Hazem Ghorab - Diaspora: a journey to a better life or a fake one?

Diaspora is a term that is usually related to the migration of the Israelis to countries outside of Palestine. But what I’m referring to is the general concept of a group of people, that aren’t necessarily Israelis, leaving their countries to settle in a different place making them expats instead of locals. This migration could result from different reasons, whether it’s for better security, better labor, better lifestyle, or even just for the sake of leaving their own countries. The main reason why my family decided to leave their homeland (Egypt) and settle in the UAE was because they had this idea that raising their children in Egypt would not be safe and would not offer them the best education and lifestyle. This rationalization convinced my relatives to do the same thing, so my father’s brother and his wife and my mother’s sister and her husband decided to follow them. Today, I am sad to say that this was a failed diaspora; none of their intended goals were achieved, at least not the way my parents expected it to be. 

Through out my education years, my family and I have come to realize that there really isn’t anything special about the education in the UAE; sure they might have fancy names and are mostly American public schools, but the bottom line is their not that good. It turns out that education in Egypt is actually considered to be better and much more accredited than here. I’ve noticed that my cousins in Egypt that are of the same age as I am, are actually much more knowledgeable than me in mostly everything.  

As for my lifestyle, I’m close to loosing my Egyptian culture due to the diversity of the cultures around me. One would think that the United Arab Emirates has an Arabic culture; on the contrary, it’s actually as westernized as any other western country. So now I’m not just losing my Egyptian culture, but I’m also losing my Arabic culture, instead, I lean towards being an American than being an Arab.

These websites are related to my diaspora because of the following:

·      http://saraghorab.wordpress.com

I was glad to find a website that is created by a stranger that is in the same family tree as I am. Sara Ghorab is a Poet and a Philosopher, and in her website she talks about all the living issues of Egypt and the Egyptian people.

·      http://www.masrawy.com

A perfect website to stay in touch with my Egyptian side. It a website designed in a teenage friendly way by young adults. It talks about everything that is related to Egypt, whether its news, sports, films, books, etc., all in Arabic. When I visit this website, I feel like I’m an Egyptian again.

·      http://www.internations.org

An online community made for expats all around the world. It doesn’t matter whether the user is an Egyptian expat, Indian expat, Filipino expat, etc. the number one purpose for this website to connect all expats together around the world. 

Asma Hinawi _ Syrian Diaspora

Syrian Diaspora

What is Diaspora: 

The term “Diaspora” is used to refer to the dispersion of religious or ethnic groups from their homelands, either forced or voluntary. The word is also used to refer to those people as a collective group and community” (Smith). What am going to take bout under the title of the term Diaspora is Syria Diaspora which means the Syrian communities out of their original country. 

Three website about Syrian Diaspora:

http://www.syria-news.com 

Syrianews is a mean of media that is related to Dash dot. This website launched in the begging of 2005. The main station of this website is in Damascus. This website is mainly about Syrian news and it publishes a lot of issues about Syrian population around the world.

http://www.family-help.com

This website is talking about the sex education. It also provides useful information about sexual relationship. Moreover, it affords tips of how we practice healthy sexual relations. Besides that, it has medical information that helps us to protect ourselves from harmful and unhealthy sexual relationships. I was really impressed by such a web site because we have very close mentality about such subject in Syria. Also, people do not take such information serious enough to make them an educational topic. What I liked the most about this website that it is supported by the ministry of health in Syria which make the information that the website provide very valid and trustful. 

http://www.souria.com/ar/about.asp

This website is about a huge Syrian community in the internet. It has members from all over the world. The main objectives for the website are:

To define the history of Syria 

To cover the Syrian social events

To provide maps for Syrian cities

This website also provides the historical and modern places in Syria and it considers one of the biggest travelling guide for Syria. Moreover, it represents the natural site   in Syria. In addition, it has its own magazine that discuses Syrian issue which also the members can purplish in it. 

Work cited

Smith, S.E. “What is a Diaspora.” Wise GEEK clear answers for common questions, wiseGEEK, 2003-2011. Web. 3rd june, 2011 < www.wisegeek.com >.

second life by Alina Asif

Virtual means almost. Objectivity of the real world. Avatar was a Hindu God Vishnu, the God of re-carnation. He believed in the movement from virtual to the real life. These days avatars are from real to virtual life.  MUVE (multi user virtual environment). Second life is a complex but an interactive online community if we look at the blogs or any other social networking sites. It is completely different and a new feeling. In second life you can re-create yourself, make friends blog, chat. It’s a new opportunity to be imaginative and meet different people around the world. An individual experiences a new and different life. You can travel from one place to another within sec, you can buy new housem cars, clothes, shoes whatever you want. Second life is attracting and addictive, but you lose touch with the real life and real friends.

