‘New Media for a New Tomorrow’, moderated by Yossi Vardi,
was the title of the last morning plenary of the
Israeli Presidential Conference, ‘Facing Tomorrow.’
This conference was indeed supportive of the new media.
Bloggers were invited to a special session
with Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on Wednesday.
On Thursday the blogging sessions were in a larger venue, where first
Natan Sharansky told us how it took years in the former Soviet Union
to build a network.
As he spoke of “pioneers of change”, bloggers were typing quickly,
demonstrating the speed and power of the internet in spreading his words.
Next, President Shimon Peres
arrived in the interview area,
where the crowd had grown considerably.
President Peres spoke on his view of education and the future,
then took questions from the audience,
before posing for a photo with Jimmy Wales and some of the bloggers.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, who also spoke at an opening event
on social innovation and the importance of “neutrality,”
was the last speaker.
In the blogger session, he mentioned that the annual
Wikipedia convention is to be held in Haifa this year
and how the Hebrew version of Wikipedia is growing.
He then answered questions.
Safety of the internet, truth on the net, “neutrality’ of information,
securing, accessing and sharing information, and social innovation
were all topics discussed at this conference.
My question remains…
How do we get “neutrality'” in the Arabic reading and speaking world,
when the Arabic information on Wikipedia
denies any right of the Jews to the Wailing Wall?
Securing universal truth of information has to be a priority.
See The Real Jerusalem Streets Facebook Page
for Blogger Session Album with more photos