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Ask About Life, Blogging and Linux in the Middle East

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the get-the-local-scoop-by-talking-to-the-locals dept.

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.

4 of 286 comments (clear)

  1. Which is more important to develop... by Viperion · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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?

  2. Arab and Israeli communities by Yonkeltron · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is there any collaboration between the Arab and Israeli communities when it comes to blogging, Free/Open Source Software or general computing?

    --
    Keep the faith, share the code
  3. Arabic hacker food by DarkClown · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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?

  4. Stereotypes and those who would further them... by d3ac0n · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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?

    --
    Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory