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Alan Beazley

Global activism and new media: A study of transnational NGOs' online public relations - 2 views

Seo's paper discusses the use and efficiency of new media within transnational / nongovernment organisations (NGOs). Based on the global connectedness of the Internet, activists can effectively c...

activism particpation collaboration convergence new-media

started by Alan Beazley on 17 Apr 11 no follow-up yet
Alan Beazley

Kravets, D. (January 27, 2011). What's Fueling Mideast Protests? It's More Than Twitter. - 1 views

www.wired.com/...social-media-oppression

Twitter Facebook Collaboration Protest Activist Egypt

shared by Alan Beazley on 09 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • Alan Beazley on 09 Apr 11
     
    Kravet's Wired online article details the role social-media services such as; Facebook, Twitter and YouTube played in the 2011 Egypt political revolution. The primary focus of his article suggests the uprising was the result of years of oppression and dictatorship, not simply a Twitter or mass media revolution as some have labelled it (Bergstrom, 2009). Kravet does acknowledge the link between technology and modern upheavals by using the example of the fax machine and the role it played informing the world of the Tiananmen Square massacre. At the same time, he still emphasises that social-media and communication systems are used as an effective way of coordinating protests and political gatherings. A quarter of Egyptian citizens have Internet access; therefore, it can be said that social media is a powerful channel activists could utilise - in conjunction with leaflets and spontaneous amalgamation - to effectively facilitate organisation of the masses. Activists also used social media as a way of gauging the scope of their proposed protests by encouraging Facebook users to confirm their attendance. Prior to the Internet being blocked, one particular organiser had 80,000 confirmations for a January 29, 2011 demonstration. After the Egyptian government's initial block of popular, social-networking services (prior to the entire Internet being shutdown in Egypt) protestors took leverage from a variety of technologies such as; web proxies, VPNs and smartphone applications to gain access to Facebook and Twitter. Again this demonstrates the importance these tools play in information sharing and mass collaboration. Bergstrom, G. (2009). Egypt: The First Twitter Revolution? Retrieved, April 4 2011, from http://marketing.about.com/od/crisis_communication/a/egypt-mubarak-power-in-social-media.htm Kravets, D. (January 27, 2011). What's Fueling Mideast Protests? It's More Than Twitter. Retrieved April 5, from http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/
  • ...3 more comments...
  • Tessa Gutierrez on 12 Apr 11
     
    [Please note: This comment is in two parts due to Diigo restrictions on length] Thanks so much for adding this link Alan. I was amazed at how social media was used in helping to organize protests against the repression of the Mubarak regime in Egypt recently, yet saddened by the fact that the Egyptian Government erased Egypt from Global connectivity by shutting down the Internet across Egypt (Kravets, 2011b). As Kravets (2011b) heard from one reporter "The Egyptian government's actions tonight essentially wiped their country from the global map." What was most interesting however was how Kravets (2011a) explained that only one quarter of the Egyptian population had access to the Internet. Most of their revolution was organized the old-fashioned way via word-of-mouth, pamphlet distribution and the spontaneous gatherings of people intent on making a stand against Mubarak and his dictatorship (2011a). However despite Kravets reporting that perhaps this revolution would have occurred whether there was social media activity or not, the fact that the Egyptian government blocked access to the Internet, means that the world outside Egypt may not know what is happening until after the event - and therefore it may be too late to send assistance of any form. More importantly for the rise of social media and protests, the blocking of Egyptian Internet by their government highlights the fact that the power inherent in Internet-related social media activities was recognized. [Please navigate to the next comment]
  • Tessa Gutierrez on 12 Apr 11
     
