Sharjah, Wednesday, June 1, 2011-- The Mass Communication Department at the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at American University of Sharjah (AUS) hosted a lecture by Dr.
Jeffrey Cole, Director of the Center for the Digital Future, Annenberg School, University of Southern California, on Monday, May 30.

In his opening remarks, Dr. Mark Rush, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said, "The topics of today--the Emirates Internet Project, and the role of the Internet across the world--are not only timely but vitally important. The growth and use of the Internet embodies nothing less than a wave of real democratization."

"Pundits continue to ponder about whether the Arab Spring will give rise to real 'democracy' in the region, yet they seem to ignore the fact that the forces that set the Spring in motion-- social media, the web, etc.-- manifest one true vision of democracy: democratization of communication and access to information," he added.

In the lecture, entitled "Trends, Fads and Transformation: The Impact of the Internet," Jeffrey Cole, who has been at the forefront of media and communication technology policy issues in both the United States and internationally for the past 25 years, discussed the digital usage and the effects and impact of social media.

Dr. Cole founded and directs the World Internet Project, a long-term longitudinal look at the effects of computer and Internet technology on all aspects of society, which is conducted in over 20 countries. At the announcement of the project in June 1999, Vice President Al Gore praised Cole as a "true visionary providing the public with information on how to understand the impact of media."

"I became convinced in the 1990s that the impact of digital technology, first the Internet and now mobiles, was going to be far more powerful than television. So believing that we lost a great opportunity with television, and knowing that the impact of digital was going to be even more powerful, 11 years ago we launched this massive World Internet Project, this tracking of digital that we thought should have been conducted of television in the 40s," said Dr. Cole.

While discussing some of the findings of the World Internet Project, Dr. Cole stated that Internet penetration near the UAE is at 77%. This places UAE at the very top of Internet usage along with Canada, the United States, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and the Nordic countries.

Dr. Cole's visit coincided with the release of the results of the Emirates Internet Project (EIP), member of the World Internet Project network. The visit was organized by two professors in the AUS Department of Mass Communication, Dr. Ilhem Allagui, lead investigator of the EIP and Dr. Harris Breslow, principal investigator of the EIP.

The second half of the event had Drs. Allagui and Breslow present their findings of the first year of the EIP.

-Ends-


© Press Release 2011