Google, YouTube, AT&T and Twitter are among nine tech companies represented in State-Department-sponsored trip to Iraq this week to advise leaders of the war-torn nation's "emerging new media industry."
Included in the delegation is Wired Magazine Senior Writer Steven Levy, who should be reporting back soon.
The executives are there to advise Iraq government leaders and entrepreneurs on how to harness digital and web 2.0 concepts to a wide range of private and public-sector challenges. Iraq
"During their visit to Iraq, they will provide conceptual input as well as ideas on how new technologies can be used to build local capacity, foster greater transparency and accountability, build upon anti-corruption efforts, promote critical thinking in the classroom, scale-up civil society, and further empower local entities and individuals by providing the tools for network building," the State Department said.
"As Iraqis think about how to integrate new technology as a tool for smart power, we view this as an opportunity to invite the American technology industry to be part of this creative genesis."
The delegation is comprised of:
- Jason Liebman, Chief Executive Officer-Founder, Howcast
- David Nassar, Vice President, Blue State Digital
- Scott Heiferman, Chief Executive Officer, MeetUp
- Raanan Bar-Cohen, Vice President, Automattic/WordPress
- Richard Robbins, Director of Social Innovation, AT&T
- Jack Dorsey, Chairman-Founder, Twitter
- Kannan Pashupathy, Director of International Engineering Operations, Google
- Ahmad Hamzawi, Head of Engineering, Middle East/North Africa, Google
- Hunter Walk, Head of Product Development, YouTube
- Steven Levy, Senior Writer, Wired Magazine
@Jack Dorsey has already sent a couple of Tweets, including this revelation:
"Stores in Baghdad started taking credit cards again a few months ago. #iraqtech