Digital Activism: KONY 2012

Affecting societies around the globe to varying degrees are a number of pressing issues, from social matters such as poverty and racism to threats such as epidemic diseases and environmental degradation. Activist organisations that fight for these causes can have significant impacts and influence the collective consciousness on the issue. Activism is defined as “the doctrine or practice of vigorous action or involvement as a means of achieving political or other goals, sometimes by demonstrations, protests, etc.” (www.dictionary.com). Other ways activist groups work to achieve their goals include lobbying, litigation, boycotts, reconciliation, and public education. Greenpeace is an example of a social issue organisation globally recognised for its efforts to stop nuclear warships and whaling vessels.

As activist methods evolve Sivitanides and Shah (2011) assert that the fundamental difference between modern activism and traditional activism is that with the use of digital technology activism has now transformed into a sharper, more focused tool. The speed, scale, reliability and low cost of the internet have enabled the scale and scope of modern day activism. Effective communication is essential for activist success and while the digital revolution has enhanced communication methods there is still debate on the degree of influence that digital technologies have on activism.

According to Benkler (2006) the networked nature of the digital world allows people to connect, communicate and take action away from the control and influence of these traditional structures (cited in Sivitanides & Shah, 2011). Through the digital environment awareness of issues and the objectives of activists become widespread. Miller (2004: 208) draws attention to the rise of network campaign enables by new media:

Network campaigns allow a diverse grouping of organisations and individuals to participate through commitment to a shared purpose, while remaining autonomous individual agents. In this way, it is possible to gain additional leverage over decision-making bodies through the ‘multiplier effect’ of a coherent message and more efficient deployment of resources and effort, while maintaining the flexibility and energy that more bureaucratic forms of co-ordination tend to squander.

An example of these network campaigns can be as seen through Invisible Children’s ‘KONY 2012’ video posted to social media platform YouTube. The video documentary sought to build awareness and stop war lord Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army or LRA in Uganda. Invisible Children (n.d.) report that Kony and the LRA have been abducting children, often forcing them to kill their own families; abducting girls to be sex slaves, and brainwashing the children with lies and manipulating them with his claim of spiritual powers.

After Invisible Children launched their campaign in 2012 it became the fastest growing viral video of all time with 3.7 million people pledging their support for efforts to arrest Joseph Kony. The KONY 2012 video sparked more international activity focused on stopping the LRA than ever before. Invisible Children’s work transcended from online to reality with the mobilisation of supporters to protest and walk in demonstrations. They have built systems that warn remote communities of LRA attacks and encourage members of the LRA to peacefully surrender. They have also rehabilitated children directly affected by the LRA and invested in education and economic recovery programs in the post-conflict region to promote lasting peace. The work of Invisible Children was made possible because of the success of KONY 2012 and the pledges and donations made through the website.

It is important to realise that digital activism is complex and contradictory. It can be used to empower the voice of the disadvantaged and can aid in changing social structures. It can also be used to watch and censor citizens and to create chaos by terrorist organisations. New media and digital technologies cannot create these effects alone; it takes individuals and offline actions. Just as activism has existed in the past, it will continue to make the actions of these networks globally recognised. Social networks are effective in forming relationships with others, disseminating resources, providing opportunities and conceptualising structure.


References

Activism. (n.d.). Collins English Dictionary – Complete & unabridged 10^th Edition. Accessed 12 January, 2014 from Dictionary.com, <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/activism>.

Invisible Children n.d. Year in Review: Results, Invisible Children. Accessed 3 January 2014, <http://invisiblechildren.com/kony/#epic-progress>.

Sivitanides, M & Shah, V 2011, The era of digital activism, Conference proceedings of CONISAR 2011, Conference for Information Systems Applied Research held in Wilmington North Carolina, USA. Viewed 3 January 2014, <http://proc.conisar.org/2011/pdf/1842.pdf>.

 

   

Social Media in Political Campaigns

Social media is now a major tool in political campaigns. Many politicians and political parties are using new technologies to reach larger audiences and compete for the youth audience vote with richer and highly customised online content.

