ISF's Nowruz 1389 Celebration

Hello again.

Our most recent class assignment requires that we being to incorporate relevant multimedia into our blogs. Over the last few weeks I have tried my best to involve content beyond just plain text--most specifically found in my "one thousand word" posts and links. It's time to take it to the next level. As basic and essential as text is to a quality blog or publication, the most advanced news sources have begun to include audio and video into their output. While many go as far as to include viewer-produced content others like the NY Times will not put articles online without some sort of interactive video or chart to supplement the article. Maybe taking it a step further CNN has a segment called iReports which is composed of viewer generated material. My point is that multimedia is the new media; instead of just getting an article they give you that and then some. It's awesome.

For my topic, Iran and Tech, its a little tougher than I'd like to generate original content from Iran. So with Prof. Yaros's permission I will begin posting some content regarding Iran that occur on campus. Hopefully in the near future it will be easier to go to Iran and post and publish the facts without fear of being arrested--but until then I'll be covering whats going on here at Maryland. The first of such goings-on is from this past Friday.

On Friday night the Iranian Student's Foundation (ISF) hosted its annual Nowruz celebration. It was a great time to say the least. They hosted over 250 guests from around the Washington DC Metro area as well as students--both heritage and non. As in years past, this years event was held in the Grand Ballroom at Stamp and was decked out with lights, dance stage, and ridiculous food spread. Below are some videos of the awesome time it was. I apologize ahead of time for the poor sound quality--between the DJ's really loud speakers and my crappy phone it wasn't easy. But nonetheless here is the first series of multimedia on Iran and Iranians at the University of Maryland. If nothing more this should serve as a glimpse in to life at Maryland and its incredibly vibrant and awesome Iranian community.

Enjoy!