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Tactic: Keeping demonstrators up to date using Twitter
Written by Simon on May 17, 2008 – 5:32 pm -
Description: A German group used the microblogging service Twitter to inform protesters during the traditional May 1 demonstrations in Hamburg, Germany.
Organizer: The Freie Sender Kombinat (FSK), “Free Channels Conglomerate”, a Hamburg-based independent radio station.
Purpose of Action: To inform leftist protesters about the progress of both their own and a neo-nazi counter-demonstration.
Organizing Tools: Twitter, cell phones.
Outcome: About 360 people followed the FSK’s Twitter account and were subsequently informed about the ongoing of both demonstrations, but the organizers failed to study whether their broadcasting had any effect on the protesters’ behavior. Using Twitter instead of regular SMS broadcasting saved the FSK about 650 € (~1000 $) of SMS costs.
Ease of Replication: Twitter is one of the new minimalist and easy-to-use web 2.0 technologies. Updates can be received via the service’s website, RSS feed, instant messenger (XMPP / Jabber) or specialized Twitter clients.
Reporting from a demonstration via Twitter is by far easier to handle than most alternatives, i.e. live radio broadcasting, and highly cost effective. Problems could arise through a lack of phone connection or data security.
Tags: cell phones, demonstrations, Germany, twitter
Posted in Blogs, Europe, Mobile Phones, Tactics | No Comments »
Campaign: Blog4Burma
Written by Simon on April 6, 2008 – 12:51 am -Description of Campaign: After the junta’s crackdown on the protesters of the saffron revolution, Burma faded from the public eye within a few days. Even the bloggers, who widely campaigned in support of the demonstrators, don’t write about the country any longer. An international group of bloggers has united as the Blog4Burma coalition to keep the topic in the focus of the blogosphere.
Digital Activism Tools: Blogs, Feed
How These Tools Are Being Used: The Blog4Burma coalition’s goal is to provide a wide range of information about the situation in Burma. A group of bloggers from currently four countries (Austria, France, Germany, Spain), writing in as many languages, the coalition does not have a common website. The members write articles about Burma-related topics on their own blogs, which are then collected in a common feed.
Tags: Blog4Burma, burma, virtual network
Posted in Campaigns, Europe | 1 Comment »
Campaign: Save St. Petersburg’s European University!
Written by Mary on March 13, 2008 – 12:25 am -Description of Campaign: Earlier this month, Russian authorities shut down the European University at St. Petersburg on the pretense that the building had fire code violations. Students and faculty saw this as a effort to shut down the school and are fighting online to re-open the university and maintain their academic community.
Digital Activism Tools: YouTube, LiveJournal
How These Tools Are Being Used: The goal of the campaign is to draw attention to the persecution of the university, a particularly difficult task since the mainstream media in Russia is all state-controlled and is ignoring the issue. For this reason, members of the university community are using alternative media to raise awareness of the situation. One professor, Ilya Utekhin, has started a blog on LiveJournal. (Unfortunately LiveJournal, which is Russia’s most popular blogging platform, is owned SUP, a company allied with Vladimir Putin.) Another LiveJournal blog, Save_EU, has become an online community for people who are fighting for the university.
students and faculty put on a theater production to protest the university’s closing
Tags: education, europeanuniversity, livejournal, Russia, saintpetersburg, youtube
Posted in Blogs, Campaigns, Europe, Video | 1 Comment »
Campaign: Online Anticorruption Movement in Azerbaijan
Written by Bakhtiyar on March 6, 2008 – 10:01 pm -Description of Campaign: In 2004, a group of students in Azerbaijan decided to create a new web resource to speak up against corruption in the education sector. At Azerbaijani universities, it is not uncommon for students to buy grades and for the admissions process to be influenced by connections over competence
Digital Activism Tools: Website, petition, digital photographs, discussion board.
How These Tools are Being Used : On the web site, www.rushvedeyox.de (which translates to “say no to corruption” and has since been taken down), an online petition section served to collect petitions and submit to government officials on behalf of students. Within few weeks, thousands of students signed the petition. A section of the website included information about negative effects of bribery for students, for their future careers.
“For the sake of Azerbaijan’s future, say NO to corruption”
Tags: Azerbaijan, corruption, education
Posted in Campaigns, Digital Images, Discussion Boards, E-Petitions, Europe | 1 Comment »
Digitally Active Org: Mjaft!
Written by Mary on January 28, 2008 – 3:39 pm -Web site: www.mjaft.org
What was it?: The Mjaft! Movement’s primary vision is to achieve a well-governed Albania with active citizens, strong communities and a positive image in the world. Mjaft means “enough” in Albania and is a reflection of the frustration of the founders who returned from university in the US and Western Europe and were shocked at the corruption, poverty, crime and failing public services in their country.
Where is it?: Tirana, Albania
Tools: MMS (multimedia messaging service), cell phones, web site
Tags: albania, corruption, crime, easterneurope, mjaft, mms, mobilephones, poverty, translation
Posted in Europe, Organizations | No Comments »
Tool: Wikis
Written by Mary on January 17, 2008 – 4:28 am -Tool Description: A wiki is a web page which users can easily edit and add content to by clicking an “edit” tab on the page.
Activist Application: Following the tumultuous elections in Kenya, a Lithuanian activist, Andrius Kulikauskas, is using his community wiki to offer help and provide information about the situation.
Ease of Use: Fairly easy. You can create a wiki for free at sites like Wikispaces.com. This page explains the basics of wiki syntax (the codes for italics, bold, links, etc.). Here is a video which explains the basics of using a wiki:
Tags: africa, europe, kenya, lithuania, video, wiki
Posted in Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Tools, Wikis | No Comments »