Issues Affecting Internet Use in Afghanistan and Developing Countries in the Middle East

Ghashghai, Elham; Lewis, Rosalind

doi:10.7249/ip231

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The irregular use may be accounted for by the common practice of sharing of a single Internet service provider by multiple individuals. 46 Also, the sky-high costs of laptops, mobile phones and desktops keeps many people from investing in InfoTech. Thus, cybercafés are a convenient, inexpensive and commonly used in Afghanistan.…”

Section: Social Media In Academiamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social Media for Scholarly Communication in Central Asia and Its Neighbouring Countries

Gaur

Gupta

2021

J Korean Med Sci

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Section: Social Media In Academiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, cybercafés are a convenient, inexpensive and commonly used in Afghanistan. 46 This makes it onerous to make an accurate estimation of Internet users in Afghanistan.…”

Section: Social Media In Academiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Media for Scholarly Communication in Central Asia and Its Neighbouring Countries

Gaur

Gupta

2021

J Korean Med Sci

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“…In particular, filtering is justified as sustaining Islamic values by protecting citizens from sites contain pornography and other -depravities.‖ (Shirazi 2008). Ghashghai and Lewis (2002) state that many Middle Eastern governments fear the Internet will facilitate communication among -subversive‖ individuals and other organizations such as special interest groups that have political agendas that challenge the legitimacy of their governments.…”

Section: Internet Filtering In Iranmentioning

confidence: 99%

The status of Web 2.0 in Iran's LIS education

Sarrafzadeh

Hazeri

Alavi

2011

EFI

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The present paper discusses results of a study which aimed to explore the knowledge and use of Web 2.0 technologies by LIS academics in Iran and to explore the challenges they face for using these technologies. More specifically, the study was to find answers to the following questions: 1. How do Iran's LIS educators rate their awareness of Web 2.0 tools? 2. How and in what ways Iran's LIS educators use Web 2.0 tools and services for academic purposes? 3. What are the problems that inhibit Iran's LIS educators from using Library 2.0 applications? The research method was explorative and empirical. Data was collected through a web-based survey questionnaire containing both open and close ended questions. The results show that LIS academics in Iran had good level of familiarity with some Web 2.0 tools such as blog, wiki, YouTube and Facebook. However, their familiarity with some other Web 2.0 tools such as RSS feeds, Twitter, Flickr, Delicious and podcast was limited. Blog, discussion groups, chat tools, file sharing tools, Wikis and SMS, video sharing tools and forum were used respectively by LIS academics in their teaching. Internet filtering was identified as the most inhibiting barrier to the use of Web 2.0 tools. Lack of access to high speed internet and lack of training were pointed as the other identified barriers. Authors suggest that to reap the benefits of Web 2.0, LIS academics need to find alternative non filtered Web 2.0 tools to employ in their teaching and research.

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“…Wheeler (2006) emphasizes that the use of the internet to openly oppose the states' political agendas is often punished by imprisonment. Ghashghai and Lewis (2002) state that many Middle Eastern governments fear the internet will facilitate communication among "subversive" individuals and other organizations such as special interest groups that have political agendas that challenge the legitimacy of their governments. These governments justify internet content filtering by appealing to a constructed Islamic "moral majority" and claiming to uphold the moral values of their society (Wheeler, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The emancipatory role of information and communication technology

Shirazi

2010

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of internet filtering, and its impact on marginalized groups including non-governmental organizations, female activists, ethnic, and religious minorities, the younger generation and the increase of the digital divide in Iran. Design/methodology/approach -The paper raises two main questions: to what extent do information and communications technologies (ICTs) and in particular, the internet, promote freedom of speech, and gender equality in Iran? What is the impact of state censorship and ICT filtering on these activities? To answer these research questions, the author uses narratives of the internet's usage along with a comparison study with other Middle Eastern countries to analyze the impact of ICTs on citizen's freedom of expression. Findings -The paper argues that restrictions imposed on ICT tools and services by the Government of Iran which has been claimed to protect country's national security against the corruption and immorality imposed by Western countries not only affect the expansion of ICTs negatively but also civil liberties -thus increasing the digital divide internally, regionally, as well as on a global scale. Research limitations/implications -Albeit this research is limited to the case study of Iran, the author believes that lessens learned from the Iran's case study can be applied to other Islamic countries and in particular countries located in the Middle East region. Practical implications -ICT tools and services such as the internet and short message service are effective emancipatory media for citizens' participation and mobilization in democratic processes. Originality/value -This paper contributes to the existing knowledge and understanding of the impact of ICTs on freedom and democracy.

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Issues Affecting Internet Use in Afghanistan and Developing Countries in the Middle East

Cited by 9 publications

References 7 publications

Social Media for Scholarly Communication in Central Asia and Its Neighbouring Countries

Social Media for Scholarly Communication in Central Asia and Its Neighbouring Countries

The status of Web 2.0 in Iran's LIS education

The emancipatory role of information and communication technology

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