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Ask About Life, Blogging and Linux in the Middle East

Posted by Roblimo on Tue Feb 28, 2006 11:00 AM
from the get-the-local-scoop-by-talking-to-the-locals dept.
Software Government Linux Politics
Isam Bayazidi is about as far from the current U.S. media stereotype of an Arab as you can get. He's worked on the Arabeyes (Unix/Linux in Arabic) project, helped start the Arabic Wikipedia, co-founded the Jordan LUG, is a Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE), works as a senior software developer for Maktoob, an online community that boasts more than four million members, and created Jordan Planet, a blogging community whose members have many different religious and political viewpoints. Isam is also a long-time Slashdot reader, so he's the perfect person to ask what's going on in the Arab (cyber)world today. One question per post please. Isam will answer 12 of the highest-moderated questions. We'll run his answers verbatim as soon as he gets them back to us.
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[+] Answers from 'Our Man in Jordan' 181 comments
At the beginning of this month we sent your questions to Isam Bayazidi of Amman, Jordan. He's a Slashdot reader, founder of the Jordan Planet blogging community, and (I know this from personal experience) knows the best places to buy discount-priced computer components in his home town. Enjoy!
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Ask About Life, Blogging and Linux in the Middle East 50 Comments More /

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  • Which is more important to develop... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Viperion (569692) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @11:08AM (#14817109) Homepage
    A communication infrastructure, or a transportation infrastructure? I ask this because what my American viewpoint sees of the middle east is the seeming lack of mass-transportation systems like we have in American (highways, railroads, and the like.) The Middle East also seems to lack a stable communication infrastructure, especially to rural areas. Which do you think is more important, communications or transportation?

  • Arab and Israeli communities (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Yonkeltron (720465) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @11:09AM (#14817133) Homepage
    Is there any collaboration between the Arab and Israeli communities when it comes to blogging, Free/Open Source Software or general computing?

  • Arabic hacker food (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DarkClown (7673) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @11:11AM (#14817149) Homepage
    Pizza and some caffeinated beverage with an occasional foray into sushi are typical geek food in the west - what is finding it's way down the typical arabic chair dwellers gullet?

  • Straight Outta Casablanca (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Doc Ruby (173196) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @11:11AM (#14817150) Homepage Journal
    You have solid credits for several "Arab versions" of modern software. The Mideast, was where many technologies, like writing, urban living, astronomy and symbolic math were invented or mastered. What new uses of the Internet and open SW do you see originating in Mideastern hands? Which brand new apps are people in your world using in a way more familiar in the Mideast, which could make the jump to global popularity the way so much Western tech already has?
      • Since you're wrong, Anonymous ignoramus Coward, you should learn that Greece adopted those techniques from neighbors to the East and South. And that Egypt is certainly in the Middle East [google.com]. You probably think that Greece was part of "European Civilization", not Mediterranean Civilization.
  • How do you blog in Arabic? Aren't there several more characters in written arabic than there are on a normal keyboard?

    Do you have some cool Arabic keyboard? Is it dvorak?
    • Just do a search for "Arabic Keyboard". There are actually several layouts, but they're mostly similar. Some of the positioning comes from matching the morse-code for an Arabic letter and its Latin letter equivalent.

      The number of letters is not an issue, since there are no capital letters in Arabic. Plus, there's only 28 letters in the Arabic alphabet, plus a few odd symbols.

      http://www.zeitun-eg.org/keyb.htm [zeitun-eg.org] gives a good example of a common layout.
      • Yeah, here in Egypt we have a lame joke regarding this topic.

        Q: How does an English person iron his clothes?
        A: From left to right!

        *ducks*
        • I heard that in the middle east, Egyptians are often regarded as having a sense of humour. I saw a quote from a reporter interviewing people in Egypt after 9/11 asking them what they thought about the fact that it was an Egyptian who lead the attacks. One person shook his head and said something to the effect of, "No way the ringleader could have been Egyptian. These attacks required planning and coordination..."
  • If they do, do they mostly use dial-up, DSL or cable modems for their internet access?
  • But the question that really jumps out in my mind to ask is this:

    After living in Egypt for a year, the biggest frustration I can recall with computers is how unreliable the power was. Due to the spikes and surges, the school I taught at would normally go through about 5 power supplies a month (for a building with about 200 computers). Any serious business who wants to protect their computer from an unwanted surge has at minimum a voltage regulator, and at maximum a UPS. Our school paid a company in Europe to host their website, as most Egyptian businesses did.

