Iran’s online world is more vibrant than you might expect. While Reporters Without Borders ranked Iran’s press as the fourth least-free in the world, its blogosphere is full of lively conversation and rife with political dissent, as revealed in a new Berkman Center for Internet and Society (full disclosure: my former employer before I came to Social Technologies)  report on the state of the Internet, the blogosphere, and its affect on democracy in conservative, religious Iran.

 The report found that:

• Iran's blogosphere is male-dominated and incredibly diverse in content, and often features heated discussions about politics, religion, and pop culture.
• While the Iranian government vigorously censors the Internet and has arrested bloggers for expressing dissenting opinions, the report found a significantly smaller percentage of blogs being blocked than they expected: only about 15% of what the report deemed “reformist” (anti-government) blogs were blocked.
• Women are a significant minority in the Iranian blogosphere, except in poetry-themed blogs. (Poetry is a very popular form of expression for Iranians.)
• Even with the threat of arrest, Iranian bloggers don't write anonymously nearly as much as expected: for instance, the majority of "reformist" bloggers wrote under their own name, while the majority of "conservative" bloggers wrote anonymously.
• Young Iranian bloggers tend to be conservative and religious, while older bloggers tend to be reformist and secular.

What has emerged is a portrayal of an engaged, lively online community in Iran, a country where freedom of expression isn’t exactly valued. It's fascinating to see how a somewhat open Internet can change the way the citizens of an authoritarian regime are able to express themselves. It is also clear that while the Iranian government has attempted to block the most contentious blogs online, it lacks the resources to get all of them. And while it might be overly optimistic, the fact that this kind of honest and open dialogue can exist (with limits, of course) gives many the hope that the Internet can foster change in Iran, beyond just expression of personal opinions.

Image: Sander (Flickr)

Friday proved to be my first true introduction to luxury, Dubai-style.

For most of the morning, I explored two of Dubai’s largest upper-income malls: Burjuman and Wafi.

The Wafi is a celebration of everything that is over the top about Dubai. Arab fashion boutiques offering hand-stitched, made-to-order haute couture sit beside interior decorating stores (with all products made in limited editions, solely for individual outlets) and luxury European clothing and fashion shops, filling the mall with hundreds of high-end retailers, all within the context of an elaborate ancient Egyptian theme, replete with faux-Egyptian décor and a pyramid-shaped restaurant and spa (named, you guessed it, The Pyramids). The Burjaman mall was likewise crammed with one luxury product after another, from $1,000 sunglasses to $20,000 pearl necklaces.

After a morning surveying the luxury malls, I returned to the Mall of the Emirates to experience Ski Dubai, the first indoor ski resort in the Middle East. Ski Dubai boasts almost 250,000 square feet of terrain….however, out on the slopes, the place felt rather…tiny. With a capacity of only 1,500 people and a maximum run of around 400 meters, Ski Dubai is primarily a novelty attraction, aimed at beginners and tourists. When I visited, I was surprised by several things—not the least of which was the relative lack of crowds on the slopes (not to mention the Western pop music blaring in the background). I was also surprised by its affordability—at around $35 dollars for 2 hours of slope time, clothing, and equipment, it falls solidly within the budget of middle-income travelers. The mix of cultures was likewise not what I expected: though I did encounter one gaggle of Arab kids learning to ski, by and large the slopes were filled with European and Asian tourists. While interesting (and fun), it was not the luxury experience that I anticipated coming in.

After my meeting with FX Fowle, I went to visit Diera City Center mall, one of the major middle/upper-middle income malls in Dubai.

It was quite the eye-opener…with more than 370 stores, and parking decks that seemed like they could fit the entire Hyderabad airport (including a play area/arcade that I know for certain was several times larger than the entire departure waiting area in Hyderabad)….this thing was big, more than a little fancy, and also showcased an amazing variety of cultural flows.

The mall had everything—from a Carrefour and a Virgin megastore, to an 11-screen cinema, myriad restaurants and a massive food court (which, aside from the occasional Arabic lettering and prominence of Asian fusion, could fit right in at any American mall), and of course, more clothing, jewelry, and computer game stores than you could shake a stick at. It’s quite the popular hangout—on weekend nights (Thursday and Friday are the official weekend in the UAE), the taxi queues can run up to two or three hours!

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The flight from Hyderabad to Dubai lasted only four hours, which, compared to the five hours I spent waiting in the airport for my flight, wasn’t so bad! However, the shift from Hyderabad’s airport—where they offer to encase your bags in saran wrap, “just in case,”—to Dubai, a possible site for an S)T expedition on the future of luxury and leisure, was like jumping from a borderline World 2/3 country into World 1.

First up on the agenda in Dubai was a meeting with an architect from FX Fowle, a major international architectural firm involved in green building efforts in Dubai. They are contracted to design more than 7 million square feet of green buildings, in addition to a major automotive and metro bridge project across Dubai Creek. We had a very interesting discussion on sustainability and the future of Dubai—no small issue, given that to support its citizens, Dubai consumes more resources per capita than any other country in the world, including the US. The city is a monument to indulgence, luxury, and, thus far, utter disregard for ecological footprint or sustainability: for example, Dubai currently consumes a whopping 250 million gallons of water per day (around 97% of which is desalinated sea water) to sustain a city of less than 1.5 million people.

So you can see why I was curious to talk about sustainability with a green architecture firm recently brought in as part of Sheik Mohammed’s evolving future vision for Dubai. The Sheik rules Dubai as the head of its monarchy, and is the second most powerful man in the United Arab Emirates, after the Sheik of Abu Dhabi.

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