A new blog popped up on our radar recently called Media and Islam. After browsing around, we realized a close friend of ours, Irfan Rydhan, was involved. We contacted him to get more information on the site. Irfan clarified that the site was a team effort with several editors. As stated on their site: “Media and Islam is the blog of Muslim Media Activists. We strive to promote media interaction with the Muslim community..”

Presented here is a media exclusive interview with the main editors of the site.

IslamCrunch: What is your web application/service about?

MediaAndIslam: is primarily a blog for Muslim media activists.

IslamCrunch: Why did you start this project?

MediaAndIslam: We started the website to create an outlet in which the SBIA (South Bay Islamic Association)’s Media Committee can extend their reach to the web. We also are open to allowing other Muslim Media Activists post articles and blog items, which we have already started doing.

IslamCrunch: How does your project relate to Muslims? Or is your project geared towards a general audience?

MediaAndIslam: Our project is geared mostly towards Muslims but would welcome a more general audience.

IslamCrunch: If your project is related to Muslims, how do you hope your project will impact the Muslim community?

MediaAndIslam: Hopefully they will become more aware of the use of media to shape how the public sees Islam and Muslims. However, we would also like to show the positives as well and not just focus on the negatives.

IslamCrunch: How much time do you devote to its growth?

MediaAndIslam: InshAllah we hope to spend more time in the future on the site to refine it and make it better, as well as blog more consistently.

IslamCrunch: How large is your team and what are your backgrounds?

MediaAndIslam: The Media Committee consists of a handful of people who are experts in their field – Communications, TV/Video and Film production, Language and Pyschology of Mass Media. The site MediaAndIslam.Com is maintained by a volunteer who has a background in business writing as well as a bit of technical expertise.

IslamCrunch: What technologies are you currently using?

MediaAndIslam: We are using Wordpres, a standard blogging platform, as a Content Management System. We hope to also add some more features such as video streams and audio clips in the near future.

IslamCrunch: Where do you see the project heading in the next 6 months? The next 2 years?

MediaAndIslam: Within the next 6 months, we see the website have more content, such as newsletters and articles, available as well as a good archive of blog entries. We hope that MediaAndIslam.Com will be a good resource for not only Muslims interested in media, but also mainstream Journalists and Media professionals who would like to get a better insight into the Muslim community. We have already been contacted by a few media outlets who were looking for contacts in the Muslim community to interview for news stories.

IslamCrunch: What is the greatest challenge to your success?

MediaAndIslam: The greatest challenge would have to be trying to spend more time to improve the site and shape it into something special. Since we are all volunteers and also doing our own projects, it is always difficult to keep the site updated regularly, but we are trying our best.

IslamCrunch: What is the one thing you need to get to the next phase of the project?

MediaAndIslam: Focus. The second thing would be Time.

IslamCrunch: If you’re able to disclose this information, how much traffic or usage do you see on an average day?

MediaAndIslam: As we are just getting started and getting the word out about the site, we’re seeing an increase of traffic on a weekly basis.

IslamCrunch: Are there any aspects of this project that has made you proud?

MediaAndIslam: We are proud of the fact that people out there are actually taking interest in our site and also the importance of Media Activism in general. We are happy that we can help in whatever way we can to make a difference for the better!

IslamCrunch: How would you describe the shift that’s occurring with the web right now to future generations?

MediaAndIslam: There’s more emphasis on user interaction with the web. Users are expecting to be able to be able to ‘leave their mark’ so to speak in the format of blogs, homemade videos, comments, or tags. Information is becoming a lot more public and anyone with an Internet connection can have a voice since there are mutliple applications readily available to promote web interaction. However, this outlet can also be used to promote hate and some people, under the guise of anonymity, can say such things on the web that they wouldn’t dream of saying in public. It’s important to distinguish between all the stuff that’s floating around on the web and to frequent sites that promote truth.

IslamCrunch: What site(s) do you visit everyday other than your own?

MediaAndIslam: Alt.Muslim, SBIA, Zaytuna, Zabihah.com, IllumeMedia, MuslimRoundTable.tv, BayMuslim.Com, MuslimUnity.us, and of course, IslamCrunch.

IslamCrunch: What do you hope IslamCrunch can help you to accomplish?

MediaAndIslam: Help in promoting the site to the Muslim Community online.

IslamCrunch: If you could collaborate with another organization or participate on another project, please list them here.

MediaAndIslam: We are open to collaborating with other Muslim Media Activists and as stated before have already posted links and articles from other Activists from across the country.

IslamCrunch: Any other comments?

MediaAndIslam: Thanks for your interest and support!

Technorati tags: media, islam, exclusive, interview, blog, editor