Wednesday, June 26, 2013

'Virtual Jihad: Chechnya's Instagram Insurgency'

Neal Ungerleider, fastcompany.com, Virtual Jihad: Chechnya's Instagram Insurgency "Pictures of Chechnyan fighters and casualties have become an unexpected hot currency on Instagram's jihadist underground, where Al-Qaeda and Taliban sympathizers eagerly swap pictures and propaganda."

'Is it safe for children to study the Koran online?'

Rahila Bano, BBC Asian Network, Is it safe for children to study the Koran online? "More British Muslim parents are turning to online service providers for their child's Islamic education - but this has fuelled concern that members of radical groups, based abroad, could pass on extremist views to children."

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Germany probes model plane attack suspects

AP/denverpost.com, Germany probes model plane attack suspects "German authorities are investigating two men of Tunisian origin suspected of planning to use model airplanes for terrorist attacks, prosecutors said Tuesday, as police in Germany and Belgium raided a series of sites searching for evidence of "possible attack plans and preparations."

Egypt's revolution inspires tech start-ups

BBC News, Egypt's revolution inspires tech start-ups "Egypt's swelling mass of young, educated, and enlightened graduates are now working on changing the future of a nation byte by byte, not just brick by brick."

cartoonist profiled

NYT, Khalid Albaih’s Pen Leaves a Mark Across the Arab World inspirational cartoonist profiled

Inspire/Esquire

alarabiya.net, Al-Qaeda’s Inspire magazine confused with Esquire at Gitmo hearing confusion at/of hearing...

My Isl@m - book

csmonitor.com, My Isl@m

Malaysia

New Report: Mapping Digital Media: Malaysia | Digital Islam

Friday, June 21, 2013

'Egypt's revolution inspires tech start-ups'

BBC, Egypt's revolution inspires tech start-ups, 21 June 2013 "Egypt's swelling mass of young, educated, and enlightened graduates are now working on changing the future of a nation byte by byte, not just brick by brick."

China jails Uighurs for online 'extremism'

Guardian, China jails Uighurs for online 'extremism', 20 June 2013 "Courts in China's far western region of Xinjiang have sentenced 11 ethnic Uighurs to up to six years in jail for promoting racial hatred and religious extremism online, in the latest crackdown on what China sees as violent separatists."

New and Noted: Media, Religion and Gender

digitalislam, New Book: Media, Religion and Gender: Key Issues and New Challenges "Routledge published a new book titled "Media, Religion and Gender: Key Issues and New Challenges" edited by Mia Lövheim."

Monday, June 17, 2013

Rohani

RFE/RL, Rohani's Victory Signals Desire For Change "The victory of cleric Hassan Rohani, the sole moderate in Iran's presidential vote, signals a strong desire for change among Iranians, who are facing soaring prices, unemployment, and increased social and political restrictions."


Saturday, June 15, 2013

Citizen Journalist: How Social Media Reveals the Truth in Turkey

Huffington Post, Citizen Journalist: How Social Media Reveals the Truth in Turkey  "After the Arab Spring it would be easy to look at what is happening in Turkey right now, sigh, nod our collective heads and return to scanning our Facebook feed for anything to alleviate the boredom of the daily news. We've seen it all before right? The Military dictatorship overthrown by an unstoppable public passion.

"Only this isn't the same. This is an entirely new beast that is showing where the real democracy lies. It lies in the social media feed - the one we carry with us in our pocket all day long, the one we check on average 14 times a day. Facebook and Twitter have been at the forefront of recent rebellions from Brixton to Egypt, operating as an easy way to mobilise and organise protesters. However, there is another purpose they serve and that is the transmission of the news when the news is biased."

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

'Inspire' Magazine Issue 11

Steven Stalinsky and R. Sosnow, MEMRI, 'Inspire' Magazine Issue XI – First Issue Released Via Twitter – Review And Analysis: AQAP Praises Use Of Twitter, Reiterates Strategies Of Lone Wolf Jihad, Bringing Down U.S. Economy, 11 June 2013 "This Twitter release circumvented the main problem that had plagued the publication of previous issues of Inspire – that is, subsequent and intermittent removal of the jihadi forums. Twitter is referred to and praised, and tweets are cited, multiple times in Issue XI – further evidence that jihadis are becoming increasingly dependent upon it."

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Islamic Discourse in an Online World

VOA, Islamic Discourse in an Online World [podcast], 4 June 2013 "A new book “Islam Dot Com: Contemporary Islamic Discourses in Cyberspace” examines contemporary Islamic discourse online and analyzes the threads of discussion forums on three of the most mainstream Islamic websites. VOA’s Mohamed Elshinnawi spoke to the book’s co-author, Sahar Khamis, who is also an assistant professor of communication at University of Maryland." The book isn't new - haven't heard the podcast yet.