Slate Fare

How To Ignite, or Quash, a Revolution in 140 Characters or Less

Join Slate, the New America Foundation, and Arizona State for a Future Tense event about the promise and limitations of technology in spreading democracy.

Can social media really spur a revolution? Who benefits more from advances in technology—activists or authoritarian governments? What can the rest of the world do when Big Brother turns off the Internet? How did the successful Arab Spring turn into a complicated, bloody summer in Syria, Bahrain, and elsewhere? Can blogging make a difference in Cuba and North Korea?

Please join Slate, the New America Foundation, and Arizona State University in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, July 13, for a conversation touching on these questions and more. Our agenda includes:

Internet Freedom and Human Rights: The Obama Administration’s Perspective
A discussion with Michael Posner, assistant secretary of state for the bureau of democracy, human rights, and labor, moderated by the Slate Group’s Jacob Weisberg.

Internet Freedom’s Next Frontiers?
A conversation with Mary Jo Porter, a translator for Cuban bloggers, and Marcus Noland, co-author of Witness to Transformation: Refugee Insights Into North Korea.

Bypassing the Master Switch
Sascha Meinrath, director of the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative, and Ian Schuler, senior program manager at the State Department’s Internet Freedom Program, will discuss new ways to help activists circumvent Big Brother’s firewalls and surveillance.

The event starts at 2 p.m. at the offices of New America, 1899 L St. NW, Suite 400, Washington, D.C. Please register here. Can’t make it to D.C.? You can follow along on our webcast here. You can also participate in the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #140rev.

This event is part of Future Tense, a partnership between Slate, the New America Foundation, and Arizona State University that examines the transformative effects of emerging technologies on society and public policy. To learn about other Future Tense events and articles, and for the latest on the technologies that will transform your life in the next few years, follow us on Twitter @FutureTenseNow.