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Thanks for sharing this article Alio. It is very interesting to learn of yet another different culture group where people have taken to using social networking for the purpose of people power and creating protests. This is along the same lines of the organisation I have chosen; however, on a different scale. You stated in your above comment, "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" (Alio S, 2011). How true is that? The main site for Avaaz (2011), also acts as a central node with its main branches being Email, Twitter and Facebook. The author of your chosen article, Pontus Westerberg seems to be very interested in "interested in how the web can be used for social good, the 'death' (or not) of journalism and ICT for development" (Westerberg, n.d.), and has written a number of articles pertaining to social media, activism and more. When I began researching for this project, I did attempt to find out how to set up a protest, but I obviously was not searching with the write keywords. I have found this article to be useful for not just understanding a protest, but also aids in how to create one. References: Alio S. (2011). How to organise a successful student protest using online tools. Project: Carousel. Diigo - oua_net308_2011 group. Retrieved from http://groups.diigo.com/group/oua_net308_2011 Avaaz.org. (2011).The World in Action. Retrieved from http://www.avaaz.org/en Westerberg, P. (n.d.). Articles by Pontus Westerberg. Project: Carousel. Retrieved from http://www.projectcarousel.org/author/pontus/ Westerberg, P. (2010). How to organise a successful st

being a dangerous example on creating unrest and instability in society. All these questions can only be answered in time, but it does make you think about social media in a completely different light, representing the power and capability of these platforms to gain exposure and organization to a vast audience. References Osam, M. (2011). The eRevolution. Retreived, April 13, 2011. From http://www.famousbloggers.net/the-erevolution.html Franco, J. (2011). Egyptian government orders Internet blackout amid protests. Retreived, April 13, 2011. From http://www.techspot.com/news/42194-egyptian-government-orders-internet-blackout-amid-protests.html

Quote: On Jan 25th, 2011, the world for the first time has witnessed a revolution that brilliantly leveraged the power of social networking tools to overthrow a corrupt regime. Facebook, twitter and blogs were all used to mobilize people all over Egypt (Osam, 2011a) . This article can be related to mine in different ways. From further research, the organisation that I have used in this project Avaaz, has also aided to Egypt's cause and is still aiding toward Egypt's plight. In one way, they are seeking one million signatures on a partition called Stand With The People of Egypt, where they hope to "... end three decades of repressive rule" (Avaaz.org, 2011a). This petition includes links to also promote it through the use of Email, Facebook and Twitter to spread the word. Concurrently, Avaaz has also helped Egypt with a petition to stop Mubarak taking "... billions in stolen public money with him" (Avaaz.org, 2011b). Avaaz needed to collect 550,000 signatures, which they were successful in collecting. The author Muhamed Osam wrote the article, The eRevolution (Osam, 2011a), using a variety of sources and incorporates links to them. Osam has written a few other articles, and is very popular in social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others. His biography states that he is "A network engineer and a security specialist with a BSc degree in Computer Engineering, MS in Computer Networks, MBA in International Business and MS in global management" (Osam, n.d.) I agree with Tim Findlay's thoughts as he concludes that, "... it does make you think about social media in a completely different light, representing the power and capability of these platforms to gain exposure and organization to a vast audience" (Findlay, 2011). These organisations and the use of social networking tools do seem to make the world a smaller but better place.

[Part 1] Digital Dialogue? Australian Politicians' use of the Social Network Tool Twitter This article, published in the Australian Journal of Political Science, reports the results of a study undertaken in 2010 that quantitatively analysed how Twitter is used by Australian politicians. The main aim of the study was to analyse the online engagement between politicians and the Australian public. While Twitter use in Australia is relatively small, Australian politicians, like many of their global counterparts have begun to embrace social media tools that offer them new ways to connect, influence and engage with their constituents. The study found that Twitter users are more likely than users of Facebook to make their profiles and posts public, in fact 79% of the users sampled had public "tweets". Amongst the sample chosen for the study 145 out of the 152 Australian politicians on Twitter had public accounts. A study conducted by Jim Macnamara in 2007, found that Australian politicians are generally "quite resistant to conversational social media", that their websites generally use the broadcast model and that their blogs usually have comments turned off. Even with Twitter, it seems that a large proportion of Tweets from politicians are broadcasting information rather than engaging in political discourse. Twitter, like other social networking tools, bypasses "the heavily mediated connections offered by traditional media" (p. 579) and provides the potential for communication beyond the traditional broadcasting of information, including a forum for minor political parties.

