After a night of staying up late and sleeping in pup tents, I saw a lot of campuseros early this morning with half-closed eyes desperately trying to find some coffee at Campus Party. They have put themselves together though, and by the time the grand opening took place later this morning, everyone gathered in the main hall taking pictures of the prince and princess of Asturias and mingling with the crowd of political officials, military officers, and security guards.

What I really took out of today, though, was the impact social media has had in empowering citizen journalism. At the session devoted to the Egyptian revolution, I watched amateur youtube pieces presented by Wael Abbas, Egyptian journalist and activist. I learned the story of Ahmed Maher (organizer of April 6) who was tortured and kidnapped for the a password to a Facebook group.  The world is definitely not what you see on the news.

The day ended with a great summary of what social media has to offer to the entire Arab world. “Social Media allow people to reclaim their identity,”  said Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, a journalist from The Stream Program in Al Jaazera. The diversity of the Campus Party event is overwhelming and inspiring in the same way that technology itself can be.

Learn more about today:

• Watch a short summary of Ahmed’s Shihab-Eldin’s speech
• Check out the robot with a mohawk
• Follow the #cpmilenio to stay up to follow the event in real time