Twitter and other social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and text messaging have recently become an essential way to get out information from nations in conflict, such as Iran, China and Haiti. Social media played a key role during the Iran Election Crisis, allowing Iranian opposition groups to communicate and organize despite government attempts to restrict Internet access. Associate professor of literature and women's studies, Negar Mottahedeh will discuss the representation of Iran in film and social media and answer viewers' questions during a live "Office Hours" webcast interview at noon Friday, Jan. 29, on Duke's Ustream channel.

To ask a question of Mottahedeh in advance or during the session, send an email to live@duke.edu, post a comment on the Duke University Live Ustream page on Facebook or tweet with the tag #dukelive.

Mottahedeh is an expert on Iranian film and author of "Displaced Allegories," a book on post-revolutionary Iranian cinema. When demonstrators protested alleged vote fraud in last summer's Iranian presidential elections in Tehran, Mottahedeh monitored and commented on the use of social media in the demonstrations. Last spring Mottahedeh's "Introduction to Film Studies" class hosted a Twitter Film Festival; in 2003, she helped organize the "Reel Evil" film festival at Duke, which featured movies produced in countries whom President Bush identified as the "Axis of Evil." She Tweets @negaratduke and blogs at negarpontifiles.blogspot.com.

Office hours at a university are the times when professors leave their doors open for people to wander in and converse, whether it be about current events, the meaning of life or developments in their fields. Duke's Office Hours series aims to bring the expansiveness and sparkle of these conversations to anyone with an Internet connection and an interest in the ideas bubbling up at Duke. To date, topics have ranged from the war in Afghanistan to the New Testament, World Cup soccer and the state of Muslim Americans since 9/11. You are invited to join the conversation.