Podcast: Teleconference with American high school students
March 7th, 2008A while ago I announced that we were going to have a Skype conference with a few students from Pennsylvania. D.B shortly wrote a follow-up to that after the conference call, and this is the third follow-up with the actual podcast!
Teleconference with American high school students [23:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (872)Here are some great photos to go along with it:
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Esra’a,
the youth, so inspiring, you don’t wish to live any where but some where close to them, where you can see their faces and hear their views.
I was trying to listen to the podcast, I am downloading the file, takes so long , but I would love to hear to the voices of Americna teenagers and your responses to their questions, what a great idea, such an opportunity for communication and teacher moderating, very wise, very fruitful. Lovely pictures
Hi Elinor, maybe I should zip the files for next time. The file is 23 minutes long so yeah it would take a while on dial-ups and slow connections.
Please join us for next time!
Esra’a
I will down load skype and I will try to be there 
It would be a great pleasure. I am listening to your soothing voice
Hacked 7 times beforehand? Like a battelfield!
And twice as many attempts. We still get loads of threats. Hopefully we’ll stay secure for now.
Good questions and good answers:)
I can realise that is a brave attempt, creating this site and maintaining it, when all thse different voices from within Middle East are being reflected. I can imagine how it might be considered. I am very proud of you Esra’a. I send my regards to all those students, their teacher, to Esra’a and her mom 
I can understand how the students in America are concerned about the image of Americans in Middle East. America is in the Middle of a war that they haven’t called for. The students have had no role in creating or furthuring this war, that would naturally draw some negative views. I guess I could hear the teacher better than the students, the students sounded away from the mic. Your respenses made sense honey. I learnt much about how they us infidels and you are used to it, oh…Esra’a, you are a very modern believer in all the best things we people have in common
Take care, a wonderful job as usual
[...] also host a wide range of PodCasts. Something that caught my attention was a podcast between Students from American High school with Students from various parts from the Middle East. They exchanged questions, and learned more [...]
It’s a shame that the Western mainstream media refuses to give voice to progressive moderate Muslims. At the same time the mainstream media always ask the questions, “where are the Muslim moderates? Why aren’t they condemning the actions of the religious extremists?”
Misleading, too PR-esque, socially unrepresentative, factually inexact and biased. That’s how I found it.
Better luck next time.
Ah, Mohammed is back again, with his usually unjustified “I hate everything” rants.
1) Too PR-esque? We are hosting the conference. Of course we’d talk about this website. It’s called curiosity, not PR.
2) Factually inexact? It was a matter of personal opinion. Questions were posed to us and we did not claim to represent our society, in fact on several occasions, both me and DB said “it differs from one person to another and depends where you go.”
3) Biased: Everything and everyone is biased, get over it.
We did have better luck the next time we did this and we’ll post the podcast here again.
I on the other hand found it wonderful. Makes me proud that you guys did this. Can’t wait to hear the new podcast!
When I said too PR-esque, I wasn’t referring to the comments about your website. It was more directed the “judgy” feel of things.
Factually inexact, regarding the Media, and about disregarding the most commonly practiced political ideology in the Arab world.
And you can stop being defensive. When I said biased, it wasn’t because it was strongly opinionated, but only because it was single sided and strongly opinionated at the same time.
Can’t find “next time” where is it ?
You won’t find it, because I spoke in the future tense. We will post it here when we are ready to.
Nope. If you don’t justify your opinion, I will ask for clarification. I see no reason why I shouldn’t react to your comment.
I am not sure what is so unclear about the terms “personal opinion.” Personal implies that you speak from your own experiences and express your own perspectives on things. This was a personal podcast. This is not representative of the entire Arab world, who said it is? Therefore, seeing as it is personal and with few members involved, of course it is biased, it is incorrect to assume otherwise.
Again I missed the next time…. I really would love to down load the second postcad
It is always pleasing to hear your voice and you are not biased,I am proud of you honey, the kid in the highschool we very nice as well, and I think what their teacher does is cool. I send my best wishes with the start of the persian-kurdish new year to you and every one on MEY 
It’s bad journalism, and an encouragement for bad critical thinking. I wasn’t suggesting that you alter you personal opinion to make it more palatable for everyone, it’s your opinion and you’re entitled to whatever you do it, but if you’re gonna have an extreme one, other people should easily recognize that, and that’s not the impression that the people on the other end received.
Less spoonfeeding, and a fairer ground. (y)
It’s almost hilarious watching you try to come up with criticism that is not so ill-founded.
Journalism has to do with broadcasting or writing news. It’s formal and a profession. We did nothing of the sort. Neither me nor DB introduced ourselves as journalists, so it goes without saying that your criticism will be waived as ill-informed, if not irrelevant. You obviously don’t seem to understand the purpose of this podcast, nor do you really understand much of the people who took part in it (bloggers, not journalists.) I don’t blame you, as this is not the first time you offer criticism without first educating yourself on the background of its subjects. More and more often, you seem to disagree and criticize others merely for the sake of it. How wasteful of your energy.
Having an informal chat with students, out of curiosity, is not a form of journalism. It’s about opinion, it’s about our culture the way we personally see it, it’s about us. Me, DB, and the students. Not your opinions, as you weren’t there, and not the whole of society, which we did not claim to represent, and not journalism, as this was far from a journalistic experience.
So, please, stop wasting our time and yours. Make an effort next time to know who and what you are criticizing, and offer a real opinion that makes sense and is justified by what we actually talked about in the podcast, instead of flailing your arms and whining about everything within this website for the sheer sake of disagreement.
Elinor, thanks dear! I hope you’ll join us for next time.
it was a greaat exchange..
looking fwd to the next one
and D.B.. a guy mops floor’s.. drives a BM.. LOL really?
[...] for your listening enjoyment. Participating in the conference are Esra’a, Liz and myself. Our first conference was very successful and we’ve followed it up with what I believe to be an even better [...]
[...] for your listening enjoyment. Participating in the conference are Esra’a, Liz and myself. Our first conference was very successful and we’ve followed it up with what I believe to be an even better discussion [...]