Great interview with Heba Gamal about the Egyptian Revolution on the NetSquared Blog

Heba Gemal is an Egyptian, formerly with Google in the U.S., who became highly engaged with events in Egypt and who is now a senior global network partner manager with TechSoup Global, based in the Fundacja TechSoup office in Warsaw.

Her interview posted on TechSoup’s NetSquared site is fascinating on several levels. Heba’s deep engagement with social media gives her an intimate understanding of the role of social media in the revolution. She has emerged with a nuanced view, applauding the power of new media but cautioning against ascribing too much power to these media.

“There’s a major digital divide in Egypt … while new digital media is a powerful tool, it needs to be coupled with manpower on the ground since we’re talking to 80 million people with an illiteracy rate of almost 40%.”

For me, knowing Heba, the interview is especially powerful because of who she is — a highly skilled technologist with myriad professional options who has been motivated by the revolution to realign personal and professional priorities. I can’t imagine a more hopeful augury for the future than knowing that people like her are making such choices all over the globe.

“There are many ways to hide your identity online but I think this defeats the purpose of the revolution… it’s really important if you are going to say something that you’re able to handle the consequences, because you have millions of Egyptians who respect you for taking a stand.”