Pictures from the First Weblog Festival in Tehran, Iran

June 11, 2004 10:17 AM

Pictures from the First Weblog Festival in Tehran, Iran, in which the deputy of the Ministery of Information Technology wished that every Iranian could have a weblog. While western media has not covered it yet, there are many reports about it in Persian news agencies.
posted by hoder (9 comments total)

It's interesting to see how women do the head scarf thing in stylish ways. I'm not familiar with islamic law, but is showing off more of your head considered racy, because this woman is hot and I noticed her head scarf isn't very typical.

Great to see women present in the crowd, but did any of them give talks as speakers?
posted by mathowie at 10:29 AM on June 11, 2004

Hoder, your Iranian links always make me mad that I didn't learn Farsi as a child!
I'll have to learn eventually. Great link.
posted by mojo80 at 11:07 AM on June 11, 2004

Islam (Quaran) just says women (and men) should "dress modestly". Bedouin people traditionally covered their women, and somewhere between Islamic culture and pre-Islamic culture, plus 1300 years of Islam, the headscarf (also popular in Christian countries until about 100 years go) became kind of the standard for "modesty". I can't find the link now but there was an article in the Iranian press about how scientists had determined that more female pheromones are emitted from the hair then from any other area besides the areas covered by every culture.

Thanks for the link, Hoder, the weblog scene in Iran continues to be something really really interesting.
posted by chaz at 11:19 AM on June 11, 2004

There wasn't well-organized conference panels this year, but many of the women were involved in several booths which were set-up for some fifteen participating e-zines.

This is Shideh, for example, who is the editor of cappuccino, one of the oldest ones. Other e-zines include: Shatoot, 7Sang, Foroogh, Chaghook, Waresh, Kalagh, Takapoo, Sabzineh, Pars Cafe, Sharghian, Ghasedak, and Pendar.
posted by hoder at 11:25 AM on June 11, 2004

Oh, the calligraphy!
posted by NewBornHippy at 11:34 AM on June 11, 2004

I'm really surprised how the media has completely ignored this. I've even written to many Tehran-based journalists and no one has shown any interest. Can they ever get how influential these blogs could be in closed societies such as Iran?

If there is anyone interested to pitch something to the big online magazines, I'd be happy to help.
posted by hoder at 11:36 AM on June 11, 2004

Not to mention what a big buzz it would become if Dick Cheney had posted his mobile photos from cabinet sessions, private political meetings, etc. Well, this is exactly what Mohammad Abtahi, a blogger/cleric, is doing in his extraordinary mo-blog.
posted by hoder at 11:42 AM on June 11, 2004

Hoder - you shouldn't be surprised at all - at least not at American media. No way to skewer Bush on this. (Note: I _am_ surprised that Fox News and company haven't done a piece, but then, they're weird-pseudo-news who could do more harm than good)...
posted by swerdloff at 3:44 PM on June 11, 2004

hoder, just a quick word of thanks for the consistently interesting links you post.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 3:55 PM on June 11, 2004