How one man tracked down Anonymous-and paid a heavy price While Anonymous may have seized "new chances for digital activism" it remains subject to investigations and attacks both on the group's concepts and any individuals that can be identified. Its aim to achieve political change through civil disobedience leaves individuals open to prosecution and persecution if identified. This article looks further at attempts to infiltrate Anonymous. It becomes a contest between those seeking to expose the real identities of the Anonymous activists and the activist's responses to these attacks. This article describes one such conflict. It is not clear from the article just what the result was and it is implied that publicity was the aim for an attempt to gain Government Internet Security contracts. The interesting point is that a loose gathering of diversely motivated activists is as vulnerable to cyber attacks as the targets they attack. In a private e-mail Barr is quoted to have said :"They think I have nothing but a hierarchy based on IRC [Internet Relay Chat] aliases!" he wrote. "As 1337 as these guys are supposed to be they don't get it. I have pwned them! :)" (Andersen, 2011) The article claims that from leaked e-mails it attained the full story of how Barr infiltrated Anonymous, used social media to compile his lists, and even resorted to attacks on the codebase of the Low Orbit Ion Cannon-and how others at his own company warned him about the pitfalls of his research. What is 'pwned'? "Pwned" means "to be controlled against your will", or "to be defeated by a superior power". The noun version is pwnage. The "pwn" expression originated in the 1980's from the word "owned". It was used to describe when a hacker would take remote control of a server or another computer. The use of "p" to replace "o" was simply a misspelling at first, but the spelling stuck as a stylistic point. (Gil, 2011) What is 1337? "H

What is 1337? "Hacker "Sp33k" for leet, or elite. Originating from 31337 "eleet" the UDP port used by Dead Cow Cult, a hacker group, to access Windows 95 using Back Orifice, a notorious hacking program." (Urban Dictionary, 2011) Works Cited Andersen, N. (2011, March). How one man tracked down Anonymous-and paid a heavy price. Retrieved April 12, 2011, from ars technica: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/how-one-security-firm-tracked-anonymousand-paid-a-heavy-price.ars Gil, P. (2011). What is 'pwned'? Retrieved April 10, 2011, from About.com: http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/p/f/pwned.htm Urban Dictionary. (2011). Retrieved April 10, 2011, from Urban Dictionary: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=1337

Low Orbit ION Cannon This hacking tool can be downloaded free of charge by anyone from Source Forge. (abatishchev, 2011) This is interesting as it will probably be illegal for anyone to use the tools to "impair the operation" of a computer which includes servers. According to reports on the Source Forge you should note that the program may include Trojans. There is a clear warning: USE ON YOUR OWN RISK. WITH NO ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES. In Great Britain for example anyone who uses Low Orbit ION Cannon would be likely to have committed an offence under Computer Misuse Act 1990. Specifically: "This subsection applies if the person intends by doing the act-(a)to impair the operation of any computer;(b)to prevent or hinder access to any program or data held in any computer;(c)to impair the operation of any such program or the reliability of any such data; or(d)to enable any of the things mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (c) above to be done." "A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable-(a)on summary conviction in England and Wales, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both;(b)on summary conviction in Scotland, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both;(c)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or to a fine or to both." (Computer Misuse Act 1990, 1990) Works Cited abatishchev. (2011, January 23). Low Orbit Ion Cannon. Retrieved April 11, 2011, from SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/loic/ Computer Misuse Act 1990. (1990). Retrieved April 11, 2011, from legislation.gov.uk: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/18/section/3