Politicians can, with the help of political marketing experts and advertising agencies, help voters deal with the local issues at the grassroots level by encouraging citizens to use the internet to bridge the distance between themselves and their elected representatives. In many ways the internet can be seen as an extension of direct response marketing (Marlow 1997), which allows politicians to localise and tailor their messages and identities directly to voters.

The internet’s ability to customise ideas, issues, and policies is a marketing tool that any politician can employ in their election campaign. Politicians can construct a local identity and convey several important messages to voters.

In Australia, the major parties are now spending large portions of their budgets on social media, and both parties' campaign bosses have recruited full-time staff dedicated to online campaigning. The information that voters can access is not only legitimate and credible but can also be creative and varied, linked to other networks and additional sources of information. Subscriber numbers can also be a good indication of voter support.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/political-heavyweights-are-online-upfront-and-in-your-face-20130807-2rgpc.html)

 

 

 

Hirst and Harrison describe a ‘metaphorical parting of the political sea so that voters and politicians are more directly interactive with each other and that governments at all tiers are much more directly accountable to us’ (2007, p. 346).

When Kevin Rudd's cat Jasper died there was an outpouring of grief on Twitter. Rudd had kept his 1.1 million followers informed and when the cat's kidneys finally failed, Rudd's Twitter followers mourned the pet as if it were their own (Swan & Visentin 2013).

(http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2011/07/29/1226104/294882-kevin-rudd-and-jasper.jpg)

References

Hirst, M and Harrison, J 2007, ‘Communication and new media: from broadcast to narrowcast’ Oxford University Press: South Melbourne, Australia.

Marlow, E 1997, ‘Web Visions’ Van Nostrand Reinhold: New York

Swan, J & Visentin, L 2013, 'Political heavyweights are online, upfront and in your face', 8 August, viewed 14 January 2014, <http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/political-heavyweights-are-online-upfront-and-in-your-face-20130807-2rgpc.html>.

Political Transparency: Social Media Reducing Government Corruption

The 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer reports that transparent and honest practice are the most important factors in determining a corporation or governments reputation. In recent years, many governments have worked to increase openness and transparency in their actions. Information and communication technologies are seen by many as a cost-effective and convenient means to promote openness and transparency and to reduce corruption (Bertot, Jaeger & Grimes, 2010).

Mattozzi and Merlo assert that in politics, transparency is used as a means of holding public officials accountable and fighting corruption (2007). When a government's meetings are open to the press and the public, its budgets may be reviewed by anyone, and its laws and decisions are open to discussion, it is seen as transparent, and there is less opportunity for the authorities to abuse the system for their own interests. Piotrowski (2007) lists four channels through which government transparency occurs: proactive dissemination by the government; release of requested materials by the government; public meetings; and leaks from whistle blowers.

One way which Australian political leaders practice transparency is through the ABC’s live coverage of Question Time from the House of Representatives in Parliament House, Canberra. The House of Representatives has a number of important functions that citizens are able to view. It determines the government, debates and passes laws, watches over government administration and expenditure, and provides a forum for public debate on issues of national importance (Parliament of Australia, n.d.).

E-government has also been used in many prominent, comprehensive transparency efforts in a number of nations, including Australia (Bertot, Jaeger & Grimes, 2010). Information communication technology can reduce corruption by promotion good governance, strengthening reform-orientated initiatives, reducing potential for corrupt behaviours, enhancing relationships between government employees and citizens, allowing for citizen tracking of activities, and by monitoring and controlling behaviours of government employees (Shim & Eom, 2008, cited in Bertot, Jaeger & Grimes, 2010, p. 265).

Information and Communications Technology Strategy, 2012-2015^{6 5}outlines the benefits that come from a strategic and coordinated approach to developing and using information communication technologies in Australian Government agencies. The Australian Government’s support for openness and transparency in Government has three key principles:

• Informing: strengthening citizen’s rights of access to information, establishing a pro-disclosure culture across Australian Government agencies including through online innovation, and making government information more accessible and usable;
• Engaging: collaborating with citizens on policy and service delivery to enhance the processes of government and improve the outcomes sought; and
• Participating: making government more consultative and participative.

