DigiActive.org

Tactic: Rage Against the Olympics Machine

Written by Talia Whyte on February 14, 2010 – 1:38 am -

Description: Controversy has not only marred the 2010 Winter Olympics because of the tragic death of 21 year old luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, but also with 200 masked protesters who smashed windows of department stores and splattered red paint across Olympic venues in Vancouver.

Police said the group marched through the shopping district, vandalizing cars and stores. Protesters also threw metal boxes on display windows of Hudson’s Bay Company, where Olympic souvenirs are sold.

Vancouver has been facing problems ever since the run-up started to the games. Lack of actual snow, hundreds of millions in losses as NBC expected to take broadcasting the games, and now the luger death spelling riots.

Vancouverians have been upset about the way the Olympic games have been handled by the government. The Olympic projects have come in well over budget.

Some feel that the money would have been better spent going to social services, particularly as the city grapples with the effects of the recession.
But now, the protests are beginning to turn violent.

Digital Tools Being Used: Video

What’s Going On: Despite the violence, various activist groups have been leading largely peaceful protests since it was announced that the Games were to held in Vancouver in 2003. Many of these protesters have used viral video to effectively get their message across to a wider audience.

While most of the grievances by anti-Olympics protesters stem from the growing presence of corporate corruption in the Games, the largest resistance has come from indigenous groups in Western Canada, who claim their “stolen land” is being used by the government “for the benefit of corporations, including mining, logging, oil & gas, and ski resorts.” In addition, some activists say that Indigenous peoples suffering social ills caused by the Olympics, such as higher rates of poverty, unemployment, environmental degradation, police violence, disease, suicides and violence against women.

What is the Impact: Many grassroots activists have been flooding the Internet with videos about their complaints. Many of which are low-budget, but effective in telling their side of the story, like this one and this one. While the Olympic Games will go on in Vancouver and Games officials are not giving in to the complaints, anti-Olympic digital activism has allowed a point of view that would otherwise not get covered in the mainstream media.

Tags: 2010 Winter Olympics, indigenous rights
Posted in Americas, Tactics, Video | 1 Comment »

Tactic: Haiti earthquake gets quick response online

Written by Talia Whyte on January 13, 2010 – 2:46 pm -

Description: Haiti was rocked Tuesday night by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake. According to a report, Haiti’s First Lady Elisabeth Debrosse Delatour said that “most of Port-au-Prince is destroyed.”

While almost all phone lines have gone down on the impoverished island, Haitians have been able to communicate to friends and relatives around the world with the use of new media. Not only has there been a flurry of tweets and photos of the devastation posted online over night, but charitable individuals and organizations have responded quickly with their efforts to help victims.

Digital Tools Being Used: Twitter, Video, Photos, Text Message, etc

What Are They Doing: Victims of the earthquake immediately got on Twitter, uploaded photos and YouTube videos and text messaged to give eyewitness reports on the tragedy like this one:

RAMHaiti: It’s 8:44PM and we’re still getting aftershocks!!I can hear people gathered in the distance singing prayers…people in large numbers are singing prayers downtown

In the last few hours charitable organizations have been able to make initial assessments of victims’ needs and have asked for donations, mostly through the use of digital tools.

Red Cross: Help Haiti right now, text Haiti to 90999 to give just $10 to the Red Cross

UNICEF: Donate now for Haiti on their website

Rap artist and activist Wyclef Jean was among the first to organize online when he sent out these tweets:

@wyclef Help Haiti by donating to Yele on www.yele.org follow @YeleHaiti

@wyclef Another way you can help Haiti after their 7.0 earthquake: Donate $5 by texting YELE to 501501 and by visiting www.YELE.org

News organizations that cater to Haitian communities in the United States have also taken the initiative to give their readers updated information about the earthquake’s aftermath, such as the Boston Haitian Reporter, which has been live-blogging since Tuesday night.

What is the Impact: While a full assessment of the Haitian earthquake will be long term, this latest international incident shows the incredible value in digital activism for quick response and possibly saving lives.

