media
toot-in’ their blogs Blogging in the Middle East is still is its infancy, but on the upswing. Fast-growing, Amman-based Toot, the first Arab blog network, is leading the way with broad and diverse content plus new services. there has been much hype about the rise of blogs in the Arab world, but blogging, and reading blogs, remains the domain of an elite minority. Although the number of Arab Internet users is increasing rapidly, only a fraction of them read blogs, and user penetration is still below the world average of about 14 percent, according to a 2005 study by the Masdar group of Dubai. That said, blogging, or tadween, has been an invaluable tool for many to bypass social and political restrictions in the region – although in some cases a steep price has been paid for this form of free speech: bloggers in Egypt, Bahrain, Syria and Saudi Arabia, among other countries, have been imprisoned. ‘Toot has expanded to include Ikbis (“the YouTube of the Middle East”) and Watwet, a free Web and mobile social networking site.’ Nevertheless, lucky readers have a growing number of first-rate blogs to choose from. One of the best places to begin is Toot, the first Arab blog network, launched in Jordan in 2006. Attractive and well-designed, Toot posts 170 or so of what it deems the best Arab and Arab-related blogs in English and Arabic. Sample blogs include ‘GadgetsArabia’, which tracks the latest consumer technology; the political Pal-
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estinian ‘Sabbahblog’; Beirut artist and musician Mazen Kerbaj’s ‘Kerblog’; a blog by an Iraqi woman in Baghdad’s Green Zone, ‘Neurotic Iraqi Wife’; and California-based Moroccan writer Laila Lalami’s ‘Moorish Girl’. Founded by brothers Mazen and Karim Arafat, Ahmad Humeid (who also mans the blog 360 Degrees East), Andreas Pieper, Wael Attili and George Akra, the Toot team operates out of Amman with the exception of Mazen Arafat, who lives in London. Between them, the twentysomething entrepreneurs pooled their know-how in banking, law, web development, design and technology, and have expanded the company, creating two other separate products: Ikbis, the region’s first video and photo sharing service, (coined ‘the YouTube of the Arab world’ by Newsweek in 2007) and Watwet, a free Web and mobile social networking/miniblogging site. Ikbis has also formed a partnership with Nokia, allowing Nseries owners to share their photographs and videos on Ikbis instantaneously. Ikbis also recently launched an Internet comedy channel called Ground Zero. The TootCorp partners are currently in talks with several investors, and have a few more projects up their sleeves. Toot is most definitely a site to be bookmarked. _Alex Zeytoun www.itoot.net www.ikbis.com www.watwet.com
The following blogs are as different in form and content as the Internet is vast:
www.atrissi.com/wordpress Beirut-born Tarek Atrissi is a designer based in The Netherlands. He began his blog as a professional and personal visual and design diary of his studio. Posts are about visual culture, design, typography and type design in the Arab world, as well as the studio’s current projects.
www.mideastyouth.com ‘Mideast Youth’ is the brainchild of Esra’a Al Shafei, who describes herself as a student ‘from a kingdom the size of a bathtub in the Gulf: Bahrain’. She launched the blog in 2006 with the intention of creating ‘a fierce but respectful dialogue in the region amongst members of all sects, socio-economic backgrounds, and political and religious beliefs’. Al Shafei has succeeded in running her blog with fellow students who volunteer their services, and she now has Arabs, Iranians, Kurds and Israelis contributing from an impressive number of countries. ‘Mideast Youth’ recently won an award from Harvard Law School.
www.mymarrakesh.com ‘My Marrakesh’ is a blog created by Maryam, an American interested in design and all manner of beautiful objects. The blog was launched to record the adventures of Maryam and her husband as they set up a guest house in Marrakech, but it took on a life of its own and has since won awards and led to a book contract. ‘My Marrakesh’ is for anyone who enjoys reading about design, lifestyle and Morocco, and the photos are lovely as well.