<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:#000000;"><div></div><div>Re-posted for AoIR</div><div><br></div><div><div style="overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: auto; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; background-color: white; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; "><div id="tabMessageViewerBody_headeri4_51296692747894"><div id="0_messageHeaderDiv" class="messageHeaderDiv colorWhite fontT2 fontMedGray" style="position: relative; top: 0px; left: 0px; cursor: text; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;
padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 10px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><div class="posRel" style="position: relative; "><span id="0_messageHeaderControls" class="headerControls" style="float: right; position: relative; z-index: 5; font-weight: normal; "><a class="textLink headerControl fontT1 fontLink" widget="" cmd="launch:open" title="Open message in full-size view" style="cursor: pointer; color: rgb(0, 129, 194); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; ">Full View</a></span><div id="0_messageHeaderSubject" class="ellip headerSubjectLine fontH1 fontDarkGray fontBold" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 2px; line-height: 18px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); position: relative;
width: 771px; "><div class="cgSelectable ellip_text" style="width: 771px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; "><nobr id="0_messageHeaderSubject_text" class="cgSelectable msgSubjText" style="overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; "><span widget="" cmd="msgaction_ext:subjectSearch" class="cgSelectable" title="View all emails with this subject" style="cursor: pointer; ">[Air-L] Message from Egypt</span></nobr></div></div></div><div class="posRel" style="position: relative; "><table class="fontT2 fontMedGray" cellpadding="0" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); "><tbody><tr class="msgHeaderContainer"><td id="0_messageHeaderLabelCell" style="vertical-align: top; "><nobr id="0_messageHeaderToLabel" class="headerRecipientLabel" style="float: right; margin-left: 15px; padding-right: 5px; ">From:</nobr></td><td style="vertical-align: top; "><div
id="0_messageHeaderSender" class="ellip headerSender" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 2px; cursor: pointer; float: left; position: relative; width: 207px; "><div class="cgSelectable ellip_text" style="width: 207px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; "><nobr id="0_messageHeaderSender_text" class="cgSelectable"><span widget="" cmd="msgaction_ext:senderSearch" class="cgSelectable" title="View all emails from this sender " style="vertical-align: top; "><span class="fontDarkGray" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">Dr. Rasha Abdulla</span> <rasha@aucegypt.edu></span></nobr></div></div><a id="0_messageHeaderABText" class="textLink msgHeaderLink fontT3 fontLink" cmd="msgaction_ext:addContact" widget="" title="Add Sender to Contacts" style="cursor: pointer; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 20px; color: rgb(0, 129, 194); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px; ">Add to
Contacts</a></td></tr><tr id="0_messageHeaderToContainer" class="msgHeaderContainer"><td style="vertical-align: top; "><nobr id="0_messageHeaderToLabel" class="headerRecipientLabel" style="float: right; margin-left: 15px; padding-right: 5px; ">To:</nobr></td><td style="vertical-align: top; "><span class="cgSelectable">air-l@listserv.aoir.org</span></td><td style="vertical-align: top; "></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><hr class="messageHeaderDivider colorK2" noshade="" style="color: transparent; background-color: transparent; height: 1px; clear: both; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-color: rgb(216, 216, 216) !important; border-top-style: dotted !important; border-top-width: 2px !important; "></div><div id="cg_msg_content" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;
margin-left: 10px; ">Dear friends and colleagues,<br><br>This is a brief message from Egypt at the end of a very long and tiring day.<br>Just to thank you for the ISOC Statement on Egypt's Internet shutdown and<br>for your wishes and thoughts. I have been down at Tahrir Square (which means<br>"Liberation" by the way) almost everyday this week, and I can tell you our<br>7000-year-old nation is being re-born.<br><br>I don't have any scientific theories to back me up right this moment (maybe<br>I will when I'm better rested and I've had time to read all your messages on<br>the subject, this is the first day we've had Internet access since Friday<br>morning our time), but I can tell you this has been, to a very large extent,<br>an Internet-based revolution. Even the illiterate classes who are down on<br>Tahrir Square say this was started "by the youth of Facebook" and I do agree<br>with them. Please forgive my lack of scientific support for now, but
it's<br>almost 2:30 am here and I really need some sleep for another long day<br>tomorrow. I have three books to my name on different aspects of Internet use<br>and its effect in the Arab world, and this will probably be the topic for my<br>fourth book; and I also am founding editor of an Egyptian book series on<br>"Digital Literacy" so I will claim that I know my stuff to a good extent. I<br>do have a lot of elaboration to do, I know, but I'll ask that you bear with<br>me till I have a little more time on my hands.<br><br>I'm just writing to let you know that the youth of Facebook, who have<br>revived this great country, are hanging tight in Tahrir Square, together<br>with hundreds of thousands, at times millions, of people who have joined<br>them, many of them not even Internet users. There's a new momentum in the<br>air, and we hope it will lead to a much better future for this country and<br>its people.<br><br>Your thoughts, wishes, and prayers are
much needed and much appreciated.<br><br>All the best.<br>Rasha<br><br>-- <br>Rasha A. Abdulla, Ph.D.<br>Associate Professor and Chair<br>Journalism and Mass Communication<br>The American University in Cairo<br><span><a target="_blank" href="http://www.rashaabdulla.com">www.rashaabdulla.com</a></span><br>_______________________________________________<br>The <a ymailto="mailto:Air-L@listserv.aoir.org" href="mailto:Air-L@listserv.aoir.org">Air-L@listserv.aoir.org</a> mailing list<br>is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers <a href="http://aoir.org/" target="_blank">http://aoir.org</a><br>Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: <a href="http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org" target="_blank">http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org</a><br><br>Join the Association of Internet Researchers:<br><a href="http://www.aoir.org/" target="_blank">http://www.aoir.org/</a></div></div> </div>On
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