    Is there any power infrastructure advancements that are being made to better support the growing rise of computer use in the middle east?

  • Cartoons and website defacement (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Weaselmancer (533834) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @11:15AM (#14817192)

    So, what's your opinion on the arabic kids who are defacing websites [yahoo.com] in protest to the Mohammed cartoons?

  • I know that here, many people are spending an inordinate amount of time on the computer, to the point where it has negatively impacted their time spent with people in social settings (iow - people are becoming less social). Blogging is yet another time sink, on top of the web, email, etc.

    Do you foresee the same negative long-term effects in the middle east as we've experienced?

  • Stereotypes and those who would further them... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by d3ac0n (715594) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @11:17AM (#14817217)
    Ok, Two-parter here...

    1)As an Arab in today's world, how do you deal with those in the Western world who further the stereotype of "Arabs As Radicals"?

    2) In addition how do you, as a forward-thinking Arab, address the issue of those in the Middle Eastern world that would seek to further the radical elements of Islam for thier own purposes, regardless of the consequences or the stereotypes this may create in the West? In other words, how does one function as a concientious objector in Middle Eastern Society?
    • I like these questions. The problem with main stream media is that it only interviews people who will incite the viewers (ie: Gets ratings). How does someone in a similar situation (educated, middle income, technology worker) to many of the readers here feel about the Middle East social-political climate and the general sterio types between the Arabs and Westerners?

      -Rick
    • Okey, I just want to comment on this stereotype thing you said, I have always thought that any stereotyping is wrong. But, if I have learned one thing from my 2 years in UK is that the stereotypes are there *because* of some reason.

      Let me explain, I am from Mexico, and I have lived here (UK) for almost 2 years. It has been very interesting and I have had contact with a lot of different kind of people (different contries and races).

      I do not know if the stereotype of "arab as radical" is true but, all the mid
    • 1)As an Arab in today's world, how do you deal with those in the Western world who further the stereotype of "Arabs As Radicals"?

      It's Westeners who are furthering the radicals stereotype?!

      Maybe you should take off you rose colored glasses and look at the thousands of people that have been violently protesting cartoons to the point where lives have been lost and building burned... or the countless suicide bombings in that region that are cheered and looked at proudly by a large percentage of the population..
        • In Islam we learn to respect all religions can't you do the same?

          One word... judaism.

          Plus, let's not forget those buddhist(?) statues that were destroyed in Afghanistan under Allah's name.

          Muslims can bullshit the rest of the world all they want about how their religion is peaceful, but actions speak louder than words. Currently, all of the world's major conflicts involve muslim combatants on at least one. Even in Iraq, right now, the rising conflict is between muslims of slightly different islamic variation
  • Do you think that Islamic exposure to the Internet, and the information age is causing culture shock in the Middle East. Surely it must be, it is causing a culture shock in the US even. How do they handle it? How are they reactiong? Do you think it's causing a backlash that relates to terrorisim?

  • Stereotypes (Score:3, Interesting)

    by NitsujTPU (19263) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @11:20AM (#14817246)
    Isam Bayazidi is about as far from the current U.S. media stereotype of an Arab as you can get.

    The article itself, in this case, is very leading regarding an opinion of treatment of Arabs by the US media.

    My question is, what do you feel that the stereotypes reinforced by major media outlets are? Certainly they reported that there were Arabic hijackers on 9/11, that Al Quaida has attacked the US many times, and has reported acts such as beheadings and suicide bombings. Unfortunately, the fact is that these events all happened.

    Do you believe that there is an undercurrent of racism and bigotry in the media's portrayal or Arabs? Do you believe that the image of the Arab has been charicatured by the US?

