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This article presents tools and strategies for setting up collaborative networks in the form of localized resistance 'cells'. Anonymous use this system of local and semi-independent networks as storage points for resources and to maintain its global communications beyond larger web services. It is these "autonomously acting local cells" that allow Anonymous to keep "resources, videos, pictures, and most important (their) protest and resistance organization online"(anon, 2011). While these strategies have resulted from challenging oppressive political regimes and fighting to maintain freedom of information, the ideas can be adapted to working in more general and everyday online environments. Anonymous see small local groups acting as autonomous and self-reliant parts of a larger network, to make the entire structure stronger and more resilient as a whole. Their tactics have grown "organically in cyberspace rather than reflecting the cyber version of existing real world phenomena" (Keane, B, 2011) and show how local sub-groups can effectively create strong, flexible networks when collaborating on a global scale. Some of the major advantages of working in a localized cell are identified as being "Local organization only needs a local focus" (anon, 2011), hinting at the benefits of a simpler organizational structure; "You can continue the fight as a team even if cut of from all the other protesters/activists"(anon, 2011), which if adapted to collaboration in general suggests more resilient and efficient networks; and "you can gather resources there, videos pics, voice files, flyers and re-upload it from there if you lose resources to deletion or block"(anon, 2011), showing the benefits of decentralized networks as both data protection and archiving tools. References anon. (2011) 'Tools to help the Revolutions Part II - Online resistance cell organization'. Anonymous Hamburg. 23rd of February 2011. Available from: http://hamburger-anon.blog

Anonymous, being a decentralised network, relies upon the interest of tech savvy individuals to contribute to their campaigns. When challenged by legal representatives of the targets of their attacks, such as the 'Cult of Scientology' (Anonymous, 2011), their efforts to disseminate information through mainstream channels may be thwarted by take-down notices. In the case presented in this article hosted by Blogspot, they admit to having been frustrated by such interference with distributing videoes, pictures, and other resources online (Anonymous, 2011). The blog entry continues with offering alternatives and suggestions for anyone interested in contributing to Anonymous' on-going campaigns, providing advice and recommendations for useful tools and techniques. It outlines the advantages to contributing in the online movement, such as 'continue the fight as a team even if cut off from all the other protesters/activists' (Anonymous, 2011), suggesting a reward through participation, which is a prime motivator for other online crowd-sourcing initiatives (Belleflamme, Lambert, & Schwienbacher, 2011). The article proceeds to then explain how a user can participate by listing potential resources the assist without danger of being identified, and caught, suggesting such websites as wall.fm, noting that the service probably has a server farm that won't suffer in the event of a Distributed Denial of Service attack. It also explains how to create a social network, including links to free domain registration services, and free webhosting, to facilitate the potential new member of the Anonymous network into building an online resistance cell. Anonymous Hamburg. (2011). We do what we must, because we can. Retrieved from http://hamburger-anon.blogspot.com/2011/02/tools-to-help-revolutions-part-ii.html. Belleflamme, P., Lambert, T., & Schwienbacher, A. (2011). Tapping the Right Crowd. Retrieved from http://ssrn.com/abstract=157817.

Project: Carousel! » How to organise a successful student protest using online tools The author of this article is Pontus Westerberg is a member of the Project Carousel! Team, "a student-led online community working under the auspices of the Centre for Media and Film Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London". This brief article advises student protesters which online tools may be useful for organising protests and keeping protesters informed. The recommended tools include Twitter, blogs, video, plus online mapping tools. The article also recommends creating a central node, such as a website to tie all these disparate elements together, and as an example links to the UCL occupation page (http://www.ucloccupation.com/), which shows an example of this being done. Westerberg gives an overview on the use of Twitter hashtags to organise protest conversations, making them easier to keep track of, citing examples of these such as the #demo2010 that was used to organise conversations around the student protest that took place on the 24th October 2010. The 140 character limitation imposed by Twitter, also makes Blogs an attractive online tool for protest, offering a forum where ideas and issues can be disseminated and discussed in a lengthier format. Westerberg also provides examples showing the effectiveness of images and video in getting a message across, and indicates that there are benefits in utilising humour and encouraging user generated content. Overall the article provides basic information, but links to quite a few interesting examples of sites and tools that are being used by the student protest movement in the United Kingdom. References: Westerberg, P. (2010). How to organise a successful student protest using online tools. Retrieved from: http://www.projectcarousel.org/2010/11/how-to-organise-a-successful-s

