eemed that nearly all of the 90,000 people who had responded to the Facebook request to demonstrate on Police Day had filled the square, crowded into central Alexandria, and confronted the security forces in Suez City
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Egypt's Spring: Causes of the Revolution | Middle East Policy Council - 0 views
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An accidental president, who came to power because of Anwar Sadat's assassination on October 6, 1981, Mubarak initially calmed the public, stressed the rule of law, released political prisoners and encouraged parliamentary elections. However, as soon as he began his second term, in 1987, he refused to reform the constitution, extended the state of emergency, promulgated laws to exclude opposition parties from local councils and tightened the grip of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) over parliament. He denounced opposition groups for criticizing his policies and asserted, threateningly, "I am in charge, and I have the authority to adopt measures…. I have all the pieces of the puzzle, while you do not."1
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after the Islamist groups renounced violence in 1997, emergency and military courts continued to operate. They prosecuted civilians charged with nonviolent infractions, such as Muslim Brothers who met to prepare for professional syndicate elections or journalists who "slandered" regime figures. Police increasingly harassed people on the street, demanding bribes from shop owners and minivan drivers and free food from vendors and restaurants. They seized and beat people in order to coerce false confessions or to pressure them to become informers. They harassed people who came to the police station to get IDs or other routine documents, and they nabbed those who "talked back" to them. Amnesty International concluded that torture was "systematic in police stations, prisons and [State Security Investigations] SSI detention centers and, for the most part, committed with impunity…. [Security and plainclothes police assault people] openly and in public as if unconcerned about possible consequences."
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3 Even the government-appointed National Council on Human Rights, in its first annual report (2004), expressed deep concern about the 74 cases of "blatant" torture and 34 persons who had died in police or SSI detention that year.4 A U.S. diplomat cabled in 2009 to Washington that Omar Suleiman, director of the Ge
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neral Intelligence Directorate, and Interior Minister Habib al-Adly "keep the domestic beasts at bay, and Mubarak is not one to lose sleep over their tactics."5
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All aspects of public life were controlled, ranging from censorship of cultural and media production to the operation of labor unions.
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Workers were banned from striking and, since the change in the labor law in 2003, were often hired on short-term contracts, under which they had no medical — or social — insurance benefits. The monthly minimum wage had not been raised since 1984, when it was set at LE 35 (in 2011 the equivalent of $6).6 The ETUF enforced government policy rather than represented its millions of members.
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Private-sector workers suffered even more, as the 2003 labor law failed to provide any protection to employees negotiating length of contract, salary level, hours at work, overtime compensation, vacation or lunch breaks. Workers often lacked health and injury insurance. Many private-sector firms forced new hires to sign, along with the contract, Form No. 6, which allowed the employer to fire them without warning, cause or severance pay.
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The exclusion of opposition forces from the political arena in fall 2010 was accompanied by systematic crackdowns on the media, cultural expression and university life. The regime wanted to prevent critical commentary from being aired in independent newspapers and on private satellite stations. The government closed down 19 TV and satellite channels, hacked or blocked several websites, and pressured private businessmen to cancel outspoken critics' positions as editors, opinion writers and talk-show hosts. The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) concluded: "The Ministry of Mass Media and Communication has tightened its fist over all media channels to markedly reduce the space for freedom of expression, especially [during and] after the last parliamentary elections."13
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Already, press and cultural output were managed through myriad control boards. Journalists were beaten, jailed and/or fined if they investigated corruption or police brutality and were charged with incitement or libel when they criticized government policies or political leaders. AFTE also reported heavy-handed censorship of movies, plays and books.