    As a follow-up. How do you feel that recent world events, such as the riots in Paris, riots over Danish comics, and even the actions of terrorist organizations or Arabic origin have influenced this view, by relation to media portrayal.

    Do you see this adversely affecting your career, or have major business outlets mostly overlooked this?
    • Do you believe that there is an undercurrent of racism and bigotry in the Arab media's portrayal or Americans? Do you believe that the image of the American has been charicatured by Arab governments?
    • How should he know?

      He does not live in the US. He's not exposed to the US media. How can someone judge media bias/undercurrent if he's not immersed in it?

  • Dilbert (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Lev13than (581686) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @11:20AM (#14817255) Homepage
    I'm going to guess that office and IT environments around the globe probably share more in common than their superficial differences (language, decor, degree of automation etc...) suggest. Indeed, petty politics and general insanity are going to raise their heads regardless of your office's time zone. As such, how well does Dilbert [dilbert.com], the quintessential North American corporate satire, translate into Arabic? Do you see your office in these cartoons? If not, is there an Arabic version that does a better job?
  • well, looking at the questions so far, I don't know if one guy's opinion is a realistic way of finding out what's going on in the Arab world, but it's sure going to be a fascinating (and possibly scary) window on what the perceptions of the average western geek.

  • Credible Sources for Arab Bloggers (Score:5, Interesting)

    by tabdelgawad (590061) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @11:24AM (#14817299) Homepage
    As a founder of an Arabic (Jordanian) blogging community, what do you perceive to be the source of news most popular/trusted by Arab bloggers? Is it local, Arab (AlJazeera, etc), European (BBC, TV5, etc), or American (NY Times, Washington Post, CNN, Fox News, etc)? Is the Arab blogging community a large echo chamber for the latest and greatest western conspiracy theories, or is there genuine diversity of sources and opinions?

  • Exportation of Technology (Score:3, Interesting)

    by DaedalusLogic (449896) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @11:28AM (#14817343)
    A lot of people in the states are familiar with anti-export warnings on encryption technology:

    Are their any technologies that the government of Jordan specifically mandates not be exported outside of its borders?

    OR

    How common is it that encryption technology that the U.S. Government asks not be used overseas is actually implemented "against their will"?
  • Red Hat Certified Engineer - is that the Linux version of the MSCE?

    For a while I was starting to believe in some certifications again, but then I ran into an CISSP who needed to be told what magic things a firewall does to that new-fangled technology called TCP.
  • When writing code, do you find the pre-requisite of english a hinderance to writing solutions to problems? European spoken-language is part of the design of nearly any modern programming language - ie <BODY>, "FOR/NEXT", <xsl:value-of>, "SELECT * FROM"... which then requires at least a little understanding of English in order to make sense of what the keywords are suggesting.

    Yes fellow SlashdotWeenies, I know that when executed/compiled these 'words' are symbolized and purely arbitrary - but, a
    • Personally, as an Arab developer, I have no problems with coding using English constructs. Most Arab developers are the same.
      It's quite the opposite, in fact, there have been many attempts to create an 'Arabic programming language' that used Arabic keywords and identifiers, but none of them became popular even if the language itself was good.

      The problem, IMO, is with learning, not developing.
      Some of my students are not very good English speakers. They have no problem with basic programming constructs like f
  • Do you happen to know Junis [slashdot.org]?
  • I know that a number of people work on doing translation work for various languages -- as a whole, what is the state of Arabic-translated open source software? Is it possible for someone to work on a Linux desktop fully within Arabic, or is it necessary to use English?

    How does this support compare with that under Windows?
  • Isam Bayazidi is about as far from the current U.S. media stereotype of an Arab as you can get.
    Does he think that women who don't wear tents and ninja masks are whores, and in consequence should be killed by having rocks lobbed at them?
  • about the Middle East that you've seen in Western Media that you wish could be cleared up?

  • Mo'toons (Score:5, Interesting)

    by redelm (54142) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @11:49AM (#14817571) Homepage
    I'm deeply concerned about the Arab/Islamic reactions to the Danish cartoons depicting The Prophet Mohammed.