This article from the Project Carousel website is a step by step guide describing how to organize "a successful protest using online tools" (Westerberg, P. 2010). It was created specifically for student activists however it would be adaptable to many forms of online collaboration since it shows efficient strategies for creating independent networks using free web services and social networking tools. This is similar to a guide describing how to create localized 'cell' based networks from 'Tools to help the Revolutions Part II - Online resistance cell organization', an article that I have posted to Diigo. Both of these guides explain practical methods for creating and working across decentralized networks, focusing on free online resources and web services. They also identify the primary need for a central point of contact (or node) which is connected to multiple communication and content sharing websites (as satellite services). These methods of collaboration describe "local cells that keep in touch through their decentralized networks" (anon, 2011), yet they are also effective ways to organize, manage and create widely accessible and secure channels for global communications. Both articles show techniques that allow a group to form strong and flexible networks with like minded people from across world. Refeences anon. (2011) 'Tools to help the Revolutions Part II - Online resistance cell organization'. Anonymous Hamburg. 23rd of February 2011. Available from: http://hamburger-anon.blogspot.com/2011/02/tools-to-help-revolutions-part-ii.html Westerberg, P. (2010). How to organise a successful student protest using online tools. Available from: http://www.projectcarousel.org/2010/11/how-to-organise-a-successful-student-protest-using-online-tools/

Project Carousel is a 'student-led online community based at the Centre for Media and Film Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London' (Project Carousel, n.d.). The article was written Pontus Westerberg in 2010, during the student protests regarding student fees. It was written as a how-to guide to help would-be protesters make the most of social media to add their voices to the campaign in an open, transparent way. Westerberg is less informational and more instructional in his advice to establish a profile using popular social media tools like Twitter, with hashtags, creating a blog and making videos, making a particular point to be humorous at the expense of authority. 'Do something funny', suggesting that positive attention may be garnered through fun and humour. Unlike the Anonymous movement, Project Carousel appears to endorse, if not outright encourage, transparent participation with user-generated content and boldly putting faces and names toward the campaign. The points made in the article may seem obvious, but new inductees to the social media mechanism, eager to participate, would find these easy-to-follow steps a clear guide to joining the protests and being heard. Though not a crowd-funding or crowd-sourcing tool, it does provide a useful guide to generating interest from 'the crowd', be it a personal project or a community-conscious endeavour.. Westerberg, P. (2010). How to organise a successful student protest using online tools. Project: Carousel!. Retrieved from http://www.projectcarousel.org/2010/11/how-to-organise-a-successful-student-protest-using-online-tools/.

"Sukey apps help protesters avoid police kettles" Sukey is a recently developed online tool for protesters. It is made up of a suite of applications that allow protesters to either submit or access information about police presence on roads or junctions during protests. Sukey can be accessed and updated online from any connected computer and also via mobile phones, meaning that protesters potentially have access to relevant information no matter where they are. There are two flavours of Sukey for mobiles, smart phones with GPS and Internet browsers can use the "Roar" version of Sukey which includes helpful graphics like a compass and an interactive google map (Doctrow 2011). The "Growl" version of the application is suitable for older mobile phones and is basically an SMS update service. Information is gathered by people on site at protests, from specially tagged Twitter comments, from news broadcast footage and geotagged photos from Flickr. Location information can also be submitted via Google Latitude or by SMS. This crowd-sourced information is intended to allow protesters to make informed decisions and hopefully avoid kettling. Kettling is a practice used by police whereby protesters are surrounded and confined, sometimes for hours on end without access to food, shelter or toilet facilities. At present the platform is only available in London, but the developers have plans to release national and international versions. References: Doctrow, C. (2011). Sukey: an anti-kettling app for student demonstrators in London. Retrieved from: http://boingboing.net/2011/01/28/sukey-an-anti-kettli.html Geere, D. (2011). Sukey apps help protesters avoid police kettles. Retrieved from: http