A loosely organised group of hackers is targeting oppressive regimes and says this is just the beginning (Anonymous, 2011). Anonymous presents a mechanism for socio-political change, using the available technological infrastructure that also facilitates such movements as WikiLeaks. This opinion piece, hosted by Al Jazeera, describes an evangelical movement in protest against what they perceive to be oppressive establishments, as governments or institutions. They consider themselves a movement for digital activism, and in this article focus almost exclusively on the plight of the Tunisian people, with mentions of attacks on the Church of Scientology and WikiLeaks, and the Australian government following the introduction of internet censorship laws (Anonymous, 2011). The article reads like a resume of Anonymous' achievements, and the motivations behind their actions, such as the WikiLeaks release of material exposing atrocities perpetrated by the Tunisian government provoking participants in the Anonymous network to attack via distributed denial of service (DDoS) non-essential government websites and replace them with messages of support for the Tunisian people (Anonymous, 2011). Such activities require the concerted efforts of collaborating individuals across a potentially widely dispersed online network. When compared with GetUp!, a community-minded tool for promoting activism for campaigns relevant to Australians, or Avaaz, a global community-minded campaign tool, the Anonymous movement, though also created with the best intentions, still reads in this article as taking matters more directly into their own hands, with limited accountability. The article uses such language as 'information warfare', 'revolution', and 'attacking', and endorses the breaking of laws to achieve what members of the movement believe in; '[t]here is a reason, after all, that those of us who have seen the movement up close have dedicated our lives to what it stands for, and have even vio

Reference Edwards, J.T., & Baker, C. (2010). A case study: Google collaboration applications as online course teaching tools. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 6(4), Retrieved April 3, 2011, from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol6no4/edwards_1210.htm

This article by Anne Nelson argues against the idea that Twitter was strongly influential in the recent uprisings in Egypt. She backs up her statement by pointing out that there "were well under 15,000 Egyptians tweeting, out of a population of more than 80 million" and that some of those may not have even been inside Egypt. Her figures were intimated from figures released by Social Media Intelligence company "Sysomos" (O'Dell 2011), who after analysing 52 million Twitter users, Found that only 14,642 identified their location as Egypt, Yemen or Tunisia (O'Dell 2011). The majority of these, however, were identified as originating in Egypt. O'Dell's article points out that even these numbers are suspect as it is likely that a percentage of Twitter users in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen do not provide location information in order to protect their identities (2011). Nelson also remarks on the ineffectiveness of other online tools, for instance a Crisis-mapping application named Ushahidi. While she admires the utility of Ushahida, Nelson is quick to point out that crisis maps, particularly those covering low grade problems are generally not sufficiently supported by volunteers willing to update them. Evgeny Morozov coined the term slacktivism "to describe feel-good online activism that has zero political or social impact. It gives those who participate in 'slacktivist' campaigns an illusion of having a meaningful impact on the world without demanding anything more than joining a Facebook group" (Morozov 2009). Nelson clearly feels that the majority of online activism falls into this category. REFS: Morozov, E. (2009). The brave new world of slacktivism. Retrieved from: http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/19/the_brave_new_world_of_slacktivism O'Dell, J. (2011). How Egyptians Used Twitte

Anne Nelson's article comes to the conclusion that "the new digital technologies are powerful tools in moments of crisis, but they cannot substitute for sustained citizen activism". (Nelson, 2011) Nelson points out how "in Egypt, there has been a lot of emphasis on Twitter, but the data suggests that there were well under 15,000 Egyptians tweeting, out of a population of more than 80 million". Nelson also makes reference to "slactivism" "where it's easier to click a "like" button on Facebook than it is to participate in a crisis-mapping platform." , and brings up a "notion of citizenship that involves more than one-click participation". I think that Nelson is missing the point here. Egypt may have been labelled the "Twitter Revolution" and the "Facebook Revolution" by the media, but this was not because of citizens and a "one-click participation", instead social media was used very successfully to mobilize citizens, who then faced real dangers when they took their protests to the streets. As Howard (2011) points out, there are dangers in both "overemphasizing and ignoring the role of digital media in political change in Egypt and Tunisia". While Nelson may not have ignored the role of digital media in Egypt, I think she has certainly under-emphasized it in this particular article. REFERENCES: Howard, P (February 23, 2011) The Cascading Effects of the Arab Spring Miller McCune Magazine Retrieved April 13, 2011 from http://www.miller-mccune.com/politics/the-cascading-effects-of-the-arab-spring-28575/ Nelson, A. (2011). The limits of the 'Twitter revolution. The Guardian Retrieved April 14 2011, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/feb/24/digital-media-egypt

