Meeting of 11 March 2011

11 March marked the fifth meeting of the IPEMED ICT work group. The meeting took place in Istanbul with the objective of preparing the first version of the final report, including events in the Arab world since 14 January (date of the last meeting) and ICT’s role in these developments. Nilgun Tutal Cheviron, lecturer at the University of Galatasaray, was invited to talk on the role and influence of ICT in Turkey.
 
Deliberations essentially concerned recent events in Tunisia, Morocco, and Libya and the role of ICT in these movements. There was an overview of what direction the final report should take and progress made on experts’ contributions.

Some issues and ideas were analyzed in particular:

A link between ICT and popular revolt?

How did young people’s knowledge of social networks (Facebook) and new technologies (mobile phones) contribute to spreading tension both socially and geographically? A genuine The liberalization of information made it possible to send alerts and call witnesses to save and protect inhabitants.  

How did “collective organized resistance” minimize individuals’ sense of isolation and fear?
Social networks: ICT and trust, a unifying effect

What role did Facebook actually play in the popular revolts? Was it a central device or simply a technology for channeling communication and circulating information? How do social networks focus the awareness of shared feelings and bring people together? Is it sufficient to take action from the virtual world into the real world?
 
How does trust work in social networks (by imitation)? Does it put traditional forms of trust into question? How far can imitation drive a revolution? Digital “technological” trust  joins two established types of trust: traditional and political. Does digital confidence clash with standard trust?

Information sharing, the media and the revolts

How do bloggers catalyze phenomena? What role has information sharing had on social networks? How reliable is this way of broadcasting information in comparison with traditional media?

The ICT situation in Turkey

Turkey ranks 20th in the world in numbers of internet users: How is the internet used in Turkey? How often? What are the main purposes? How secure is data sharing? To what extent is information liberalized?