Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
| Online Publication Date: 16 Mar 2011
Islam Meets Cyberspace: Geographies of the Muslim Internet
Islam Meets Cyberspace: Geographies of the Muslim Internet
Page Range: 217 – 233
About 200 million people in Muslim-majority countries used the Internet in 2010, forming one-ninth of the world's population of netizens. Literature on the Muslim Internet tends to focus disproportionately on radical fundamentalism, overlooking the large numbers of ordinary Muslims for whom the Internet is an increasingly important instrument of daily life. This article explores the spatiality of the Internet in 41 Muslim-majority countries in several steps. First, it outlines the important roles of telecommunications policies and infrastructure in structuring patterns of usage in the Muslim ecumene. Next, it depicts the distribution and growth of users. Third, it summarizes the contours of Muslim e-commerce and e-government, which, while still in their infancy, are nonetheless having substantial impacts on lives and communities. Finally, it illustrates the types and levels of Internet censorship that are found unevenly across the Muslim realm. Environ 200 millions de personnes, soit près du neuvième du nombre total d'utilisateurs d'Internet, vivent dans des pays à majorité musulmane. Les travaux sur l'Internet musulman portent de manière disproportionnée sur le fondamentalisme radical, passant de ce fait sous silence le grand nombre de musulmans ordinaires pour qui l'Internet est un outil de plus en plus important de leur vie quotidienne. Cet article analyse la spatialité d'Internet dans 41 pays à majorité musulmane. Premièrement, il analyse le rôle important des politiques et des infrastructures de télécommunication dans la structuration des usages de l'Internet dans l'univers musulman. Ensuite, il décrit la distribution des utilisateurs et la croissance de leur nombre. Troisièmement, il décrit sommairement les caractéristiques du commerce électronique et du gouvernement électronique dans le monde musulman; bien qu'encore à leurs débuts, ils ont néanmoins un impact non négligeable sur les individus et les communautés. Enfin, il illustre les différents types et niveaux de censure de l'Internet observables de manière inégale dans le monde musulman.
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