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The crackdown on university life accelerated after the 1979 student charter was amended in 2007 to give administrative bodies — and, behind them, the SSI — the right to bar students from running in university elections. By th
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en, the SSI was interfering deeply in university operations: approving the appointment of rectors and deans, exercising a veto over teaching-staff employment and promotions, vetting graduate teaching assistants, determining the eligibility of students to live in dormitories, and interfering in scientific research, textbooks choices, and faculty permissions to travel abroad to participate in conferences.14 The SSI presence was overtly threatening; guards stood at the gates and at each building. Plainclothes SSI officers quelled demonstrations as well as threatening and arresting student activists. Then, in October 2010, the government refused to implement the Supreme Administrative Court ruling that banned SSI guards from the campuses and also blocked anti-regime candidates from contesting seats in the student-union elections.15
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They sold significant portions of the public sector for their personal benefit and decreased public investment in agriculture, land reclamation, housing, education and health
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Nearly half the residents of Cairo lived in unplanned areas that lacked basic utilities, sometimes living in wooden shacks
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the World Bank reported that, by 2006, 62 percent of Egyptians were struggling to subsist on less than $2 a day
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Given the overwhelming power of the state, the severe restrictions imposed by the State of Emergency on public gatherings, and the unchecked violence by police and security forces, people were fearful of protesting in the streets. Nonetheless, there were many efforts to expose the conditions. Novels and films highlighted corruption, police brutality, urban poverty and sexual harassment.29 Some art exhibits displayed in-your-face paintings depicting torture and military repression. Human-rights groups reported on poverty in the countryside and cities, deteriorating environmental conditions, harassment of women and activists, restrictions on the press, police coercion, and thuggery during elections.
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There was public outrage at the very public beating-to-death just before midnight on June 6, 2010, of 28-year-old Khaled Said, seized as he entered an internet café in Alexandria.35 Late that night 70 young men and women gathered across from the police station, demanding that the police be brought to justice. They received the usual response: beaten, dragged along the street, attacked by police dogs, and arrested. Protests continued throughout the summer: funeral prayers at Sidi Gaber mosque, attended by 600 mourners who spilled out into the street afterwards; a vigil outside the Ministry of Interior headquarters in Cairo; a silent protest along waterfronts and bridges throughout Egypt; and numerous violently suppressed protests in downtown areas not only involving well-known politicians and protest groups but also people who felt that Khaled Said could have been themselves, their son, or their grandson. A teenager reflected this perspective, saying: "This is an extraordinary case. This guy was tortured and killed on the street. I did not know him but I cannot shut up forever."36 "For the sake of Khaled! For the sake of Egypt!" (ashan Khalid, ashan masr) became a rallying cry, voiced in fear as well as in the determination to restore individual and collective dignity (karama). On the fortieth day commemorating his death, people shouted outside the High Court: "Our voices will not be silenced… We've waited for 25 years, but our condition has not improved. Tomorrow the revolution will come."37
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Dozens of Facebook groups supported the cause, of which "We Are All Khaled Said" became the most famous. They circulated reports about poli
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ce brutality, many of which had been posted in the past but had not received such intense scrutiny. These included the video of police sodomizing a 21-year-old minivan driver in January 2006. Filmed by police officers in Boulaq al-Dakrour station, the police mailed it to the cell phones of other van drivers to intimidate them. "Everybody in the parking lot will see this tomorrow," they boasted.38 Hafez Abu Saeda, head of the Egyptian Organization of Human Rights, noted: "Police brutality is systematic and widespread… The humiliation of the simple citizen has become so widespread that people are fed up."39 Their anger, he warned, could spark a rebellion.
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Nonetheless, the protesters themselves agree that it took the swift removal of Ben Ali to make them think that, if sudden change was possible in Tunisia, it might be possible in Egypt.
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Even when people broke the barrier of fear on January 25, played cat-and-mouse with security forces on downtown streets on January 26 and 27, and withstood the onslaught all day and night on January 28, they faced a formidable regime, supported by the security forces and the entrenched NDP. The revolution would have been much bloodier if the armed forces had stood by the president. President Mubarak and Interior Minister Habib al-Adly hastened their own demise by unleashing extreme violence on January 28, followed by Adly's abrupt withdrawal of all police forces that night. Enraged, the public created neighborhood watches to ensure the safety of their communities.
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Mubarak miscalculated by ordering the armed forces into the streets, even though their loyalty was to the nation — not to the person. He further miscalculated that he could offer minor concessions — such as appointing a vice president, changing the prime minister, and saying that he would not seek another term — on January 28 and again on February 1 and yet follow those placating words by unleashing fierce attacks on February 2. Over the next week, protesters held their ground, thousands of people flooded to city squares to call for dignity and freedom, labor strikes spread, employees in public institutions joined the movement, and lawyers, doctors, and professors marched in their professional garb. Finally, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces ended its silent watch and forced Mubarak's hand. When Mubarak resisted leaving, the generals compelled the newly-appointed vice president to inform the president that, if he didn't step down, he would face charges of high treason.