 

References

Bertot, JC, Jaeger, PT & Grimes, JM 2010, 'Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: E-government and social media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies', Government information quarterly, vol. 27, issue 3, pp. 264-271.

Mattozzi A and Merlo A, 2007. ‘The Transparency of Politics and the Quality of Politicians,’ American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), p. 311-315, May.

Parliament of Australia, n.d., ‘House of Representatives’ accessed 9 February 2014 <http://www.aph.gov.au/house/>.

Piotrowski, S. J. 2007, Governmental transparency in the path of administrative reform. SUNY Press: New York.

The Dark Side of Social Media: Cyber Bullying

There has been a rapid rise of social networking sites on the Internet created by the growing access and use of electronic communication tools such as e-mail, websites, instant messaging, webcams, chat rooms, social networking sites, blogs, and text messages (Mishna, Saini & Solomon 2009, p. 1222). The majority of youth today view these electronic communication tools as “critical tools for their social life” (Kowalski, Limber, & Agatston, 2008, p. 2). However while the youth become more dependent on these digital devices, they are opening up the opportunity of cyber bully attacks.

What makes cyber bullying distinct is the use of electronic communication technology as the means through which to threaten, harass, embarrass, or socially exclude (Mishna, Saini & Solomon 2009, p.1222). The psychological and emotional outcomes of cyber bullying are similar to those of real-life bullying. The difference is, real-life bullying often ends when school ends. For cyber bullying, technology has extended schoolyard bullying to home computers and cell phones, there is no escape.

Children expect to feel safe and protected from bullying in their own homes. Consequently the cyber bullying they experience while on the computer at home, and often in their own bedroom, may feel particularly invasive and have weighing effects both physically and emotionally.

Cyber bullying is affecting over 85% of teens across the world, and its effects range from depression, withdrawal, and even suicide (End cyber bullying 2013). This makes cyber bullying particularly harmful and in the case of at least five young people who have committed suicide, so deadly, is the nature and malice reach of electronic medium (Phillips 2011).

Cyber bullies have little or no regard for the social rules of the cyber world, or the physical world for that matter. What’s frightening is that the laws surrounding the cyber world have not always been clear and they are still being define, redefined and rewritten today (Hirst & Harrison, 2007). Susan McLean of Cyber Safety Solutions explains how Twitter Incorporated, like many other social media sites, is based in California and only responds to requests for user information via the American courts (Bowden, 2013):

“If you're dealing with abuse on Twitter that is serious enough to warrant police intervention and you go to the police here, well then they need to obtain a Commonwealth warrant that then gets converted and gets served. So it is a process; it's not a streamlined process, and I know the Federal Government have called for Twitter to set up an office in Australia to assist Australian law enforcement. That's yet to happen.”

The internet’s power of anonymity allows individuals to feel more comfortable in their homes with little fear of repercussions or of being traced, enabling aggressors to threaten, harass, or denigrate others and to even assume a new persona or character online. The internet’s anonymity factor also permits some individuals who might be too timid to bully others in “real life” to do so in the virtual world.

 

References

Bowden, T 2013 ‘Cyber bullying cases prompt call for new laws’ ABC News accessed 13 January 2014, < http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-08/cyber-bullying-cases-prompt-call-for-new-laws/4678196>.

End to cyber bullying 2013, 'Delete cyber bullying', 20 January, viewed 16 February 2014, <http://youtu.be/bfT2qqrqzgo>.

Hirst, M and Harrison, J 2007, Communication and New Media: from broadcast to narrowcast, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Australia.

Mishna, F, Saini, M & Solomon, S 2009, 'Ongoing and online: children and youth's perceptions of cyber bullying', Children and Youth Services Review, vol. 31, issue 12, pp. 1222-1228, <http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0190740909001200>.

Kowalski, R, Limber, S, & Agatston, P W (2008). Cyber bullying. Malden MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Phillips, S 2011 Coping with Cyberbullying: the use of technology to terrify, accessed 3 January 2014, < http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/blogs/coping-cyberbullying-use-technology-terrify>.

