The tangled web we weave

Pundits have said for years that the internet is the new coffeehouse. An aspiring Omm Kolthoum or Naguib Mahfouz no longer needs to rely on a Café Riche to expose their work to the public —they can do it from practically anywhere with an internet connection, whether a high-speed wireless café in Cairo or bedroom in Upper Egypt. Budding creative and political movements take root in chat rooms and on social networking sites, while the revolutionary tenor of early twentieth-century parlors is echoed in grassroots email lists.

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