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In an interesting article by Dr.Ahmad Moghrabi at Daral Al Hayat, Dr. Moghrabi talks about the lessons learned from bloggers and their fast reaction to Tsunami disaster and the major role the bloggers made to help, minutes after the earthquake hit. This also reminds me of our friend, Strav, and his live reports (such as this one) from the field, which are posted at BahrainBlogs.net.

On the other hand, Dr. Moghrabi is stating the "fact of ignorance" by Arabs in general, media and the Young Arab Interbet Generation. He writes:

?? ?? ??????? ???…

??? ?? ???????? ?? ??? ????? ?? ????? ??? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ???????? ?????? �??????�. ??? ????? ??????? ?????? �??????�? ???? ??? ?????? ??? ???????? ????? ??? ??? ????? ????? ??? ??? ????? ???? ???????? ??????. (???? �??????� ?????? 4 ?18 ????? ?????/ ?????? ?22 ????? ??????/ ?????? 2004).

?????? ?? ??? ?????? �??????� ?????? ???? ??? ????? ???. ???? ??? ????? ????? ????? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ??????? ?? ????????? ??????? ??????? ???????. ??? ??? ?????? ????? ??? ??????? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ?????. ?? ???????? ??? ????? �??????� ???? ?????? ?? ??????? ?????? ?? �?????�…..

Well, I left a comment on that post. First clarifying that Arabic word for blog, which is "?????" as most of you know it by now. Second, pointing the fact that the Arab bloggers community is big and the wave is growing. I also pointed to some active Arab Blogs and Communities, just to shade more light on this issue.

Dr. Moghrabi was kind enough to reply to my comments by email, and here I share his feedback:

Thank you for your interest in my article. It is a bitty that the Arab media had not paying attention to bloggers, including the Arab bloggers. As for the terminology in Arabic, it sounds good, though using the English term is a good alternative too.
This was not the first article in our newspaper about bloggers, & definitely would not be the last. We had already published more than one report that verified the presence of thousands of Arab bloggers. More specifically, it pointed the Iraqi blog which is due to be realized as a film. The competition done for the best blog, was covered by our pages. So, it would be fair to that you expect more articles. Saying this, then thank you also for the sites you pointed, which could become a subject of further writings.
The article blamed the Arabic journals & tvs for there general performance during Tsunami. The performance of the Arab bloggers was not blamed at all! The reason that emphasis was put on the non-arab bloggers, was to show a certain theme of contrast.
thank you again

Dr.Ahmad Moghrabi
Science & IT Editor
Al Hayat Newspaper

I have to admit the fact that I'm not a good follower of Al Hayat Newspaper, therefore I would like to thank Dr. Moghrabi for his interest in the subject, and would hope to see more attention by our media to Arab Bloggers.

On the other hand, his article rang a bill, and left me wondering how can we make things better?

As you know, there is some solo and joint initiatives to build better Arab Blogsphere, such as the Meetups, BahrainBlogs, Best Arab Blog Award, etc. However, as we know the fact that Arab-Internet-Sphere in general is ages behind, and I personally don't see any major plans or projects for the development of internet uses in our part of the world. We lack the official resources and interest, and in my opinion, if we leave it to officials, nothing will ever get better. They might not even ever heard of blogs or know what it means!

Therefore, I believe that there should be some civilian movement to build such plans and start projects that helps in face-lifting our Internet-Sphere. There is a lot to do, and a lot offer, and a lot is needed. However, as they always say, every mile starts with a step; I would like to share my two-cents, maybe first step.

Some time back I talked about the M.E. Bloggers Meetup, which is in early stages. And I went on and started a new site for that. However, after I thought of it, I realized that maybe it would be better if that becomes a part of a bigger idea, which is forming an "Arab Bloggers Society". A society that aims, plans and execute projects that enhance the use of the Arab-Internet-Sphere and spread the awareness of the blog-sphere in particular.

Therefore, what I think we need is to start thinking of a way to shape and form this society, then they can take it from there and start putting together pieces, stating a mission, policy, then plans, project and tools.

I�ll leave this for you guys to spread the word, leave comments, repost, trackbacks, write your own post at your blog, etc� and ultimately shape it and then kickoff!

On the other hand, I�m going to start a humble reBlog for Arab Blogs. Only from the best Arab Blogs. Something like what I'm doing on arablog.net, but concentrating only on Arab Blogs and original content by these bloggers. I believe the Best Arab Blog Award will be a good reference and source for my new project. Therefore, I�ll wait to see the outcome of the BABA's and maybe utilize these as a starting point for Arablogger reBlog.

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