In the brain-dead manner of many new-age social media twits, Kovas Boguta gives the old Arab mind Visualizing The New Arab Mind - Computational History.
The preening Boguta has created the following chart that identifies the heavy tweeters of the Egyptian freedom movement.
[Click to enlarge]
He explains it by writing: Experts say Egypt is the crystal ball in which the Arab world sees its future. Now that Mubarak has stepped down, I can share the work I've done making that metaphor tangible, and visualizing the pro-democracy movement in Egypt and across the Middle East. It is based on their Twitter activity, capturing the freedom of expression and association that is possible in that medium, and which is representative of a new collective consciousness taking form.
"A new collective consciousness taking form?" Well, maybe in the happy world of Kovas Boguta and others that actually believe the clap-trap of twitter's world saving powers. But not, I think, the way such handy clots of information will actually be used.
The Muslim Brotherhood, once they overcome their wild laughter at "a new collective consciousness taking form," would be remiss as a terrorist organization bent on the control of Egypt if it did not use this bit of Boguta's research methodically.
That method would be to extrapolate the twitter handles to the real names of the tweeters and put them on a list for re-education or death en route to the new regime in Egypt.
Thirsting for such recognition a commenter on the thread actually wrote, "My name is there separated from Ghonim by 2 nodes. Actually, I don't feel like I do such an effect and I was amazed that my bubble is relatively big."
At the same time, a comment of mine pointing out the potential evil uses of this information yesterday was scrubbed from the thread by today. Too much reality I guess.
I wonder if Boguta and his ilk will be interested in tracking the shooting, throat cuttings, and beheadings that befall members of his Egypt Influence Network over the next three to five years. Probably not. He'll be on to the next big thing that promises fresh fields and pastures new. He won't ever see the mass graves.
Posted by Vanderleun at February 13, 2011 1:44 PM
Reminds me of the board meeting in The Meaning Of Life, when they find out that people aren't wearing enough hats.
Posted by: David McKinnis at February 13, 2011 4:42 PM"In a case of ironic symbolism, the far left-most satellites are the Whitehouse, State Department, and......"
I also noticed Bill Gates' links were to Huffington Post, Al Jazeera (English) and Queen Rania (Jordan). They are also fairly far left.
Posted by: Roger Drew Williams at February 13, 2011 6:41 PMAnd the official intelligence sources in Egypt say 'Thank you very much'. The Muslim Brotherhood? Probably much the same as they start wondering how many of their people were just exposed and start going into damage control mode. Did any of our people use these open networks? If so - run. Now. Fast!
As in 'Did Mubarak let all of this boil up this long in order to see what came to the surface? Did the Army permit this? Did the Intelligence permit this?
Run.
Posted by: Mikey NTH at February 13, 2011 6:49 PMI remember reading about Iranian exiles protesting the Ayatollah in Lafayette Park after the Shah left Iran. Mingling in the crowd were members of the basiji, clubbing and dragging off to points unknown any number of the protesters. All done on American soil. No cop lifted a finger to prevent this from happening. That was in 79, so I'm sure we'll be really alert now when Copts and maybe the elusive moderate Muslims get together in Lafayette and protest the hijacking of the Egyptian Revolution by the Muslim Brotherhood.
Posted by: Jewel at February 13, 2011 7:40 PMThe horizontal networks of twitter are mistaken for the vertical connections of time. Most Americans seem to think that anything called a democratic revolution results in a country like ours. The failure of public school history education aided and abetted by popular media is the emphasis of the founders as intellectual genisus, and the absence of the founders attachement to English law and government. Our form of government was based on England without the king. The experiment of our government was based on experience. American history actually should go back to England and include a history of England (which didn't when I was in school).
I do not know how the Egyptians without a cultural history of a Magna Carta or Reformation will develop a desire for the type of democratic idea of government we have. Even the French Revolution, did not progress and end like ours and at least one founder and intellectual giant, Jefferson, lived in France at the time (a horizontal time connection). Perhaps Twitter is more influential than Jefferson. Time will tell.
I personally think that the English were a positive influence, for most of the colonies they possessed are the places democracy seems to have been most successful.
Posted by: Ralph at February 14, 2011 6:05 AMThe data is in public domain.
Anybody can obtain it and interpret it.
Posted by: john boguta at February 14, 2011 10:44 AM
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