Welcome to the Iran Connect Network!
Introduction: Bridging Iran to the World:
How can the Iranian diaspora use mediated spaces to promote tolerance, conversation and facilitate communication across borders?
Iran Connect is a resource that provides information, contacts, and an insightful perspective to people wanting to work with or learn about Iran. It focuses on professional, educational, and cultural exchange between Iran and the world.
The Iran Connect Network is a social and professional networking site that will connect Iranians to one another, and to professionals around the world interested in working with Iran/ians. The network facilitates exchange between people interested in performing business, research, or study between Iran and countries such as the United States.
Overview
I have been learning about interactive and digital media since I began this journey at ITP, and the applications of these technologies in the world. Coming from the architectural discipline, I learned to be very critical in the design of the special experience: to create spaces that are useful, educational, and places where people will want to return. The same questions are relevant with online and virtual spaces. How can people come together? How do we design to connect people who live in different parts of the world? How can we use the Internet and create communication that goes beyond what our governments are capable of doing?There are between two and four million people that make up the Iranian diaspora. Of these, some 700,000 live in the US. I am interested in how Iranians can maintain a sense of community with one another through the use of social media (online social networks, wikis, forums, etc.). Second, I am interested in how these tools can be used and extended to provide insight and connections to non-Iranians interested in learning about Iranian culture. I am looking at how social media can create connections and lead to future relationships and collaboration between Iranians around the world, and for non-Iranians interested in learning about and/or working with Iran. Iran Connect is an exploration of adding a layer of meaning and information to facilitate digital and mediated conversations.