Launched around the initial lockdown phase in March 2020, Clubhouse has become a space for virtual audio hang-outs and more serious controversial debates. Participants voiced their opinions about the Gulf’s normalization of Israeli ties, racism, and transgender rights. This kindling of a sense of connection through the intimacy of voice[...]
In this #BreadandNet 2020 session, Professor Abderrazak Ben Hamida from iCompass outlined the importance of chatbots for connecting vulnerable people to services, focusing on the Tunisian chatbot 3ziza which provides Tunisian vulnerable groups with support during the pandemic.
In this #BreadandNet 2020 session Shadi Abou-Zahra from W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) discusses what does digital accessibility actually means and how can we ensure websites and apps work for everyone, with and without disability? Covering international efforts on digital accessibility that we collectively need to promote in the MENA[...]
With the surge of Covid cases in Egypt, the government imposed further restrictions on the freedom of expression and opinion. The Egyptian State monopolized the term “real news,” constraining it to news issued by official authorities only. Any other news would be deemed fake and prosecuted before the public. Between[...]
In this #BreadandNet 2020 session, Sacha Robehmed from International Rescue Committee (IRC) discusses the role of online platforms in connecting organizations to individuals, while maintaining online privacy and security. COVID-19 forced many humanitarian organizations to rapidly adopt digital tools like Whatsapp to share information with crisis-affected populations, and to deliver[...]
On Monday, March 16 2020, the Ministry of Education in Morocco decided to halt classes across all departments and divisions, as part of the precautions aimed at limiting the outbreak and spread of COVID-19. While Morocco was one of many countries to resort to the complete or partial closure of[...]
As the Lebanese economy continues to deteriorate, the unofficial exchange rate between the dollar and the lira, officially pegged at $1 USD to 1,507.5 L.L since 1997, reached a peak of $1 to L.L10,500 earlier in March. The record high exchange rate was accompanied by nationwide protests. The Lebanese government,[...]
In this #BreadandNet 2020 session Dima Jweihan from The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), Nahla Hamdani from WeYouth, and Lina Jarrous from Seeds discuss the online presence of civil society organizations and cyberlaw, moderated by Lisa Vermeer. Today, almost all civil society organizations (CSOs) have an online presence. This[...]
In this #BreadandNet 2020 session, Fahd Batayneh, ICANN’s Stakeholder Engagement Senior Manager (Middle East) explains the domain name system; i.e. top-level domains, domain names, and root-servers. Batayneh shares some statistics on the surge in DNS queries during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Then, he discusses the work undertaken by the domain name[...]
Tunisian police summoned fashion designer Myriam Bribri on October 8 following her involvement in protests against poverty, inequality and police brutality. Since this was not the first time she has been targeted for her activism, Bribri was less than surprised. Yet, now she was being summoned in for posting[...]
