Digital Middle East

In recent years, the Middle East's information and communications landscape has changed dramatically. Increasingly, states, businesses, and citizens are capitalizing on the opportunities offered by new information technologies, the fast pace of digitization, and enhanced connectivity. These changes are far from turning Middle Eastern nations into network societies, but their impact is significant. The growing adoption of a wide variety of information technologies and new media platforms in everyday life has given rise to complex dynamics that beg for a better understanding. Digital Middle East sheds a critical light on continuing changes that are closely intertwined with the adoption of information and communication technologies in the region. Drawing on case studies from throughout the Middle East, the contributors explore how these digital transformations are playing out in the social, cultural, political, and economic spheres, exposing the various disjunctions and discordances that have marked the advent of the digital Middle East.

Mohamed Zayani is Professor of Critical Theory at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar and Research Fellow at the University of British Columbia's Liu Institute for Global Issues. He is the author of the award-winning book Networked Publics and Digital Contention.

PART I: DIGITAL CULTURES AND ONLINE VOICES
1. The Changing Nature of Socialization among Arab Youth: Insights from Online Practices Ilhem Allagui
2. Virtual Worlds, Digital Dreams: Imaginary Spaces of Middle Eastern Video Games Vít %Sisler
3. Mediated Experience in the Egyptian Revolution Mark Allen Peterson
4. Women's Voices Online: Making Change in the Middle East Annabelle Sreberny
5. From the Souk to the Cyber-Souk: Acculturating to e-Commerce in the MENA Region Norhayati Zakaria
PART II: DIGITAL DISJUNCTIONS AND CYBER-POLITICS
6. Domesticating Foreign Intellectual Property Laws in the Digital Age: Of Pirates and Qarsana in the GCC Suzi Mirgani
7. Working For Free: Hidden Social and Political Economies of the Internet in the Middle East Jon W. Anderson
8. Digital Rights Activism after the Arab Spring: Internet Governance Politics and the Internet Freedom Proto-Regime Muzammil M. Hussain
9. Citizenship and Cyber-Politics in Iran Gholam Khiabany
10. E-Government in the GCC Countries: Promises and Impediments Damian Radcliffe