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IAF Egyptian Participants' Reports |
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Report on the Seminar on Political Communication in the IT Age Participant: Ahmad AlFakharany, Web Developer and IT-Specialist, FNST Regional Office, Cairo Date: 7-19 December 2008 Report :  When Dr. Ronald Meinardus the Director of the Foundation’s Middle East regional office in Cairo told me that he nominated me for a seminar in Germany I was very excited and I thought it is a technical course in which I will learn about new IT technologies as I’m the IT responsible in the Foundation’s regional office in Cairo. But when I got there and as days start passing through I came to realize what a unique experience this is and to what extent it has exceeded my expectation and enriched me on several levels. It was not only an intensive course regarding IT. I learned also how political and media workshops are being conducted and I found out that communicating with people from 24 different countries who have different believes, different cultural backgrounds and different ideologies is really possible ! I can fairly say that those 12 days really made a change in my way of thinking and introduced me to a whole new world where people can live in peace and manage to coexist. I can also say that on the professional level I learned about some technologies that will help me do my job in a better manner. 
The seminar included trainings on the usage of modern technologies in the political communication on the internet like blogs, podcasts, video blogs, newsletters…etc and also ideas of how to market those techniques.Finally (and since this my first visited to Germany/Europe) it was a great experience seeing this wonderful country closely. I was really touched when I failed to communicate with a saleswoman who doesn’t speak English and found many people offering a sincere kind hand in translation that enabled me finally to buy what I wanted. |
Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty in Egypt : www.fnst-egypt.org