Thank you for sharing Alio. This is the first I have heard of Sukey and after reading Geere's blog post, I can really appreciate its usefulness throughout political demonstrations, in particularly the recent protests in Egypt. After some further research it appears Sukey emerged on January 27, 2011, two days after the initial January 25th 2011, Egypt demonstrations; however, there appears to be no connection between the two. The purpose of Sukey is to improve communications during protests and to counter the act of kettling, a crowd management tactic used by police that involves cornering protestors in a confined space with only one possible - normally guarded - exit (Kingsley, 2011). Sukey facilitates this through the amalgamation of information sources such as; Google Latitude, Geo tagged Flickr photos, Twitter and television news, feeding the content to web enabled phones or for a small fee traditional SMS. Throughout the Egypt uprising, there were many instances of kettling captured on video and submitted to YouTube - as per the below links. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXbRdumboZ0&feature=related. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xWiBCIxjIk&feature=related If available at the time Sukey may have been an advantageous asset to Egyptian activists. It can be argued that the police clashes - which resulted in numerous injuries and 125 deaths - could have been minimized if protestors had access to real-time information indicating police strategies. It is worth mentioning that Sukey would have been effective up to the point the Internet and mobile networks were shut down by Egyptian authorities. Provided there is robust communication infrastructure is in place, Sukey proves to be a powerful participatory tool that has the potential to reduce injuries and fatalities throughout demonstrations. Geere, D. (January 31, 2011). Sukey apps help protesters avoid police kettles: Wired [Blog Post]. Retrieved April 11, 2011, from, http://www.wired.co.uk/

(2001) This is a critical view about the internet and education. Peter Macinnis Speaks with Robyn Williams (ABC Science National Radio) about the evolution of Technology and how technology takes 20 plus years to become an accepted technology. Macinnis shows the analogy of the printing press, steam trains, telephone,radio and TV development and then compares the internet.  He claims you need to take the rear view mirror approach to see what the trends are.   One interesting point that Macinnis makes is that the examination process of education is still ran by the old school where the generation today have a whole new literacy in Internet communications. He also criticise how the Internet is organised and there is some work needed to add metadata to the already exciting data on the web.  I find this a good argument as search engines rank results based on several factors other than truth and reliability.     Williams, R. (Writer). (2001). The Internet and Education [Radio ], ABC Science. Australia: ABC Radio National.

REFERENCES ABS. (2007). 8146.0.55.001 - Patterns of Internet access in Australia, 2006, Australian Bureau of Statistics. First Issued November 29, 2007. Retrieved April 12, 2011 from: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/8146.0.55.001Main+Features12006?OpenDocument Downes, S. (2007). The Future of Online Learning and Personal learning Environments. Retrieved April 12, 2011 from: http://www.slideshare.net/Downes/the-future-of-online-learning-and-personal-learning-environments NSWDET (2009). Social Learning 2.0 Concepts and Visuals. Uploaded by the NSW Department of Education and Training March 2009. Retrieved April 12, 2011 from Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/etalbert/sociallearning20-concepts-and-visuals-mar09# Williams, R., and Peter Macinnis (2001). The Internet and Education. Ockham's Razor, Radio National. Broadcast Sunday May 6, 2001. Retrieved April 12, 2011 from: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ockham/stories/s289416.htm

It is good to go back and examine Peter Macinnis's point of view. Reminds me of the exercise of examining Clifford Stoll's (1995) view on what the internet was to become, which of course was mostly wrong. Macinnis seemed to have predicted the unorganised nature of the information on the internet (ABC Radio, 2001) which to an extent does exist now. This is one reason I believe is important to address in terms of internet collaboration especially in education. Collaborating is about organising information into a presentation form for all students collaborating within a system. But that must be with a gatekeeper, namely the teacher or lecturer or tutor who can intervene when needed. Michael Green (ABC Radio, 1999) in an earlier view on that show quoted Fred Bennett who urged computers to teach students without an intermediary, namely a tutor or teacher. Whilst tertiary education is underpinned by self-reliance, I wonder if such views back then apply now. In collaboration, does the lecturer decide to be strictly a hands off non-interventionist given that their students are mature and can think for themselves? Or does the lecturer, given the high demands of departmental, research and publishing commitments, become part of the student group collaboration? In my resources, Google Docs seems to raise more issues about information use which suggest students place a high value on organised information which makes sense to them. I feel that Macinnis should revise today if inaccurate information is the real problem. We had virtual communities were information could be corrected, but with Web 2.0, Wikipedia being the most obvious example, we can correct what is wrong. I do agree with Tessa that social media overall seems to be quite behind in the way it is being diffused across educational sectors. Collaboration tools such as Facebook etc will be used by students anyway so it seems odd that the resistance still exists. This interview is a good resource to reflect on how f