    [Continued from previous comment] In terms of my chosen topic of Flash Mobs, much of what occurs in public view is usually the result of months of planning, organizing and collaborating via emails and social media networks. If a Flash Mob is organized without Internet usage (both before and after the event), the impact would not be as great and therefore the issue highlighted by that activity would not have the desired global impact. The curious thing about Flash Mobs however is that they are usually organized without a cause and as such are simply a way to create a spectacle in an urban space (Molnar, 2009). Social media definitely assisted the people revolution in Egypt earlier this year, but until more of their population can gain access, organizational tools will be relying on the more traditional methods of leaflet distribution and gathering crowds street-by-street. Thanks again for sharing this article Alan - it definitely broadened my insular world and I look forward to reading about more current events regarding Egypt now that I have this background information. REFERENCES Kravets, D. (2011a). What's Fueling Mideast Protests? It's More Than Twitter. Published by Wired January 27, 2011. Retrieved April 12, 2011 from http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/01/social-media-oppression/ Kravets, D. (2011b). Internet Down in Egypt, Tens of Thousands Protest in 'Friday of Wrath.' Published by Wired January 27, 2011. Retrieved April 12, 2011 from: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/egypt-internet-down/ Molnar, V. (2009). Reframing Public Space: Flash Mobs and the Futility of Contemporary Urban Youth Culture. Retrieved April 12, 2
  • sheila mclean on 13 Apr 11
     
    I found Kravet's article interesting, particularly as I have been focusing on civil unrest and protests in Europe and the Middle East myself. Kravet acknowledged the link between technology and modern upheavals by using the example of the fax machine and the role it played informing the world of the Tiananmen Square massacre. In the last two hundred years technology has continued to facilitate communication - we have gone from print media to telephone, radio, television, and now of course computer technology, making the dissemination of information easier and more widespread. There is no doubt that social media is an effective tool in mobilizing and engaging citizens, but as Kravet says it is more than Twitter fuelling the Middle East protests. Peter Dahlgren, in Van de Donk et als "Cyberprotest: new media, citizens and social movements" (2004), summarised the role of the internet in the political arena. He said "we should avoid becoming obsessed with just the communication technology itself...we need to include in our analytical horizons the complex ways in which ICT's interplay with the dynamics of social movements, as well as with mainstream political structures and contemporary cultural trends that frame these movements" (Dahlgren, in 2004Van de Donk et al, p.xv) Thanks for sharing this article Alan. I can only imagine the wealth of scholarly articles and research that will be published in the next few years on the use of social media in political protests, its certainly an interesting topic to research. REFERENCES: Kravets, D. (2011). What's Fueling Mideast Protests? It's More Than Twitter. Published by Wired January 27, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2011 from http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/01/social-media-oppression/ Van de Donk, W., Loader, B. Nixon, P. And Rucht, D. (eds). (2004) Cyberprotest: n
  • tim findlay on 13 Apr 11
     
    The article is interesting, but i just wanted to touch on the statements that were raised around communication after the Internet had actually been shut off. I was fascinated to read about how society can mobilize and use the resources that are available in times of need. Using third party proxies, organizers were able figure out ways to bypass the Egyptian Internet filters and to be able to once again access Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other Internet sites (Osam, 2011). Despite the Internet blackout, landline communication was never blocked; Egyptians found another way to access the Internet through landlines dial-up Internet services and fax services. Egyptians living outside Egypt were receiving faxes through regular landline phones, by using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technologies they could convert the fax image into text contents, and post the contents, news and updates into Facebook, Twitter and different blogs (Sutter, 2011). This convergence in technology just goes to show that these types of situations cannot be simply shut off by closing down all Internet connections within the country. As an indication on how fast online communication services are popping up into the spotlight, Google in the meantime launched a new service called "speak2tweet", which allowed Egyptians to call a regular landline number in Cairo and speak their tweet to an IVR/Voice recognition system. The speak2tweet system would then convert the caller voice message into a text tweet (Osam, 2011). References Osam, M. (2011). The eRevolution. Retrieved, April 13, 2011. From http://www.famousbloggers.net/the-erevolution.html
  • tim findlay on 14 Apr 11
     
    Sutter, J. (2011). The Faces of Egypt's 'Revolution 2.0'. Retrieved, April 13, 2011. From http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/02/21/egypt.internet.revolution/index.html
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