Tags: earthquake, haiti
Posted in Americas, Blogs, Digital Images, Microblogging, Mobile Phones, Social Networks, Tactics, Video | No Comments »

“10 Tactics” you can use

Written by Mary Joyce on January 4, 2010 – 8:38 pm -

Tactical Technology Collective is the premiere international training organization for rights activists interested in using information and digital technology to create positive change.   They have recently released a film that beautifully presents 10 key tactics in info-activism.  The tactics are:

Tags: Tactical Technology Collective
Posted in Guides & Resources, Video | No Comments »

Tactic: Tweeting for Equality

Written by Talia Whyte on October 12, 2009 – 12:24 am -

Description: On Sunday, thousands of gays and lesbians gathered in Washington, D.C. for the National Equality March, which was billed as the largest event of its kind since 2000. While many in the gay community were divided over the reasoning for having such a march, this was also one of the first massive gay rights protests to use social media – tools that are being used by the new generation of LGBT activists. Sunday’s protest was the latest example of the generational shift in how to communicate for social change.

Digital Tools Being Used: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube

What Are They Doing: Most of the organizing was done through Facebook, YouTube and other tools leading up to the march. Before and during the march, protesters could follow the march’s official Twitter feed for any logistics matters, such as getting information about purchasing subway round-trip tickets before the march to avoid long lines stations kiosks.

Throughout the day, Twitter was the main choice of communicating, as thousands of protesters either in Washington or following the events on television reflected on march highlights. Most used the hashtag #nem to follow the conversation.

loquaciousmoi “Rights for Gays
and Lesbians aren’t special rights in any way. It isn’t special to be free from
discrimination.” – Julian Bond #nem

700mtv Judy Shepard, “I”m here today
because I lost my son to hate . . . We’re all equal Americans. Gay, straight,
whatever.” #NEM

peterzimmerman Wow the speeches at #NEM are really inspiring. Gosh.
So exciting to see the outpouring of emotion at the march!

What Was The Impact: Jamal Jackson and Winston Brown moved to the United States from the Caribbean island of Jamaica to escape harassment from others about their relationship three years ago. The march was the first gay rights event they have attended as an openly gay couple. The both also used Twitter to follow what other folks were saying, as well as tweeting their own thoughts.

“I started using Twitter a year ago and I found using it to be very useful,” Jackson told DigiActive following the march. “I was able to tweet other protesters, find out where to meet my friends and navigate the city during the protest. I was able to find other people here from the West Indies, like Trinidad, Dominica and Haiti.”

For Winston Brown, tweeting had a more sentimental meaning.

“I am using Twitter because I still have closeted gay friends back home in Kingston, and they are reading my updates,” Brown said to DigiActive. “They will not feel alone anymore and might feel inspired.”

Tags: gay rights, Jamaica, national equality march
Posted in Americas, Microblogging, Social Networks, Tactics, Video | No Comments »

15andCounting: Strategy Behind a Social Media Campaign

Written by Hillary Muheebwa on September 9, 2009 – 6:51 am -

video introduction to the 15andcounting campaign

15andCounting is a campaign by the International Planned Parenthood Foundation demanding better access to sexual health services for youth.  They are using a mix of old and new social media tools, from an e-petition and Flickr to Twitter, the SMS platform Mxit, and the music platform Dopetracks.

In this interview I ask Paul Bell, a campaign representative, about the strategic thinking behind their tool choice and how their use of these  online and mobile tools will lead to offline change in government policies towards youth.

What is the 15andCounting campaign?

15andCounting is a global campaign to demand better access to sexual health services and education for everyone. We’re now 15 years into a 20 year commitment signed by 179 governments to improve the sexual and reproductive health and rights of all young people. Only five years remain and many governments are seriously failing to make progress against their goals. 15andCounting is encouraging young people to call their governments to task on their grave failings

How have governments failed to make progress to promote, protect, and provide better access to sexual and reproductive health services?