Grant, W. J., Moon, B., & Busby Grant, J. (2010). Digital Dialogue? Australian Politicians' use of the Social Network Tool Twitter. Australia Journal of Political Science, 45(4), 579-604. Using the social network tool Twitter by Australian politicians has proven to be a common practice in Australian political arena. The analysis mentioned in the article, suggests that the politicians use the Twitter for political engagement and gaining of more political benefit. For politicians the Twitter is simply a good way of connecting with public. 'Engaging with community online is a great for me, as Premier, to get feedback on the decisions and actions of my government… Twitter in particular is a frank and spontaneous way for people to share views and thoughts - it's not filtered or tempered by second thoughts, it's raw and immediate, and its 24/7.' One of the authors' questions as part of their conducted analysis was 'Does Twitter offer us better ways to collectively shape our world, or is it instead a fragmentary, dangerous and disempowering distraction?' The obtained results were received from 152 Australian politicians and 477 random Australian Twitters. Data analysis suggested that Australian politicians are clearly engaging with Twitter and their broadcast tweeting is of higher number that of Australians in general. Collected data also suggested a pattern of tweeting that Australians in general follow politicians more than politicians follow them. The data analysis conclusion was the tweeting is used by Australian politicians for influencing the communities and for the benefit they may gain through the tweeting. The Twitter provides a tool for listening to the communities by the politicians and is a definitively a good access point to valuable feedbacks. Twitter's rapid connection between politicians and communities is one of the greatest benefits using the Twitter. The Twitter is providing a venue for Australian politicians, citizens and media to connect and sh

[Part 2] The report found that apart from tweets to broadcast information, there is a reasonably high level of 'retweeting' performed by politicians, retweeting is a micro-political act of endorsement. It also suggested that the number of people a politician follows loosely translates as the level to which that politician listens to the public. Politicians replying to tweets from non-politicians, however were found to be quite a low percentage of posts, suggesting that to date Twitter has not particularly facilitated an open political dialogue. References: Grant, W. J., Moon, B., and Busby Grant, J. (2010). Digital Dialogue? Australian Politicians' use of the Social Network Tool Twitter. Australia Journal of Political Science, 45(4), 579-604. DOI: 10.1080/10361146.2010.517176

Twitter as used by politicians stands at a crossroads. Held in scorn by many politicians, it is often derided as a trivial communications platform with a distinct lack of professionalism. This is well exampled by Julia Gillard's attack on Twitter fan Joe Hockey for daring to consult his 'tweets' for policy opinion. ""He can't govern the nation by tweet," (Courier Mail 2009). Akin to this is the British House of Commons ban on tweeter for apparently as the Deputy Speaker puts it "letting the outside world know what is going on (in parliament)". (Financial Post 2011) In contrast, is enthusiastic tweeting by politicians such as Federal member Joe Hockey and NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell. O'Farrrell in particular uses Twitter for daily political discourse with his constituents. Often offering further insight into policy matters or recent actions in media. With over 6000 Tweets (NSW MP Tweets 2011) O'Farrell has set a precedent for high-profile Australian politicians using Twitter as an effective medium. With Hockey being accused by Gillard over crossing the line between consulting and collaboration using Twitter, the evolving use of the service remains of great interest to the political world. References Julia Gillard hits Joe Hockey's Twitter usage (2009) Courier Mail. Accessed http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/julia-gillard-hits-joe-hockeys-twitter-usage/story-e6freooo-1225804950598 Twitter banned in British Parliament (2011) Financial Post. Accessed http://business.financialpost.com/2011/01/19/twitter-banned-in-british-parliament/ NSW MP Tweets (2011) Statistics about Barry O'Farrell on Twitter. Accessed http://nsw.mptweets.com.au/barry-ofarrell/