    I accept the cartoons are blasphemy and deeply offensive. Yet I hear no acknowledgment that freedom-of-expression is religiously venerated in the West. Worse, official (pandering?) reaction (sanctions) holds large unrelated groups responsible rather than the tiny right-wing newspaper that did the wrong. The many must pay for the misdeeds of the few. This implies responsibility for their own extremists!

    I know media everywhere is seriously distorted. In the West, fear sells ink, photons and electrons. I wanted to understand the feeling on the ground. What are the people feeling?

  • As an American I find my relation to the Middle East almost exclusively filtered through the lens of "spreading Democracy." I am also a Religious Studies major so I find myself fascinated by Muslim theocracies and their relation to modern technology. Increased access to the Internet and availability of technology must be an enormous influence for modernization and liberalization in otherwise oppressive countries. However, you see countries like Iran becoming more technologically saavy even while they pro
  • In addition to blogs, podcasting's blooming as an outlet for many groups and interests. Are there any you would recommend (in Arabic or English) for folks in the West to hear what folks in the Middle East are thinking, without media spin?
  • Isam? You're not a MySQL admin, by any chance?

    (Sorry, sorry, couldn't resist.)

    Serious question: from your point of view, what do you think it would take for MidEast nations to embrace democracy, in one form or another, rather than the monarchal and dictatorial systems which are currently popular? For instance, your home nation of Jordan is a monarchy, though a relatively benign one. Do you see any impetus for that to change? If not, why not? As a correllary, do you think it's important that MidEast nations
  • what are you really fighting over?
  • I don't know what the situation is in Iraq, for the locals, but I'd like to establish some contact.

    I can correspond in Esperanto and/or English. I'm sorry, but I don't know their native language.

    Do ordinary people in Iraq have access to the Internet? If not, is there some way of finding someone in Iraq who would like to correspond by mail with a "USonian" who is genuinely interested in their viewpoint?

    I can't help but think that if we only had more interpersonal relationships between the US and Iraq

  • Down to earth... how does it feel? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by TINGEA77 (935076) on Tuesday February 28 2006, @12:39PM (#14818151)
    As an Arab, a Jordanian, a regular Slashdot reader, and a computer addict my self, I feel compelled to ask this question. But first a little about why I'm asking... I started my addiction when I was in Jordan at an early age in the mid 80's, and moved to the United States in the late 90's. So I think by now I'm out of touch with how things are advancing in our part of the world. I used to be considered as a knowledgeable geek, but that was a long time ago when I had more time on my hands. :(

    My questions are (really it is the same LONG question:)

    Now that online communities and computer volunteering (especially OSS) is growing on the highest rate in the western part of the glob, how do you see participation and understanding of such participation in Jordan in specific, and the middle east in general?

    Do you see the Arab population is going toward a more active role, or maintaining a technology consumer role as it used to be in the old days? Do you feel that you are a loner in what you do and contribute? Or do you get a whole lot of "Hey man that is soo cool, how would I start contributing like you do?"

    Last but not least, from your day-in-day-out interaction with the local-online-communities, when do you see us (Arabs) technologically maturing to a level where we can be a major contributing force in the OSS global community... is it happening now?

    May be one of those days we'll meet... after all Jordan is a small place :)
    • Are women in IT allowed to drive to work?

      The only Arabic country where women aren't allowed to drive is Saudi Arabia, and currently there is a big movement to abolish this unnecessary restriction. Most other Arabic countries are very open. I have seen topless women (Russians mostly) sunbathing on Dubai's beaches. But, other cities in the UAE are much more conservative, although not as closed-minded as the Saudis.

      You can't really generalize one stereotype over all Arabs. It's like saying that all Americ
      • You are misinformed my friend. The Arab world consists of around 21 countries. The only one of them in which women are not allowed to drive is Saudi Arabia. And even in Saudi Arabia, that is probably not true anymore (not %100 sure though).

        Let's not forget that until recently, Afghanistan was being run by the (mostly foreigner-managed) Taliban, who would pubicly murder women for working at all, never mind how they commuted. Women who went uncovered by a burka, or who dared to teach their daughters to rea

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