WHAT: CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab to speak on "New Age Revolution: Information Technology and Democratization" WHERE: DePaul Univeristy, College of Computing and Digital Media, CDM Collaboration lab (1st floor, CDM Building)

WHEN: Friday, May13th, 2011, 3:30pm

EVENT DESCRIPTION:

On January 22, 2011, Ahmed Rehab landed in Egypt in anticipation of joining mass protests that were planned for January 25. Rehab received the tip while in Chicago, halfway around the globe, through Facebook. Three days later, the protests broke out, and by the third day, an all out popular revolution that brought out 12 million people over 18 days to topple an entrenched dictatorial regime that had been in power for 30 years and a political dynasty that had been in power for 60 years. What were the factors that so convincingly poured out the masses after decades of dormancy and apathy? What was the role of Information Technology in successfully informing, organizing, and mobilizing these massive numbers of dispersed citizens despite a stifling government ban on large public assemblies? Rehab presents answers at this DePaul University presentation.