"BIRZEIT, PALESTINE AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB" MAILING LIST
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16 September 1998, Vol.2, Issue 5
Those of you who received the last mailing will know that Nigel Parry, former Birzeit Webmaster, is now off in the United States somewhere looking for funding for a project based on the Personal Diary. Everyone concerned with Palestine owes Nigel a great deal of appreciation for his work on the web and getting the real message across about the situation here. He has really pioneered the design of quality websites and the use of new technology to inform, educate and move people - always in his own inimitable style.
Meanwhile, we have exciting developments planned for the Birzeit University site. The last few months have seen a rapid expansion of internet use in Palestine. There are 7 internet café’s in the West Bank. This time last year there was only one in the Ramallah-Birzeit area, now there are 5. The response we received during the First Internet Festival at Birzeit University is another indication, over 400 people attended during the 3-day event and many want to contribute in some way to the development of the university website.
What are the reasons for this? Since 1992, all Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have been subject to closure with a crippling effect on lives here. Before 1992, Palestinians could travel freely around the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem without harassment. Today, the psychological notion of closure is as real as the physical one. Closure has been internalized as a natural state of being in Palestinian society.
We used to talk about Palestinians in the 1967 territories, Palestinians living in the 1948 areas, and refugees. Today, even within the territories occupied in 1967, we talk about Palestinians in Gaza, in Jerusalem or in the West Bank.
The internet can be a powerful tool against this cantonization. It can connect people with the world and provide them with a tool to speak uncensored to a large audience. It is no accident that many of the websites we’ve reviewed and recognized in this month’s Complete Guide update, deal with this duality of connection and closure. The winner of the website of the month award, Welcome to Yafa, the Academic Freedom First Campaign for the freedom of movement of Gaza students, the Badil website with it’s emphasis on refugees and Jerusalem.
We have several projects planned for the BZU website to increase the participation of the Birzeit Community in the web project. Firstly, in the coming two-weeks, we will be launching a new section of the website entitled Our Voice. The aim of this section will be to provide space for Birzeit University staff and students to publish their work directly on the web. This won’t just be in the form of text, but also with video and audio techniques. Already students are working on material for this site.
Secondly, we will be launching in the coming weeks Birzeit Radio. An on-line Real Audio radio station which will broadcast once a week from the university. We see this as another opportunity for students to speak directly to the world and utilize new media.
Thirdly, we want to increase the Arabic content on the Birzeit site. We feel this is important to encourage the full participation of Birzeit students and staff and help break down the mysticism that sometimes surrounds this technology. This is also important in speaking to Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora and other Arabic speaking countries.
We will definitely continue to deliver high quality content, and really this is what has struck us most from reviewing the sites for this month’s Complete Guide update - it is content that makes a good website. Unfortunately, we’ve noticed this month that several of the sites added this month have sacrificed content for form. By all means, websites should be attractive, intuitive and innovative in their design. But if we are going to use the internet as a voice for Palestinians - we need to actually say something.
Received this reprint from a mailing list - I'm glad I'm not their webmaster, a heavy responsibility indeed! It's abridged from an article about the US bombing of Sudan.
Los Angeles Times, Tuesday, September 1, 1998 Sudan Attack Claims Faulty, U.S. Admits By PAUL RICHTER, Times Staff Writer . . . U.S. officials said that at the time of the strike, they knew that the plant had had a "grand opening" celebration to publicize it as a major new source of medicines for Sudan, which has been rent by a lengthy civil war. But the officials said they did not believe that the plant actually produced such medicines, because they saw no evidence of such an output when they accessed a Web site for it. Web sites for five other pharmaceutical plants in Sudan listed the medicines produced at those plants.
Palestine Economic Forum: http://www.palecon.org/
The Palestine Economic Forum seeks to "promote prosperity and the peace process by bringing in the economic dimension on a broad set of issues that are at the cutting edge of Palestinian economic development."
On the website, you will find extensive information on the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS), publications including the excellent Palestine Economic Pulse, West Bank and Gaza Update, Peace Economics, articles and papers, and a discussion forum, which includes topics such as Public Sector Finances and Administration, International Trade, Investment, and Capital Flows, Private Sector Development, Human Resources, and Permanent Settlement Issues.
Ray Hanania, I'm glad I look like a terrorist: Growing up Arab in America: http://www.hanania.com/book.htm
Ray is a well established journalist, with a lot of very interesting writings on his website. He has begun putting his latest work about Deir Yassin online, chapter by chapter. Go check it out at http://www.hanania.com/
Hey! Advertise with the Complete Guide!. Did you know that each banner advert that runs for a year enables Birziet University to purchase a new computer? More information from http://www.birzeit.edu/links/advert.html
BP&TWWW will be back next month, around about the middle, with more sites and reviews. If you know of any websites which should be here, but aren't - let us know!
Adam Hanieh
Birzeit Webmaster
Previous issue: 22 April 1998, Vol. 2, Issue 4
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