Soliya
Brooklyn, NY
Project location: multiple universities across the Arabic and Western world
$40,000 2007-2008
www.soliya.org

Soliya's Connect program is a cross-cultural education program that links students from universities throughout the USA, Europe, the Middle East and the broader Muslim World via Soliya's customized online videoconferencing application a part of an accredited course. Students are divided into small multi-national groups and meet on a weekly basis for the duration of a university semester. Via the online videoconferencing application, each group engages in facilitated discussions and joint projects about topics that define the tension between the West and the Arab & Muslim World, with a particular emphasis on the role of the media in shaping our perceptions of these issues. The topics discussed include the role of religion in society, to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Iraq war, to issues of culture and identity.

All that students need to participate is a computer, Internet connection, and web cam-facilities widely available at major universities. Thus the Connect program has the potential to reach thousands of students at relatively low cost. The real-time medium allows students to see each other's facial expressions, hear tone of voice, and even share a joke, yet be physically situated in locations as dispersed as Riyadh, Rabat, Oslo, and New York. The Connect program will reach an estimated 400 students at 30 universities during the fall semester of 2007.