There are 1.5 billion young people in the world today and the majority of them live without access to condoms or contraception. This is contributing to: the spread of HIV, millions of unwanted pregnancies, millions of women continuing to die from pregnancy related causes every year, and millions of young people having to drop out of education at an early age.

Any attachment to the choice of the name?

Fifteen years ago, at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, 179 governments signed up to a Programme of Action to improve the sexual and reproductive health of everyone. 2009 is the 15 year mark. People born in that year (1994) at the time of the ICPD, are now 15 years old and form part of the largest cohort of young people the world has ever seen – some 1.5 billion – who have a right to sexual and reproductive health services and information.

Why run the campaign now?

People born in 1994 at the time of the ICPD are now 15 years old and form part of the largest cohort of young people the world has ever seen – some 1.5 billion – who have a right to sexual and reproductive health services and information. Fifteen years after ICPD too many governments have failed to make good on their promises. Only five years remain for the vision of ICPD to become reality. Unless governments deliver on their promises young people will be denied services and information critical to their health and wellbeing.

What’s the motive for running the petition now?

The Count Me In petition will be delivered to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the 12^th of October, in an attempt to help persuade governments to promote, protect and fulfil their promise to provide better access to sexual and reproductive health services for all young people. October marks the 15^th anniversary of the ICPD conference in Cairo.

What are the network platforms you’re using to attain the goal of the campaign?

Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/15-and-counting)

Twitter (http://twitter.com/15andcounting)

Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDGoFfvvIXY&feature=channel_page)

Dopetracks (http://www.dopetracks.com/forums/4/topics/13784)

Millions of young people across the world do not have access to a computer, but do have a mobile phone. Therefore we are also working with MXit, an instant message provider to reach young people primarily in Africa through their mobile phones via a WAP site (www.15andcounting.mobi).  We are also launching SMS campaigns in Kenya, India, Indonesia, Brazil and Mexico.

With a lot of social network sites, why did you choose these particular networks over the other network platforms?

Twitter has been used as a way to get buy-in form professional stakeholders in the charity/care sector and to connect with bloggers and influential voices in the conversation: we feel that Twitter is the ideal for this purpose, but as a secondary function it also works to extend the outreach direct to people for petition signatures.

Youtube was purely there to host the video, which is easily embedded into other sites.

Dopetracks is a unique online proposition: a community of beat-makers, singers, poets, rappers, all collaborating online via their online music player/recorder (so that people don’t need any proprietary kit). We felt that the target market will be able to express themselves effectively – and engage with – the campaign though music. These people are very active promoters of their music and it encourages brand advocates to raise awareness with their peers.

How is each of the networks used?

http://twitter.com/15andcounting – we’ve built up a following or stakeholders and interested parties, which has stimulated wider distribution through blog posts and ‘retweeting’ of the 15&Counting messages. We have used Twitter as a distribution channel, not as a content channel.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/15-and-counting/56924592285?_fb_noscript=1 – a Facebook group has been set up and is used to flag up news and drive discussion amongst members and an ‘Are you a Sexpert?’ application was developed to further engage our audience. This is designed to pull together a community of supporters and drove people to complete the survey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDGoFfvvIXY A video on what the campaign is all about was put together and uploaded onto Youtube – this is video is embedded into the 15andCounting homepage, and is used as an background information piece for the blog outreach.

http://www.dopetracks.com – We’re setting up a competition on Dopetracks – a large online music collaboration network so that young people can create and distribute tracks with a 15andCounting theme within the network and in other networks: These people are very active promoters of their music and it encourages brand advocates to raise awareness with their peers. They frequently use twitter, myspace and other networks to increase the distribution of their music. We’ll also be encouraging people to collaborate with other people in different countries, using our blog/ partner network.

We’ll also be using the collateral created to promote into local radio and with a ‘mixtape’ of the featured tracks.

How effective will these platforms be for your cause?

