iZone International: Book on tweets from Egypt uprising
Publisher OR Books is in the process of launching a book titled ‘Tweets from Tahrir’ that uses actual tweets and pictures linked in them to create a powerful picture of the revolution in Egypt.
A book made entirely out of tweets? Sure, it’s been done before. ‘Shit My Dad Says’ became such a viral sensation that after being turned into a highly successful book, it even became a show on CBS starring William Shatner. But ‘Tweets from Tahrir’, planned by OR Books, is going to be a little different, as it aims to compile tweets and photos to walk people through every day of the revolution in Egypt.
“Raw emotion bursts from their messages, whether frantic alarm at attacks from pro-government thugs or delirious happiness at the fall of the dictator,” reads a description of the book. “To read these tweets is to embark a rollercoaster ride, from the surprise and excitement of the first demonstration, to the horror of the violence that claimed hundreds of lives, to the final ecstasy of victory.”
Aside from legal issues about who owns the tweets – something OR is in the process of resolving – even though people might dispute the role of Twitter in the revolution in Egypt, many academics are deploring the connections being drawn by many between social media and democratic uprisings.
However, the 160-page book hopes to create a powerful picture of the unrest in Egypt, and could be a very physical demonstration on how social media can directly change lives.