Simulacra: Second Life Hyperreality

Philosopher and cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard developed the concept of simulation. Simulation is the process whereby the lines between original and replication become blurred or, as Baudrillard puts it, the truth/falsity differential is weakened and the simulacrum is the sensation it ultimately produces. Baudrillard defined this blurring of the lines between the original and its replication as the ‘hyperreal’ (1988, p. 166). Sherry Turkle argues that ‘we are moving toward a culture of simulation in which people are increasingly comfortable with substituting representations of reality for the real’ (1995, p. 23).

While Baudrillard’s ideas were written over twenty years ago such evidence of a hyperreal existence has never been more accessible than in the form of computerised “virtual reality”. The powerful lure of these virtual worlds is that they offer the opportunity for exploring identity (Turkle, 1995). Many forms of social media use avatars as digital representations of the users. Websites such as Second Life provide an identity workshop allowing you to put aside your physical self and reinvent yourself as you desire; recast your life, create avatars and live out multiple aspects of self.

Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab in 2003. Second Life allows users to interact with each other through avatars who can explore the virtual world, meet other residents, socialise and participate in individual and group activities. Second Life promises that ‘you can create anything you can imagine and add behaviours to the objects you build… sculpt a butterfly, then write a short chunk of code that lets it follow you around as you walk’ (Second Life, 2007).

 Users can also create and trade virtual property and services with one another. Second Life has generated a thriving internal economy with residents buying clothing and artefacts made by other residents, using the game’s virtual currency, Linden dollars. In an average month an estimated 10 million objects are created and 230,000 are bought and sold (The Economist, 2006, p.99). In this imagined community the line between ‘reality’ and cyberspace appears thin; they seemed to ‘mirror one another’ (Sinha, 1999, p. 142).

Turkle argues that participants in virtual communities increasingly view ‘real life’ as simple one window through which a personality is developed and expressed, and that computer-mediated communication constitutes a constructive and potentially liberating space through which ‘the obese become slender, the beautiful plain, the “nerdy” sophisticated’ (1995, p. 12).

(Source: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/25/secondlife_main_485.jpg)

Digital technologies have become so embedded in our everyday lives through ‘anywhere, anytime’ connectivity (Green, 2002) that we now live our lives through them, form relationships, express feelings and form identities. Digital technology has advanced from connecting people to people, it’s become a part of us and offers a new world with new opportunities. Miller and Slater conclude that virtual worlds are in integral aspect of people’s lives, not something that ‘stands against and defies or supersedes something else we call the real’ (2000, p. 193).

References

Baudrillard, J 1988, ‘Simulacra and Simulations’, in Poster, M (e.d.), Jean Baudrillard: Selected Writings, p. 166-184, Polity Press, Cambridge

Green, N 2002, ‘On the Move: Technology, Mobility, and the Mediation of Social Time and Space’, The Information Society, Vol. 18, Issue 28, p. 1-292, Taylor and Francis: United Kingdom.

Miller, D and Slater, D 2000, The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach, Routledge: London.

Second Life 2007, ‘Create Anything’ accessed 6 February 2014 <http://secondlife.com.whatis/create.php>.

Sinha, I 1999 The Cybergypsies: Love, life and travels on the electronic frontier, Scribner, London.

The Economist 2006, ‘Living a Second Life’, The Economist, 30 September, p.97-99

Turkle, S 1995, ‘Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet’, Simon and Schuster: New York.

 

Produsage: The Rise of the Citizen Journalist

Produsage is a merging of the words “production" and "usage", popularised by Australian media scholar Axel Bruns. Produsage refers to the type of user-led content creation that takes place in a variety of online environments such as Wikipedia, open source software and blogosphere. The concept blurs the boundaries between passive consumption and active production. A number of key domains are currently driving the development of user-led online environments, including the rise of citizen journalism (Bruns, 2007).