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Suddenly on Friday, February 11 — as millions of people surged angrily through the streets — Mubarak vanished. Anger transformed into tears of joy and celebration. And the next morning, young people cleaned up the public spaces, symbolically starting the huge task of cleansing Egypt of the corrupt regime and rebuilding the country. How they would rebuild Egypt remained uncertain, but their mobilization instilled a new and powerful pride, coupled with determination to take control over their future and not be cowed again by any authoritarian ruler.
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VEA - Social Media in Your Classroom? - 2 views
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Teachers can model appropriate digital usage by incorporating social media in the classroom in an open and honest way.
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Teachers can model appropriate digital usage by incorporating social media in the classroom in an open and honest way.
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Communicating in or reading a foreign language allows students to see how translations, idioms and appropriate vocabulary make a difference, causing them to become more careful in their own usage and translations.
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Communicating in or reading a foreign language allows students to see how translations, idioms and appropriate vocabulary make a difference, causing them to become more careful in their own usage and translations.
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Another viable and practical draw to using social media is that a teacher can develop assignments allowing students to see connections to real world employment
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Beyond Google: How do students conduct academic research? | Head | First Monday - 1 views
How Robotic Technology is Helping Students Learn Infographic | e-Learning Infographicse... - 1 views
elearninginfographics.com/ing-students-learn-infographic
robotic helping students infographic #ThoughtVectors media internet
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shared by Maryam Kaymanesh on 26 Jun 14
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Social Networking's Good and Bad Impacts on Kids - 1 views
www.apa.org/...social-kids.aspx
social social media media classroom student technology social networking
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Teens who use Facebook more often show more narcissistic tendencies while young adults who have a strong Facebook presence show more signs of other psychological disorders, including antisocial behaviors, mania and aggressive tendencies.
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Daily overuse of media and technology has a negative effect on the health of all children, preteens and teenagers by making them more prone to anxiety, depression, and other psychological disorders, as well as by making them more susceptible to future health problems
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Facebook can be distracting and can negatively impact learning. Studies found that middle school, hig
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school and college students who checked Facebook at least once during a 15-minute study period achieved lower grades
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Young adults who spend more time on Facebook are better at showing “virtual empathy” to their online friends.
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Online social networking can help introverted adolescents learn how to socialize behind the safety of various screens, ranging from a two-inch smartphone to a 17-inch laptop.
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shared by kinseyem on 24 Jun 14
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Health Education Center - General Health - 1 views
www.healtheducation.uci.edu/...internetaddiction.aspx
#InternetAddiction #TypesOfAddiction #tv008 #Support
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Unfortunately, college students can easily become addicted to the internet because of free access and lots of unstructured time. The internet allows students to easily find the most up to date resources as well as offer a great way to take a break from studies or keep in touch with friends and family.
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Social Media - good or bad? | Pennsylvania Technology Student Association - 0 views
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The social media allows for people to not only hear about what is going on, but actually see what is going on through the actual pictures of actual people.
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This causes a lot of issues for the people in the real world, as they cannot interact in the real world because they are too reliant on social media.
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Nowadays, jobs and schools are searching for people’s social media profiles in order to get a feel for who he/she is and what he/she is like.
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shared by anonymous on 30 Jun 14
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Why Wikipedia Does Belong in the Classroom - ReadWrite - 1 views
readwrite.com/...a-does-belong-in-the-classroom
education research technology inquiry process #ThoughtVectors wikipedia classroom
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Teach students that the act of writing in any setting is defined by both form and content. I don’t let my students cite Wikipedia in their academic papers (GASP!) because I don’t believe it to be proper academic form. I don’t let them cite the Britannica or dictionary either. In an effort to shape informed consumers of information I teach them how Wikipedia should and should not be used. I agree with Proffitt when he says it’s a great place to start and a terrible place to finish. Though in some academic circles, the tide is turning.
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Study: Why Do People Use Facebook? - ReadWrite - 1 views
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Before 2009, MySpace led the social network race. By April 2009, it was dead. A 2008 study by E. Hargittai found that Hispanic students made up 25% of the MySpace population as compared to only 14% of Facebook users. The demographics of Facebook are quite different. Women are more likely to use Facebook than men, and Hispanic students were less likely to use it than Caucasians.
