s new interpreters and his New media, new publics: reconfiguring the public sphere of Islam and formulate 2 critical questions on Anderson¡¯s theses.

• Fronter :

(a) What are the top 5 news sites in ¡®your¡¯ country (national & international)? And what are the top 5 national news sites there? What political line do these sites follow, and who is behind them politically and economically?

(b) What radio and TV stations from ¡®your¡¯ country do offer live online streams?

(c) Find & tell about 1 politically interesting story from ¡®your¡¯ country on Jaridtak or ??????? ???

• Branch out from Twitter: explore Twitterers from ¡®your¡¯ country & other interesting ones from the Arabic ¡®Twittersphere¡¯; follow external links to other sites
• Read ??????? ?????? ?? ???????? : ???? ???? ??? ????? ????? ???
• Watch ????? ?????? ??????? ??????? . What are the lead questions the host poses in the beginning? What are the main points of the two discussants?
• Read Roy, Globalised Islam, ch. 4: The Triumph of the Religious Self (NB: incomplete preview! Get book from Library !); formulate 2 critical questions on it.

• Listen to Mona al-Tahawy on The Power of Social Media in the Muslim World and formulate min. 2 critical questions on it
• Watch RSS in Plain English
• Begin to look at the reading assignments for the rest of the semester.

God h?stferie!?

• Fronter :

(a) What forums appear among ¡®your¡¯ country¡¯s top 100 most popular sites?

(b) Present a brief description of one of the forums popular in ¡®your¡¯ country.

(c) Are there any chat rooms among ¡®your¡¯ country¡¯s top 100 most popular sites?

• Listen to Digital Islam - is the digital age challenging state control of religion? (BBC Who Runs Your World 2005)
• Read IslamOnline.net: Independent, interactive, popular
• Read March Lynch, Young Brothers in Cyberspace

• Fronter : Analysis of leading Islamic sites (each student takes two as specified in class; general overview followed by an analysis of the coverage and repercussions of the Oct. 2009 ?an?¨¡w¨©/niq¨¡b issue)
• Read Sheikh Y¨±suf al-Qara?¨¡w¨© in cyberspace (Bettina Gr?f 2007)
• Listen to ???????? ??????????? ??????? ????????
• read ???????? ????????????? ?? ?????? ??????
• Read David Faris, Revolutions Without Revolutionaries? Network Theory, Facebook, and the Egyptian Blogosphere and formulate min. 2 critical questions on it.

• Fronter :

(a) Find and briefly describe 3 major ¡®secular¡¯ sites from ¡®your¡¯ country

(b) Prepare a 1-page handout on the topic of your semesteroppgave, to accompany your oral presentation.

• Read ?????: ????? ????????? and a leading Arab blogger¡¯s reflections on his blogging experience: ???? ?? ?????? ???? ???? ¨C plus, if you want, a selection of the other interviews published by M.S. Ahjiouj: ???? ?? ?????? ???? ????? , ???? ?? ???? ????? ???.?????? ?? ???? ????? ???.?? , ???? ?? ???? ????? ??? ??????! ? ???? ?? ???? ????? ????¡­
• Read Mapping the Arabic blogosphere
• Read March Lynch¡¯s ideas on the history of blogging in the Middle East

• Fronter : Find & briefly describe 5 interesting (explain criteria!) Facebook groups in Arabic, either specific to ¡®your¡¯ country or pan-Arab; try to include both ¡®secular¡¯ and ¡®religious¡¯ ones.
• Read Brian Ulrich, Historicizing Arab blogs and formulate min. 2 critical questions on it.
• Read Rasha A. Abdulla: "Arabic Language Use and Content on the Internet", in Bibliotheca Alexandria Access to Knowledge Toolkit , pp. 112-131 and Yasmine El Rafie, Bloggare utmanar den klassiska arabiskan and formulate min 2 critical questions on the language issue