Bowman and Willis define citizen journalism as ‘the act of a citizen, or a group of citizens, playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing and disseminating news and information’ (2003, p. 9). In today’s information society the same resources that are available to journalist are also available to anyone with a computer and internet access. Many reporters work with pocket-sized cameras and edit their stories using desktop software. With these tools available to the general public, citizen journalist are just as capable of producing multimedia stories.

Why the need for citizen journalism when we have professional journalists?

In 2006 the Howard government of Australia repealed cross and foreign ownership restrictions that had been in place in since 1987. This signalled a new era of media concentration and further reduction of diversity in opinions covered in traditional media (Nightingale and Dwyer, 2007). Therefore citizen journalism emerged largely in repose to shortcomings in the professional journalistic field who were influenced by the personal interests of their owners. The intent is to ‘provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires’ (Bowman & Willis, 2003, p. 9). Gillmor (2006, p. xxiv) iterates this point further:

The lines will blur between producers and consumers… The communication network itself will become a medium for everyone’s voice, not just the few who can afford to buy multimillion-dollar printing presses, launch satellites or win the government’s permission to squat on the public’s airwaves.

Audiences themselves decide what stories are made and how they are told. This increases the possibility that stories which question the established interests may gain currency and result in destabilising social or political action. New media equips the public with an arena to create and share ideas, views of the world and unique personal experiences.

While the effect of citizen journalism is still taking its toll on the communications industry there is some opposition to its worth. James Farmer, blogger for The Age argues that the concept of citizen journalism, or a person’s capacity to put anything they want on the web, is being confused with journalism which is a profession and ‘provides the quality and breadth of content that keeps an enormous number of readers coming back for more’ (2006). Meehan agrees acknowledging that citizen journalists are less likely to find success compared to professional journalists as they lack a knowledge of the industry and good contacts (2001, p. 103).

Another issue is information overload. With so much information being published on the internet it can be hard for audiences to sift through all the information and gain credible and reliable sources. Many users will be inclined to read traditional media publications online to avoid searching.

For a better understanding of citizen journalism take a look at the following successful online publications:

1.      South Korean ‘OhMyNews’

Established in 2000 with the slogan ‘every citizen is a reporter’. Only 20% of its online content is from its employed staff with the rest coming from an estimated 50,000 South Koreans who post stories to the site (Flew, 2008).

One contributor for OhMyNews stated that ‘the greatest beauty of citizen journalism is that the centre of power is in every citizen’s hands’ (Birieasha, 2007, cited in Nightingale & Dwyer, 2007).

(Source: http://img.timeinc.net/time/50coolestweb/websites/ohmy_news.jpg)

 

2.      Malaysiakini.com

Established in 1999 to ‘use the internet to provide free and fair news to the Malaysian public and to set new standards in journalism as well as to support the development of freedom of speech, social justice, and democracy in Malaysia. (Malaysiakini, 2007).

http://blog.winterwong.com/wpcontent/uploads/2011/10/20111003_malaysiakini.jpg

 

References

Bowman, S and Willis, C 2003, WeMedia: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information, The Media Centre, American Press Institute, July.

Bruns, A 2007, 'Produsage: towards a broader framework for user-led content creation', in Creativity and cognition: proceedings of the 6th ACM SIGCHI conference on creativity & cognition, accessed 12 January 2014, <http://ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1254960.1254975>.

Farmer, J 2006, ‘Citizen Journalism Sucks’, The Age, posted 5 October 2006, viewed 28 January 2014, <blogs.theage.com.au/media/archives/2006/10/citizen_journal.html>.

Flew, T 2008, New media: an introduction, 3rd edn, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Australia.

Gillmor, D 2006, We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People, O’Reilly, Sebastopol CA.

Malaysiakini 2007, ‘About Malaysiakini.com’, accessed 2 February 2014, <www.malaysiakini.com/pages/general/>.

Meehan, K 2001, ‘It's the hard life for freelancers’, Australian Journalism Review, Vol. 23 (1), July 2001, p. 99-109

Nightingale, V and Dwyer, T 2007 New Media Worlds: challenges for convergence, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Australia.