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Facebook use intensity reduced perceived levels of loneliness, but FB's improvement of a user's social life did not improve the user's self-esteem.
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being exposed to information presented on one's Facebook profile, suggesting that it can help enhance self-esteem.
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Facebook can serve as a support system for those people in collectivist cultures, who have frequent interactions and a close circle of Facebook friends.
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"frequent Facebook use correlated with feelings of general connection in life and also with feelings of general disconnection in life."
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"the correlation of disconnection with Facebook use was mediated by the tendency to cope with disconnection via Facebook."
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If you're going on a date with someone you meet on OKCupid, for example, chances are you've friended them on Facebook to get a better idea of them. Recruiters are using Facebook to screen potential job applicants.
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Age of Distraction: Why It's Crucial for Students to Learn to Focus | MindShift - 1 views
blogs.kqed.org/...for-students-to-learn-to-focus
#ThoughtVectors technology education digital media augmented productivity attention focus distraction multitasking
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“The circuitry for paying attention is identical for the circuits for managing distressing emotion,” Goleman said. The area of the brain that governs focus and executive functioning is known as the pre-frontal cortex. This is also the part of the brain that allows people to control themselves, to keep emotions in check and to feel empathy for other people.
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“It’s about using the devices smartly but having the capacity to concentrate as you need to, when you want to.”
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shared by anonymous on 09 Jul 14
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IEEE Xplore Abstract - Augmented Reality Learning Experiences: Survey of Prototype Desi... - 0 views
ieeexplore.ieee.org/...login.jsp
#ThoughtVectors technology media education augmented reality evaluation
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We found 87 research articles on augmented reality learning experiences (ARLEs) in the IEEE Xplore Digital Library and other learning technology publications. Forty-three of these articles conducted user studies, and seven allowed the computation of an effect size to the performance of students in a test. In our meta-analysis, research show that ARLEs achieved a widely variable effect on student performance from a small negative effect to a large effect, with a mean effect size of 0.56 or moderate effect.
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EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES GAMES IN LANGUAGE LEARNING: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES Robert... - 0 views
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Robert Godwin-Jones, Virginia Commonwealth University There has been a substantial increase in recent years in the interest in using digital games for language learning. This coincides with the explosive growth in multiplayer online gaming and with the proliferation of mobile games for smart phones. It also reflects the growing recognition among educators of the importance of extramural, informal learning and the interest in finding ways to connect learning to students' real lives....number of practical and pedagogical obstacles in the way of incorporating gaming into instructed language learning... what kind of games to choose or to create; how to find the opportunities for language learning within gameplay; and how to integrate gameplay and its associated activities into the curriculum. APA Citation: Godwin-Jones, R. (2014). Games in language learning: Opportunities and challenges. Language Learning & Technology 18(2), 9-19 Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/june2014/emerging.pdf
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What draws us to Facebook? - 0 views
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It can boost our self-esteem, satisfy our need for connectedness and self-promotion, and help us maintain offline relationships.
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The sociable, the lonely and the narcissistic among us may turn to Facebook to satisfy different needs.
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site's appeal into two areas: the need to belong and the need for self-presentation. Facebook, Hofmann says, satisfies both of those basic needs.
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Paradoxically, the researchers found that spending a lot of time on Facebook correlated with both high levels of feeling connected to other people and with high levels of disconnection.
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People who are lonely and disconnected spend time on Facebook to cope with their loneliness. But people who aren't lonely also spend time on Facebook, and for them the site helps maintain social connections, leading them to spend even more time there.
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the students who felt particularly lonely and disconnected after their time away from Facebook reported sharply increased use of the site when they were allowed back on — presumably because the loneliness was motivating them to spend more time there.
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students who were asked to look at their own Facebook page for just three minutes showed a boost in self-esteem
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reinforces the version of ourselves who we want to be and can have a positive effect on our self-esteem.
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people who updated their Facebook status frequently, tagged themselves often in photos and had many Facebook friends — including people whom they didn't know in real life — scored higher on a narcissistic personality inventory than people who used the site more judiciously.
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can be useful because it can allow people to access information that they wouldn't otherwise know — such as a new job opportunity or a news story they might have missed.
