Digital ActivismKyle Snowdon & Amanda Trigiani

The Social Order

The Social Order is that which concerns the communication between people through technology, including the use of text, audio, and video (Desjardin et al., 2001).

Definitions

● Activism:

○ consists of efforts to promote, impede, or direct social, political, economic, or environmental change

● Digital Activism:

○ Aka. Internet Activism, e-Activism, Virtual Activism○ The use of the Internet to increase the effectiveness

of social or political activism

Definitions

● Social Media:

○ "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.” (Kietzmann & Hermkens, 2011)

○ e.g., Twitter, Facebook

How Digital Activism Occurs...

● Online petitions

● Twitter: ○ Tweeting about the issue○ Retweeting○ Changing profile pictures○ Creating a #subject

● Facebook:○ Sharing a status○ Changing profile pictures○ Liking a status/image/page○ Joining groups/events/pages○ Creating groups/events/pages

Positives of Digital Activism

● Worldwide collaboration

● Immediacy and accessibility

● Organization or mainstream media not needed

● Movement leaders change

● Voices of ordinary people, those in troubled areas.

Positives of Digital Activism

● Lowered participation costs (resulting in increased fundraising overall).

● Activist websites can present information on the same level as those they are criticizing.

● Easy to accomplish: Message is spread virally.

● Convincing: Often spread by those you know and identify with giving it legitimacy.

Julie Dixon

“(The) research shows good causes should focus like a laser beam on social champions because they will do more, spread more, and advance

your cause more”

Issues with Digital Activism

● Passivity

● Activist overload

● Desensitization

● Issues fade quickly

Malcolm Gladwell

"It makes it easier for activists to express

themselves, and harder for that expression to have any impact. The instruments of social

media are well suited to making the existing social order more efficient."

Problem

P = (SD - SC) Role(K + R)

Problem: Can social media be used as an effective means of digital activism?

Situation desired: Social media acts as a medium for spreadingmessages and coordinating citizens. Therefore, social media can support digital activism and accomplish set goals (i.e., result in offline gain).

Situation currently: Unknown

Problem

P = (SD - SC) Role(K + R)

Knowledge: Accesses and participates in social media Understands or supports an issue

Resources: Internet, social media, technology device (computer, mobile, tablet), information

Roles: "Activist" - views, responds to, or shares information about issue

Examples● The Fight Against Child Abuse

○ Facebook pictures○ Mainly awareness

● Buy a Life campaign○ Twitter and Facebook celebrity presence○ Blended with offline activism (e.g., t-shirts, celebrity

support)○ Met goals in fundraising (1 million)

● Iranian, Moldova, & Egypt protests○ Twitter and YouTube○ Lead to awareness and physical protests

Examples

● Communities of Activism: sites dedicated to digital activism; supports a number of various issues/causes; activism mainly takes place through online petitions

○ Sum of Us: ■ http://sumofus.org

○ Open Media:■ http://openmedia.ca

Examples

Examples

Examples

Examples

Is Digital Activism Effective?

Engagement Theory

● Learners must be meaningfully engaged

● Technology can facilitate engagement

● Engaged learning involves active cognitive processes○ creating, problem-solving, reasoning, examining,

decision-making, evaluating○ intrinsic motivation

Solutions

Digital activism has the ability to...● promote awareness:

○ Thinking, researching, understanding, sharing

● support mass connectivity:○ Petitioning, uniting, collaborating, fundraising,

communicating

Digital activism is most effective when...● combined with F2F action:

○ Engagement and support both online and offline

Questions

1. Is awareness enough to be considered a form of activism?

2. Does the abundance of digital activism retreat from its effectiveness? (overwhelming, desensitization) -- consider your personal experiences

3. Can digital activism occur without full learner engagement (or intrinsic motivation)?

ReferencesAndresen, K. (2011, October 24). Why slacktivism is underrated. Mashable, Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2011/10/24/slactivism-cause-engagement/

Anonymous (group) (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved April 2, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(group)

Blood, R. (2000). Activism and the internet: From e-mail to new political movement. Journal of communication management, 5(2), 160-169.

Butler, M. (2011). Clicktivism, slacktivism, or "real" activism cultural codes of american activism in the internet era. University of Colorado at Boulder). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 1-100. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/873452474?accountid=14694. (873452474).

Drew, M. (2013, March 28). Red box with 2 pink rectangles: The facebook profile pic sweeping across social media. Retrieved from http://www.penduluminaction.com/red-box-with-2-pink-rectangles-facebook-profile-pic/

ReferencesGago, O. (2010, August 30). Digital activism glossary. Retrieved from http://www.digitalactivist.net/articles/digital-activism-glossary/

Gladwell, M. (2010, October 4). Small change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted. The New Yorker, Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all

H. Kietzmann, Jan; Kristopher Hermkens (2011). "Social media? Get serious! Understanding thefunctional building blocks of social media". Business Horizons 54: 241–251.

Jason Russell (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved April 1, 2013, fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Russell

Kony 2012 (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved April 1, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kony_2012

Wikileaks (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved March 30, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikileaks