Check our photos from the opening of Oxford Artweeks last weekend. Dawid enjoyed it the most;)

I am shamelessly late with this one because the challenge was planned for last week. However, I do not want to keep it for myself due to my laziness last week. So, Global Voices team decided to prove to the world that the written word matters and read a piece of literature of a country each of us is not familiar with. It’s easy to choose a book from a known cannon, but difficult to pick something we do not know. I needed to start somewhere, so as usual with me the title was a result of serious of coincidences. First I started reading about the Middle East and social media in that area. I met few extremely interesting bloggers from the area and talked to them. The second step was the Vimeo video on the blogosphere in Iran, which I found fascinating. And thus I decided to read something from Iran. I just needed a tip – and Shelfari proved to be a good place to go. By choosing the country in the search I have arrived at the book I have so missed out on so far!

‘Persepolis‘ by Marjane Satrapi is a story of a girl who travels to her native Iran and Europe in search of a good place to be. It’s a struggle which is described in a black and white comic strip form which makes the messages all the stronger. I will not talk about the content because everyone should read it themselves. I just want to point out how comfortable I feel living in the UK where all my basic human rights are so deeply rooted in society that I very often forget about the liberty of having them! Reading the book was difficult at the beginning  – I went to bed rethinking every single chapter and felt like I am slowly, very slowly stepping into the character’s world. Later I managed to speed up and finish it off in one day, still with a heavy heart. Only thanks to the film ‘Persepolis’ did I manage to let all the emotions go and finally cry! (for those who do not know me – good sign;))

Now I am reading more about Iran, and more and more about the Middle East, but time to time still check the trailer and the book itself. It definitely opened a new chapter of my life! More posts on the challenge and other interesting reads here.

We had the first organizers meet-up this Wednesday. We have our logo now, kindly designed by Gemma🙂 and we have decided that the date of the event will be Sunday, 26th of July. We are strongly considering a virtual event on Saturday evening for those, who cannot make it to Oxford and for attendees, just as a warm up. Currently working on the website and sponsorship pack, we hope to be able to secure the venue quite soon. Rest is really up to all of you, interested – we give you space and time, we make sure it happens but everyone needs to contribute:) I am sure you all will!

So go on, put your name on our wiki and let us know how you can help!:)

…was the first of three events I attended last week (not really feeling like posting – and I do apologise, it’s my overly depressive mood that is affecting my writing, but I really need to share my thoughts before the next lot happens;)). Oxford Geek Night is established now as a source of great info, developments and a brilliant way to spend an evening with people who LOVE talking geeky. After a drink and dinner with Amanda (with a flavour of ‘spot the geek’ game;)) we joined the crowd upstairs.The presentations were great! I really liked listening to Mike Kus talking about his approach to creativity – I loved the presentation too! Other slots we equally interesting and I do apologise for being grumpy and disappearing so quickly.

Do check the conversations about #OGN, photos and the event site. It’s worth it! The crowd was brilliant, it was good to see few of you there and have a chat. I cannot wait to see you all at the BarCamp!;)

I have learned a bit about the Middle Eastern social media since I started working for Global Voices but must admit that Salam‘s book was an extraordinary experience to me. You are probably bored with my exclamations about the books I read, but honestly – with my amount of ‘free’ time I need to choose my literature carefully. I am geekette and love to read blogs, but I equally love to switch all the devices off, sit down and enjoy the sensation of words published on paper. It’s a different process, takes time and dedication, takes patience and attendance to only this one item in your hand: a book.

Why am I writing this? Because Salam’s ‘The Bahdad Blog’ is basically his online diary from quite complicated times published in a form of book. A piece of his live blog and life blog of Iraq taken out of its original context and multiplied in its effect via the ‘old fashioned’ medium. I could not put it down, even though I know Salam Pax from the web, I read his blogs. I think it’s the fact I was on my own with the text. Or maybe the idea of someone bothering to publish one of our precious online contributors to the journalism free to speak up? I do not know.

I know it’s a must read! And I encourage you to check his personal blog,  follow @Salam on Twitter and read his blog on the Guardian. It gives you great insights into his culture as well as one of the rational, every day views on Iraq’s reality. Another little miracle of the modern age? Definitely!:) I just cannot describe how it enriches me to read content like his, and Riverbend’s (more about her soon)!

(it was great to meet you – in all those ways, Salam Pax::)

Oxford Twestival was not my first networking event in this city – city I love already, even though I am just planning to move to this spring/summer. I know most of the attendees from Oxford Geek Nights organised by Torchbox, and I was very happy to see you all again. Twestival is about Twitter, about music and about charity. And I think we’ve managed to enjoy all of those throughout the night! I am extremely impressed by Helen and Rob for arriving earlier and helping us out! We were also very lucky that The Funky Lamas took care of all the equipment for themselves and Ben and that they moved the crowd with their rhythm and enthusiasm. We are also very, very happy and proud to know that Ben is from Oxford and he honoured us with his presence and music that night. (I am not being diplomatic here: there are my genuine feelings about the night!). I am very happy to have worked with @jake and @colinmercer on the event, and I think that their spirit and humour made it an unforgettable evening. (Also, we have a good photo of Colin and his hat;) I am very, very happy that my friend Kristina made it, that newly met Marianne made it too, and that I got to talk to Amanda a bit. But most of all I am happy everyone else was happy! It was such a positive evening. Let’s face it – it was a perfect size party for Oxford feeling. We had space to talk, to share a pint, to listen or dance to the live music. Musicians had time and mood to play together and join in their experience of the evening. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think it was a good place to be that night – for everyone, regardless their social media expertise, their musical preference, their job etc. I just hope it’s not the last Oxford Twestival. But there is something else I felt that night – lack of unfriendly competitiveness. Torchbox is organising their night, Rob has ‘his’ Oxford Professional Meetups, but we all go to all of those events. And you will wonder why I mention it? Simply because of my experience – I worked in event organizing for about 10 years in Budapest – and I have always experienced a strange sense of ‘whose party is better’ mood, which actually causes a strange distraction during conversations. Here, in Oxford, I see the same trend as in professional blogging – support and common understanding of each other’s needs. We need knowledge, we need an occasion to have a beer, we need to develop and network. All this can be done in a friendly, open and transparent way. I hope I am right and I hope it will stay this way. I actually hope we will have more and more social media related events in Oxford and we will meet more often;)

So, what next: Oxford Internet Professionals meet-up this Wednesday. See you there!:)