The Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, the Woodrow Wilson School, and the Center for Information Technology Policy co-hosted a workshop and panel discussion on social media revolutions on Wednesday, April 27. The workshop, "Statecraft 2.0: Changing Governance in a 'Real-Time' World," was held at 12:00 p.m. in 012 Bendheim Hall. The panel, "Social Media Revolutions: All Hype or the New Reality?," was held at 4:30 p.m. in Lewis Library, Bowl 120. This workshop and panel analyzed the impact of digital tools, social networking, and the Internet in the coordination of democratic movement against authoritarian states, with specific focus on the Middle East and North Africa.

A webcast of the panel is available on LISD's YouTube Channel.

Panelists:

Ahmed Ghanim, born and raised in Egypt, is an Egyptian American writer and poet that immigrated to the US after graduating from medical school in Cairo, Egypt. Dr. Ghanim currently has his first (early) collection of poems under print. Titled "Dawi Al Samt" (The Echo of Silence), this collection gives to all that read a glimpse into the mind of a very creative and inspirational writer and thinker. His passion for creative writing and journalism inspired him to promote freedom and Civil Rights across nations. Ahmed uses his voice to inspire younger generations in hopes of bring change to the Middle East. He does this by writing and offering his works through the most popular online news/media outlets in the Middle East, Masrawy.com and Maktoob.com. His experiences in journalism in English and Arabic include interviews with prominent political leaders and advisors, articles on Civil Rights, poems, and news reports. In February 2011, he famously conducted an exclusive interview with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on social media.

David Faris is currently teaching and researching at Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago. He earned my PhD in Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 2010. His dissertation focused on the use of digital media by Egyptian opposition movements. In his dissertation he argued that the networking capabilities of social media are converging to produce the potential for democratic transition during moments of crisis. Current research projects include contributing to a global digital activism dataset (GDADS) through the Meta-Activism Project, as well as article projects on authoritarian media systems, Islamist digital activism in Egypt, and Muslim experiences in American airspace.

Barry Libert is a business executive, author, and speaker based in Boston, Massachusetts. He has more than 25 years of executive leadership and entrepreneurial experience, and has been instrumental in advancing the awareness and use of Web 2.0 and social technologies within the business world. Mr. Libert is the Chairman and CEO of Mzinga, the leading provider of social software, services, and analytics that improve business performance. He has published five books on the value of social networks and human interaction. He is a regularly featured keynote speaker and has delivered speeches to audiences of 20,000+ globally. As co-author of the critically acclaimed book "We Are Smarter Than Me," Mr. Libert and his co-authors highlighted the power of social technologies by using the Wiki-based contributions of more than 4,000 people to illustrate how businesses could profit from the wisdom of crowds. Mr. Libert has also co-authored two additional books on the value of business information and relationships. He has been published in Newsweek, Smart Money, Barron's, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times and he has appeared on CNN, CNBC, FNN and NPR. In addition to forging Mzinga’s vision and strategy, Mr. Libert currently serves on the Board of Directors at Innocentive and The SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In 2000, Mr. Libert founded Shared Insights, one of Mzinga’s predecessor companies. Prior to Shared Insights, he was a senior partner at Arthur Andersen and John Hancock. He began his career with McKinsey & Company. Mr. Libert is a graduate of Tufts University and holds an MBA from Columbia University. He currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts with his wife and two sons. His latest book is “Social Nation: How to Harness the Power of Social Media to Attract Customers, Motivate Employees, and Grow Your Business.”

Caroline McCarthy is a journalist, columnist, and television commentator for CBS and CNET.com, reporting on digital innovation and new media. She has appeared on CNBC's "Power Lunch," "On the Money," and "Street Signs"; MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" and "MSNBC News Now"; CBS' "The Early Show," NBC's "Today," and NPR's "Talk of the Nation" (among various other television and radio programs) talking about technology from Facebook to iPads to net neutrality. A 2006 graduate of Princeton University with a degree in History of Science and a certificate in Creative Writing, Caroline was also a member of the varsity rowing team and vice president of Cloister Inn.

Nadav Samin is a doctoral candidate in Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University whose research concerns the cultural politics of modern Saudi Arabia. Mr. Samin’s publications include an analysis of debates on tribal Internet discussion forums in the kingdom. His articles and reviews have been published in the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, Arab Studies Journal, and the Wall Street Journal, among others. Previously, Mr. Samin was an Arabic translator and a lecturer in Political Science at Hunter College, New York City. Mr. Samin recently returned from a three-month research trip to Saudi Arabia, where he conducted interviews with Saudi Internet forum administrators and web entrepreneurs.

Philip Seib is Professor of Journalism and Public Diplomacy and Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California, and is director of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy. He is author or editor of numerous books, including Headline Diplomacy: How News Coverage Affects Foreign Policy; The Global Journalist: News and Conscience in a World of Conflict; Beyond the Front Lines: How the News Media Cover a World Shaped by War; Broadcasts from the Blitz: How Edward R. Murrow Helped Lead America into War; New Media and the New Middle East; The Al Jazeera Effect; and Global Terrorism and New Media: The Post-Al Qaeda Generation. He is editor of the Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication, co-editor of the Palgrave Macmillan Series in Global Public Diplomacy, and co-editor of the journal Media, War, and Conflict.