#CheckCon Beirut, April 20-22, 2017
Rethinking the interplay between media, tech & social change in post-2011 MENA
January 25, 2017 marked the sixth anniversary of the Egyptian revolution. While Syria’s and Yemen’s wars, Libya’s political uncertainties, and Egypt’s rising authoritarianism have made some doubt the significance and legacies of the 2011 Arab uprisings, now is a good time to convene and assess the future of media, technology and social impact in the MENA region.
The conference builds on five years of work on the Check project in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, the US and the UK, and brings together everyone who has contributed to the project since 2011, including speakers and participants from Check partners’ network.
Thursday April 20, CheckCon launch and reception (7-9pm)
Friday April 21, Conference (10-5pm)
Participation on Thursday and Friday of CheckCon (April 20-21, 2017) is by invitation only. If you are interested in attending, please email <dima.saber@bcu.ac.uk> & see the Call for Proposals below.
Please send 250 words proposals, including a title and short bio to Dima Saber <dima.saber@bcu.ac.uk> and Tom Trewinnard <tom@meedan.com> by March 1, 2017. Successful candidates will be notified by March 10 to arrange for travel and accommodation.
Saturday 22nd April – Unconference
Participation on Saturday of CheckCon (April 22, 2017) is open to the public, and will be run as an ‘Unconference’. Registration is through Eventbrite.
If you would like to submit a pitch to the CheckCon unconference, please do so at the end of this wiki or please email Dima Saber at dima.saber@bcu.ac.uk and we’ll add it for you.
If you know someone who would be interested in submitting a proposal, please feel free to share with them the call below:
Call for proposals. Themes apply to either conference or unconference
Deadline for submissions March 1, 2017
CheckCon aims to bring together grassroots media collectives, digital technology enthusiasts, professional journalists, and media students & scholars from across the Arab region to reflect on the experiences, successes, challenges and lessons learnt since 2011. The conference builds on five years of work on the Check project in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, the US and the UK, and brings together everyone who has contributed to the project since 2011, including speakers and participants from Check partners’ network.
We invite proposals of papers, presentations, workshops and performances that explore and address topics such as:
- The human, social, economic and political legacies of the 2011 Arab uprisings
- The relation between digital media and social change in the MENA
- The role of the media (mainstream and alternative) in the coverage of revolutions, conflicts, displacements and social turmoil
- Fact-checking and the importance of investigative reporting in the age of media convergence
- Fake news, ‘alternative facts’, and the role of truth in politics and political journalism
- Ways in which digital technologies can help raise awareness of and address the challenges posed by conflict and rising authoritarianism
- The interplay between digital technologies, ethics and the media representation of wars, refugees and forced displacements
- The future of digital technologies amidst the Arab region’s political and social uncertainties
We are offering up to five international bursaries for speakers, covering travel costs and accommodation to Beirut, and welcome proposals from academic and non-academic practitioners, from activists and from professional journalists, in both Arabic and English.