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Impact of the Internet surfing on reading practices and choices - 0 views
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The present generation especially the college students are well versed with the new technologies and their application in present networked society
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Now the potential reader can access and browse the online information from the whole web while using his/her terminal at home.
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The hypertext and hypermedia technologies allow the e-readers to go from one page to another by selecting links in various directions popularly known as surfing
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Pythagoras - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views
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Pythagoras of Samos (/pɪˈθæɡərəs/; Ancient Greek: Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος Pythagóras ho Sámios “Pythagoras the Samian”, or simply Πυθαγόρας; Πυθαγόρης in Ionian Greek; c. 570 BC – c. 495 BC)[1][2] was an Ionian Greek philosopher, mathematician, and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism.
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Since the fourth century AD, Pythagoras has commonly been given credit for discovering the Pythagorean theorem, a theorem in geometry that states that in a right-angled triangle the area of the square on the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares of the other two sides—that is,
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While the theorem that now bears his name was known and previously utilized by the Babylonians and Indians, he, or his students, are often said to have constructed the first proof. It must, however, be stressed that the way in which the Babylonians handled Pythagorean numbers implies that they knew that the principle was generally applicable, and knew some kind of proof, which has not yet been found in the (still largely unpublished) cuneiform sources.[47]
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According to legend, the way Pythagoras discovered that musical notes could be translated into mathematical equations was when he passed blacksmiths at work one day and thought that the sounds emanating from their anvils were beautiful and harmonious and decided that whatever scientific law caused this to happen must be mathematical and could be applied to music. He went to the blacksmiths to learn how the sounds were produced by looking at their tools. He discovered that it was because the hammers were "simple ratios of each other, one was half the size of the first, another was 2/3 the size, and so on."
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Another belief attributed to Pythagoras was that of the "harmony of the spheres". Thus the planets and stars moved according to mathematical equations, which corresponded to musical notes and thus produced a symphony.[51]
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Netflix vs. Cable: How Viewers Watch TV in the Summer - 0 views
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About 99% of U.S. households (the total of which are in the 115 million range) have a TV, and 56% have cable. Compare that to Netflix, which has more than 48 million members worldwide. That means its entire global viewership is still not even half the U.S. However, that's not bad for a company founded in 1997, tackling a nearly 64-year-old industry.
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In the summer months, it's easy to assume Netflix usage would go through the roof, thanks in part to younger students who now have three free months of time.
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While Netflix doesn't share specific data on its viewers, spokeswoman Jenny McCabe said the site doesn't acquire more subscribers during the summer months. Rather, it picks up more viewers in Q1 (January, February and March) and Q4 (October, November and December).
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In Q4 2013, Netflix acquired 2.3 million new American households, the highest performance in three years.
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From a strategic standpoint, Netflix is starting to up the ante for summer viewers by airing original shows like Orange is the New Black in June.
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The average user prefers to watch a series from beginning to end, consume it wholly, then move on to the next thing, according to McCabe.
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Thanks to summer vacations, kids are watching way more Netflix. Considering how tech-literate children have become, it will be interesting to watch how cable TV fares against Netflix as this younger generation gets older, raised with both options.
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shared by Maryam Kaymanesh on 26 Jun 14
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9 Ways Technology Affects Mental Health | Do Something - 1 views
www.dosomething.org/...chnology-affects-mental-health
social social media media classroom student technology social networking
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Sleep. Using a laptop, cell phone, or iPad late at night can seriously mess with your sleep patterns and habits, potentially leaving you with a sleep disorder.
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Depression. A Swedish study found that participants who felt the need to have their cell phones constantly accessible were more likely to report depressive mental health symptoms.
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The popularity of social media and sharing everything has led to this new sensation where everyone from middle school-ers to working adults feel the pressure to attend every event and share every experience.
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Research has shown that with the ascent of Internet and technology use, rudeness and incivility on social media sites has also increased.
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Social media can also cause anxiety such as fear of not being successful enough or smart enough with use of sites like Facebook and Twitter.
http://www.aicit.org/aiss/ppl/32_%20AISS_JUNE_Binder1-32.pdf - 1 views
www.aicit.org/...32_%20AISS_JUNE_Binder1-32.pdf
robotic helping students #ThoughtVectors media education Augmented Reality
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