I agree Sheila, many of these articles seem to be missing the point, there seems to be a real criticism towards the effects that social media has had on the protests in Egypt. I keep hearing statements like "Social media is not a substitute for individual action" (Nelson, 2011). Many of these articles seem to be coming to the conclusion that social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook are seen as taking the sole responsibility for the events that have been played out in recent months. I have not seen one pro Twitter article that has put the credit directly in the hands of social network platfroms. Many articles in favor of social media state that they do not give absolute credit to Twitter or Facebook in the successfulness of the protests. For example (Morozov, 2009) states that social media does not take credit for all the peoples contribution and determination to be involved in the protests but it still is an extremely useful tool for the collaboration and organization of people on such a large scale, playing an important role in facilitating these protests. Social media is a very successful collaboration tool that is used in conjunction with society to gain results. Social media did play an extremely vital part in the organization and efficiency of these protests that cannot be denied. But it was individual action and determination that aided these people to contribute and gain results. Perhaps it should not be called a "Twitter Revolution", as this is where I think criticism and confusion has come about, the headline does place a biased opinion in favor of Twitter. Regardless of the attitudes towards social medias role in these events, its effectiveness in these matters has shocked the world and demonstrated how powerful it is as a communicative tool.

[Please note: This comment is in three parts due to Diigo restrictions on length] This is a very interesting article Chris, as it was broadcast in 2001 when the majority of people were getting their own home computers and only 35% of Australian dwellings reportedly had access to the Internet (ABS, 2007). The radio transcript of Williams and Macinnis (2001) is therefore unique in the way it is questioning the use of new "Internet technology" and how, in the light of historical perspectives, new technology usually has a long adaptation rate (Williams & Macinnis, 2001). The "rear-view mirror" approach was also an eye-opener for me, as I had never thought of the adaptation of new technology in that way before. However on reflection, Macinnis' thoughts are very true. In fact his historical look at technology and how the train was originally known as the "iron horse" is reminiscent of the ideas in one of the set articles on technological determinism where each "age" was labeled after the most prominent tool of that era, resulting in the "bronze age," "iron age" and so on. Macinnis' views on the value of the Internet for educational purposes are quite astounding considering we are still going through our very own evolution with Internet delivery of our University subjects. His predictions are almost becoming a reality ten years later. [Continued in comment below]

[Continuation of comment above] However the Australian Department of Education, at least in NSW, still has a long way to go. Despite a wealth of peer-reviewed documentation on the benefits of social media, teachers will only be allowed to access social media for teaching purposes from the start of Term 2, 2011. I even found a slideshare issued by the NSW Department of Education in 2009 to assist teachers to grasp the concept of "Social Learning 2.0" (NSWDET, 2009). The meta-data method that you mentioned is quite a good idea. I found a slideshare presentation on it that helped explain the area for my understanding (Downes, 2007). In terms of how your topic of educational enhancement by social media relates to my topic of Flash Mobs, if social media is taught uniformly across all Australian schools, then students will benefit from gaining greater insight to accessing information through the portal of their computers. For my chosen topic of Flash Mobs however, there is not much of a correlation with educational enhancement via social media use although a background in and access to social media are both necessary and important contributing factors to the successful implementation and organization of Flash Mobs. Thanks for sharing your article Chris. [Please navigate to next comment for References used]