DigiActive.org

Livestream presentation on digital activism

Tune in today at 10:30 am EST to see  a livestreamed presentation by DigiActive co-founder Mary Joyce and correspondent Gaurav Mishra from Participation Camp in New York City.    Mary will be giving an introduction to the field of digital activism and Gaurav will focus on digital activism in India.  (Slides for Mary’s introduction to digital activism are available here.)

Click here for livestream

UPDATE: It appears that part of the presentation is still available on Livestream.  If you click the link above or the image you will see the end of the Q&A session and then the video cycles back to the beginning of Gaurav’s talk. 

Iranian Elections, Information Sharing and Twitter

Earlier this week, amidst travel and trying really hard to work, I followed the events of what was happening in Iran post-election.  I followed it all on Twitter.

There are many comments I could make on the events, but I wanted to highlight something that will be important for how information and participation happens in the months and years to come.

The fact is, we are all becoming a larger part of the information dissemination mechanisms that were once reserved for formal media channels.  DigiActive has reported many instances of citizen journalism, on-the-ground reporting and information gathering, but now we’re talking about the addition of a process of broader dissemination.

We’re “regular” people, we have the information coming to us, and it’s our choice to pass it on or not.  The reason I  read hardly a single newspaper article on the topic all day was because I was getting my information handed to me by people from Boston, Europe, Iran… everywhere.  Regular people.  I got all the relevant links I needed from those 140-character posts.

The fact is, we are all now part of the information dissemination mechanism now.  When I reported on the Moldovan protests in April, I noted that part of the process that we were seeing was not necessarily just that the protesters were using social media tools to get their message out, but that the resulting international furvor that erupted was fueled by other people who were not on the ground.  Not even in the country.

This time around, we saw this same process magnified immensely.  A message from Mousavi highlights how important this process was not only in what was said - One Person = One Broadcaster - but also in the the resulting relay-like speed that the message reached the world.

Mousavi recognized the the power of this information stream.  Clay Shirky alluded to it in his Q&A with TED on the topic, and colleague Gaurav Mishra highlighted it in his analysis of the events as well.

No one was told to do anything with the information coming out of Iran, or had any explicit instructions to do so.  The messages could have remained dead in the water.  But we were all engaged by what was happening, we were interacting with other people through discussion, and we genuinely wanted to participate by adding to the conversation, spreading the information and learning more about the situation.

The fact that people had real-time, important information in their hands that they could “touch and feel,” and their ability to actively join in the conversation and the spread of vital information made momentary journalists out of us all.  And it will continue to do so more and more in the future.

DigiActive Meet-up: Washington DC

What? Ever wondered what digital activism is?  Interested in learning what DigiActive is doing to better understand and promote this field?  This meet-up is designed for people who are new to digital activism.  DigiActive co-founder Mary Joyce will make a short presentation introducing DigiActive and explaining how digital tools are being used for social change campaigns around the world, followed by a Q&A and an optional meet-and-greet for those who don’t have to rush back to work.

When? 12:30pm - 1:30pm on Friday, May 29th.
This event is a brown-bag lunch so please bring something to munch on.

Where? Pact headquarters at 1828 L St, NW on the 3d floor (map and directions). We are really happy to be partnering with Pact on this event.  Pact is an international non-profit organization which seeks to build empowered communities, effective governments and responsible private institutions by strengthening the capacity of local organizations and institutions.  You can learn more about their programs here.

Why? Get your lunch to go on Friday, learn about digital activism, and meet some cool people.

How? If you’d like to come, please RSVP on the event’s Facebook page.

DigiActive will be @ NetSquared

Thanks to a generous scholarship from the organizers, DigiActive co-founder Mary Joyce will be traveling to San Jose next week on behalf of DigiActive to attend the NetSquared Conference, an event which brings together people who support the “distribution and use of social technologies for progressive change.” If you see her, stop by and say “hi”. As always, she’ll have a bunch of DigiActive laptop stickers and you might even get a hug.

Michael Silberman: Creating an Online Strategy

Michael Silberman (original image: NetSquared)

Today I “attended” a webinar on online strategy hosted by the New Organizing Institute.  The presenter was Michael Silberman, a partner and co-founder of EchoDitto, a communications firm founded by the techies of the Howard Dean campaign.  Below are Michael’s steps to building an online strategy.  I’ve presented his ideas, which are aimed at American non-profits, and then given commentary on how the steps relate to grassroots activists in other countries.  I’ve also added examples from international digital activism.

1)  Choose your moment:  It’s best to link the launch of a campaign to the news cycle so it is relevant.  This can be particularly challenging for activists that work on longterm issues, like the environment, public health, and or women’s rights.  It is common for these kinds of campaigns to link their actions to planned holidays like Earth Day or International Women’s Day, but smart organizations will also be attuned to the news for unforeseen opportunities and be ready to push their environmental campaign when there is news of a toxic clean-up or their women’s rights campaign when a female celebrity is the victim of domestic violence.

