At the height of the Arab Spring journalists and pundits were breathlessly crediting social media as the fuel for the revolutionary fires. But as regimes teetered and toppled across the Middle East, the role of the new technology became murkier. Facebook and Twitter were certainly used by the revolutionaries. But how important were they really? After all, revolutions happened long before Twitter.

Join us for a conversation about the impact of technology on grassroots uprisings. In his Atavist story The Instigators, David Wolman showed how a virtual movement helped ignite an on-the-ground revolution in Egypt. Emily Parker is a former member of the State Department’s policy planning team and is now writing a book about the Internet and democracy. And in his new Atavist story The Accidental Terrorist, Adam Piore tells the story of a California accountant who planned a coup d’etat in Cambodia more than a decade ago, before digital technology exploded.

Featuring

DAVID WOLMAN

Author, The Instigators
Contributing Editor at Wired

EMILY PARKER
Digital Diplomacy Advisor and Senior Fellow, New America Foundation
Office of Policy Planning, U.S. Department of State (2009-2011)

ADAM PIORE
Author, The Accidental Terrorist
Contributing Editor at Discover Magazine

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