Dear Air-Listers. On Tuesday our regular internet geography twitter chat will be discussing the recent internet blackout in Syria. Although most of the participants in this chat tend to be geographers, we welcome anyone interested in internet research. Please forward this info to anyone else who might be interested. For more details about #geowebchat, go here: http://mappingmashups.net/geowebchat Thanks, Alan McConchie PhD Candidate Department of Geography University of British Columbia Begin forwarded message:

From: Johnathan Rush <rush16@gmail.com> Subject: [geoweb-r] Next #geowebchat: The Geoweb and the Internet Off Switch Date: November 30, 2012 10:41:50 AM PST To: geoweb-r@googlegroups.com Reply-To: geoweb-r@googlegroups.com

The Internet has gone dark in Syria, and it's not the first time that a regime has limited or eliminated access to the Internet. In Syria, the outage is likely intended to limit the ability of rebels to communicate and for dissent to foment. We saw both total Internet outages and targeted outages of social media in Libya and Egypt last year as well. State-curtailed Internet access is hardly limited to conflict zones, however, and China's censorship of particular issues and websites are frequently covered and speculated upon.

What does all this mean for the geoweb? How are rebels and protesters affected by a loss of access to the geoweb, and how does their loss of access affect outsiders' knowledge of their conflict? Join the #geowebchat on Tuesday 12/4 for a discussion of what happens to the geoweb when the state hits the "off" switch. If you've got an Internet connection, join us on Twitter at 12pm PST / 3pm EST / 8pm GMT. @rushgeo will be your guest host this week.

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