An excellent example of connecting an advocacy goal to the news cycle is Syria LinkedIn fail.  Social network LinkedIn had blocked its users in Syria because of a broad interpretatation of US sanctions against that country.  In order to make the block relevant, activist Jillian York created a Twitter tag #linkedinfail, which simulated the incredibly embarrassing #amazonfail story only a few days ago.  Eager not to follow in Amazon’s path, a PR representative responded to Jillian quickly (and on Twitter) and Syrians regained most of their access to the site.

2) Create an “ask”:  An “ask” is a jargon term that campaigners use to refer to the request you will make to your supporters.  While it is tempting to post a list of several actions, in Michael’s experience the most successful asks make only one request. For example, the project Postcards for Iran makes one simple ask:  send a postcard (snail mail or digital) to an Iranian political prisoner. Read more »

Apply for the International School on Digital Transformation

Description:  The first International School on Digital Transformation will be held in Porto, Portugal the third week of July.   It will be an intensive six-day residential program, conducted in English and bringing together emerging and established scholars and professionals from around the world. During the week-long session, innovators in digital communications will serve as teachers and mentors, presenting their current projects and research and participating in discussions with advanced students and professionals beginning careers in the field. Presenters and students will be regarded as peers during the School.

The speakerers will include Friends of DigiActive Sunil Abraham of the Centre for Internet and Society,  Stephanie Hankey and Marek Tuszynski (tentative) of Tactical Tech, and Katrin Verclas of MobileActive, in addition to a group of over a dozen international scholars in the field.

Dates:  Sunday, July 19 - Friday, July 24, 2009

Location:  University of Porto, Portugal

Organizer: University of Texas Austin-Portugal Colaboratory, or CoLab

Format: The school is six days long.  There will be a 90-minute session of lecture and discussion in the morning, free time for teachers and students to interact and explore the city in the afternoon, and two more 90-minute lecture and discussion sessions in the evening, followed by a communal meal.

Costs:  Tuition will be between €300 and €400.  Students must also cover the cost of their own travel to Portugal.

Who should apply: Advanced students and recent graduates from around the world with an interest in how digital technologies are changing societies and the world as a whole.

How to apply: Apply here!

Hat tip: Patrick Meier

Report from DigiActive’s Bangalore Meet-up

We had a great meet-up yesterday at the offices of the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore (thanks so much to Sunil, Pranesh,  Sanchia, and Deepika for making it possible!)  It was a very diverse group, with participants from Indian and international NGOs, techies from Yahoo!, and even a radio producer and film-maker.

We started out by dissecting this Pink Chaddis campaign, a very popular women’s rights campaign organized through Facebook that had just organized a big action on Valentines’ Day.  (I’ll be posting on the campaign a little later - it’s a great one.)

However, when we went about creating a definition for digital activism, the discussion became more theoretical.  Although DigiActive is optimistic about the possibility of digital tools to empower those fighting injustice, this meet-up group decided that digital activism was value neutral and that it simply mapped onto the existing goals and motives within a society.  It is a technique that can be used for constructive or destructive ends.

At the end of the event, some participants came up to me to make sure my feelings weren’t hurt by the disagreement, but I assured them I was really happy with the result.  Only if digital activism is debated and dissected will we be able to understand and use it well.

Social Actions + DigiActive: Facebook chat

What? DigiActive will participate in a chat on the topic of Facebook for Social Change as part of Social Actions’ Change the Web conversation series.  We’ll be ably represented by our lead researcher, Dan Schultz, author of DigiActive’s Facebook guide.
When? this Thursday, February 26th, 11am PST (USA West Coast)
Where? on the Social Actions web site at http://socialactions.com/changetheweb/chat (appropriately, you can sign up for the change on the Facebook group here)
Why? To participate in a great discussion on the values of Facebook for activism, which will also include Susan Gordon  of Facebook Causes, Ivan Boothe of Rootwork.org, and which will be moderated by Beth Pickard and David Karp of Firstgiving.

Report from DigiActive’s Rabat Meet-up

It was only our second meet-up, but also our biggest yet.  Eighteen digital activists and fans invaded the second floor of Cafe 8ieme in central Rabat.  Topics of conversation, mostly in Arabic, included the outlook for digital activism in Morocco, whether hacking is a form of activism (particularly with regard to attacks on Israeli sites during the current war) and, finally, whether it is possible to define truth or whether all history is subjective.  I’m not sure how the conversation reached that final philosophical topic (my Arabic is a bit shaky).

DigiActive Meet-up: London

What? an informal meeting of digital activists and fans (and DigiActive’s second meet-up this week!)
When? Thursday, January 29, 2009
Where? the tables in front of Marks & Spencer in Paddington Station in London, UK
Why? meet DigiActive co-founder Mary as she makes a quick stop in London on her way to India. Fascinating conversation is bound to drown out the noise of the trains.
How? If you’d like to come, please sign up on the event’s Facebook page.