I created a second life account but I kept my name Alina Asif and everything the same. I don’t want to be someone else. Im happy the way I am and who I am.

 Media and environment video was about green citizenship. The

Classical meaning of green citiznship was to minimum standard of living and have good communication system. He further talked about the Three Zone of citizenships. Which are:

Political: Right to vote, Right of freedom.

Economic: Right to work.The most powerful and increasing burden of environmental cost because of the growth in ethics. Due to more media, more outlets, more social networking, more entrepreneur, more public Media technology grows faster and faster.

Cultural: right to know and to speak.

All these above points Correspond to: Liberty, equality, solidarity (French).

He explained what Eco ethical orientationis. He said its the trashing media technology. We all need to reduce political, economical and cultural investments in media technology to have an efficient and effective media technology. We need to decide how much media technology we should use and where we should stop ourselves. 

by: Alina Asif. 

Second life- Khushboo Uttamchandani

 Link to -- Second life introduction


Second life is a more complex and interactive online community in comparison to regular blogs or other social networking sites. It is a different planet on its own. In second life you can make friends blog, chat, and more importantly make an avatar. It gives you the opportunity to get creative and meet people all around the world. It lets an individual have extra ordinary experiences; you can fly, be an animal, travel around the world. It’s a fun filled planet on its own. Even though second life may be fascinating it is addictive, the more one indulges with second life, it is likely for him/her to lose connections with his/her real life.

If I were to make an avatar I would be a dragon. For one they are mythical creatures and also have a cultural relevance to my birth place Korea. Secondly the can fly and breath fire It would be nice to have theses super natural powers. I have a fascination with dragons since my childhood  it would be nice to pretend to be one.

Suzanne Darkan - Class Recording

 

For better quality : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rvdhk8U_xY

Khalil Jerdak-With Friends Like These...

“With friends like these” by Tom Hodgkinson expresses the historical background of Facebook, additionally to the founders and the investors. Also he states some of its disadvantages and talks about the huge effects that it has on its users.

Hodgkinson believes in his article that Facebook is a way which any anyone can change his identity and be any person he wants. He also mentions that Facebook became a big part of our daily use where t affected our social activities, our communication with others and became a routine. Furthermore, he highlights on the idea of connection on which people became very disconnected rather than connected.

          According to our daily experience and the excessive use of Facebook we actually became disconnected from the real world. In other words, we hide behind our screens and create a second life that we want and the identity that we want also. 

In my own opinion I see that also we can consider that Facebook is a way of connecting people. For example, friends we never heard about them from a long time or friends that are apart in different countries, which Facebook made us, reconnect with them.

 

Citation

Hodgkinson, T. (2008, January 14). With friends like these [Article History].
Retrieved from The Guardian website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/
2008/jan/14/facebook 

Rawan Khatib - Second Life

Summary 

The article my "Virtual Life"speaks of the new trend in the social networking; a program called Second Life that allows it's users to create a replication of themselves as avatars on the game. Users can simply purchase the software and have it installed onto their personal PC's and with a simple click join the rest in creating their own visionary world. 

The creator Second Life is Linden Lab of San Francisco, their intention had been clear to follow the trend and create a game where users could simply re-create themselves in any shape or form that they choose. It had been modeled after similar games such as World of the Witchcraft where users venture on continuous quests to gain power and gold. However as according to the author Second Life has taken a majority of that and pushed it to the " extreme end of the playing field" for one important reason the players of Second Life are the ones who create their surrounding and their personalities unlike in other games where the basic set of tools and characters are pre-chosen. In Second Life characters are created from scratch dependent on the user's preference. Not only are the characters yours to create but as well the user controls the merchandise, and other items that they wish to purchase. An achievement for Second Life is that it has managed to gather more followers than a majority of other games and it has managed to establish its own currency which has now become equivalent to the US currency. 

Now as the author points out what is the reason behind such a creation and what would be the benefits of becoming involved in such a game. As Linden Lab states that many do not wish to sit and observe but they much rather become involved and have something to call their purely own and that is what Second Life offers consumers. 

Reflection  

Second Life is only one of the many virtual games that we as a virtual public have been introduced to however as the author says Second Life is nothing typical. It is a game where not only are users allowed to create their "avatars" from their own imagination but they also are allowed to re-create or create any environment that can be suited to they're liking. Another factor is that Second Life management allows it's users to own all their personal possessions online. 

I found that Second Life is stimulating and interesting but something that struck me was that it was similar to other games, such as Sims.  In Sims users can create versions that are any shape and color and they can dress them and get them jobs to participate in the game. The difference between the two games is that in Sims you can all control the characters in the household while in the Second Life you can only control your own avatar. A second difference is that in Second Life you are able to interact with others who are participating in the game while in Sims it is different and less easy.