Tahrir Squared

What is T2?

T2 is a one-stop shop for reliable and enlightening information about the Arab uprisings, revolutions and their effects. It combines both original content by leading analysts, journalists and authoritative commentators, and curated content carefully selected from across the web to provide activists, researchers, observers and policy makers a catch-all source for the latest on the Arab revolutions and related issues through an interactive, virtual multimedia platform.

The T2 Story

Unattached to governments or political entities, Tahrir Squared is concerned with ‘multiplying the Tahrir Effect around the globe’: an Effect which reawakened civic consciousness and awareness. An Effect which led to neighbourhood protection committees, and created those scenes in Tahrir of different religions, creeds and backgrounds engaging, assisting, and protecting one another.

That Effect still lives inside those who believe in the ongoing revolutions that called for ‘bread, freedom, social justice and human dignity’. This website is a part of that broader initiative, seeking to provide people with the knowledge and information to assist and stimulate that process of reawakening, through the provision of reliable news reports, thoughtful commentary, and useful analysis.

T2 Community

T2 attracted a great deal of attention from various specialists, activists and writers on, and in, the Arab world. After identifying with its principles, work and aims, some were invited to become advisors to the website, acting in personal capacities.

Counselling on issues such as content, editorial direction and strategic initiatives, such advisors include Dr H.A. Hellyer , a writer and political analyst on the region; Motaz Attalla , an educational development specialist; Waleed Almusharaf, a doctoral researcher at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London; and others.

The T2 community attracted the likes of Dalia Ezzat , an Arab world observer and community engagement specialist, who was Tahrir Squared's Senior Editor and Social Media Strategist in it's initial period, a wonderful group of curators and interns, and fiends and supporters who make T2’s curated sections a source of the latest and most critical content from across the web.

T2’s exclusive content section benefits from the contributions of our diverse columnists, who carry responsibility for the opinions written in their work, with responsibility for the site remaining with T2’s founders. Initial contributions came from the likes of Nathan Brown of George Washington University, Mirette F. Mabrouk of the Economic Research Forum, Hani Sabra of Eurasia, Bassem Sabry, an Egyptian commentator, Rebecca Chiao of HarassMap and Khaled Elgindy of Brookings .

The final component in this community – and the ultimate one – is you. The reader, the activist, the analyst – in short, the user of this site. We hope your experience with T2 is a dynamic one, and that you join us in spreading the Tahrir Effect – in Egypt, in the Arab region, and beyond. The revolution continues.

If you would like to be added to Tahrir Squared's mailing list, please send a message to info AT tahrirsquared DOT com with 'subscribe' in the subject line.

**the picture featured on T2’s homepage was taken by Egyptian photojournalist, Jonathan Rashad on February 11, 2011 in Tahrir Square, Egypt. Rashad’s work can be viewed here: http://flickr.com/drumzo andjonathanrashad.500px.com. You can also follow him on twitter: @JonathanRashad

Using T2

We'd like to explain to you how to use this site. It can be very simple, or it can be very complex – and that is all down to you, the user, and what you want the site to do for you.

Now, this is still a brand new site, so there may be a few glitches --- if you find any, please do not hesitate to email us at info AT tahrirsquared DOT com!

When you come onto the site, you can obviously just scroll down and see the content in front of you. That is easiest for many people – but this site can become your site.

You can personalize what you see in front of you to see only what you want to see.

You, the user, and the commander of your experience, can personalize this site according to five different filters:

Geography
Topic
Type of content
Date added
Exclusive versus curated content

If you want to see only Egypt-related content, for example, you scroll in the first row under ‘Arab world’ or ‘Africa’, and click on ‘Egypt’. That will limit your content to only Egypt related content. If you want content to be limited to ‘Arab world’ then you click on Arab world – and all Arab world related content will show up. When you want to clear these filters, you just press ‘reset’. And there you go.

If you want to see only content related to politics, for example, you click on ‘politics’ in the second row – and your site will only show you politics-related content. Maybe you want to see politics and also war-related content – you can click as many topics as you want. When you want to clear these filters, you just press ‘reset’.

Perhaps you only want to see videos? Then you scroll over ‘all content’ in the third row, and remove all other content icons. Maybe you want to see videos and tweets – so you remove all icons except for those two. When you want to clear these filters, you just press ‘reset’. The content icons are ‘articles’, ‘pictures’, ‘videos’, ‘initiatives’, and ‘Tweets’. Pick as many or as little as you want.

Maybe you want to sort according to date published on the site? Easy enough – just scroll over ‘date range’, and filter accordingly.

Finally, perhaps you only want to see original content written exclusively for Tahrir Squared, as opposed to original content as well as curated content. You have two ways to do this – you can either look just through the carousel, which is the top row of big boxes under the filters; or, you can click on ‘original’, and all the content will disappear from your site except for original content.

All of the above can be mixed and matched. Try it out – and see how this site is your site.