The web is essential for IPPF to reach the target audience. These social platforms allow the campaign to engage directly with young people and allow them to get connected to groups in their country or region who are working towards improving sexual and reproductive health and rights. More than anything, we’re looking at how to facilitate people to become advocates for the campaign and motivate others. We have created an instruction/ training blog to show our partners around the world to engage with social media http://15andcountinglearn.wordpress.com/

We’ve been effective in activating community support for our campaigns, including driving support for ‘buzz marketing’ initiatives. We have had two Digg.com front pages: http://digg.com/health/Best_Condom_Adverts_Ever (this drove 22,000 people to the site in 24 hours) and http://digg.com/educational/Teach_5_to_8_year_olds_masturbation_says_UN_agency (this encouraged 6000 people to bookmark the site and broke traffic figures for the site).

You realize that their many online petitions, most of which unfortunately have failed to make impact, what have you done not to suffer similar fate?

We have done everything we can to ensure that the petition makes an impact by supplementing it with a number of elements – we have created a dedicated website for the campaign, used social networking sites (as detailed above) to target a wide variety of youth, and used mobile phones to reach the population who have less access to the internet. In this way we hope that we have ‘randomized’ our petition as much as possible, making it available to the widest possible net, without targeting specific communities. As such we believe we have compiled a very robust study, for example in Africa we have had 94,000 people sign the petition through the .mobi site. Furthermore we know that the activists involved in this campaign will continue to work hard on the ground in their countries to ensure the message stays alive.

How will you reach the larger population, which is not much involved in using digital tools?

A combination of the below:

Advocacy programmes are being undertaken by IPPF member associations – IPPF works in 176 countries worldwide and a global leader in providing and advocating for the right to improved sexual and reproductive health. Here we

Mobile phones – as mentioned above, we are targeting millions of young people across the world who do not have access to a computer, but do have a mobile phone – both through SMS and instant messaging.

Postcards – postcards which allow people to sign the petition have been distributed in key communities across the globe

Critics say online polls are highly non-representative of the population, and the respondents are self-selected.  Isn’t this also a pseudo-petition?

To get truly representative engagement with the target audience, we would have to spend a huge amount of valuable resources engaging people on the ground in each country: that money would better be spent campaigning. Online is the most cost effective way to run the petition, and we’ve addressed the differing ways that people engage with the net in different countries (e.g. via mobile phone) and sought to facilitate signatures in non digital formats (eg. postcards).

How will it be delivered to government heads, especially those who signed the memorandum? And what is your expected outcome thereafter?

The Count Me In petition will be delivered to high-level United Nations officials on the 12^th of October, in an attempt to help persuade governments to promote, protect and fulfil their promise to provide better access to sexual and reproductive health services for all young people.

Through the 15andCounting campaign we will have engaged with a whole new generation and cohort of committed young advocates around the globe and we hope that these advocates will remain engaged with the issues 15andCounting addresses. We will continue to empower our youth advocates to become highly effective network builders and advocacy experts into the future.

Tags: 15andcounting, Dopetracks, facebook, flickr, HIV, sexual health, Twitter, United Nations, youth
Posted in Campaigns, Digital Images, E-Petitions, Microblogging, Mobile Phones, Social Networks, Sub-Saharan Africa, Tools, Video | No Comments »

Activist Video Spotlight: United for Baha’i Rights

Written by Mary Joyce on August 31, 2009 – 7:25 am -

With the decreasing cost of video recording devices and editing software, along with free and effective distribution platforms like YouTube and Daily Motion, it makes sense for causes to start experimenting with ways to put their message in short video form. We’ve written before about how to make good activist video, and like to take the opportunity to point out good examples of activist video whenever we can.  Here’s another great example from the Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights, a project of Mideast Youth.

If you watch the video, the first thing you’ll notice is that truly excellent design.  This video was clearly made by someone with professional skills.  However,  Mideast Youth is a volunteer organization, so this was likely created for free.   People with skills are still people and if you can inspire them to take action for your organization, you can get some amazing results.  (Mideast Youth is clearly very good at this).

The thing that first hits you about the design is the quality of the animation, but the messaging is just as good.  The video starts off by telling specifically how the human rights of Baha’is have been abused and illustrates each one on screen.  The video also focuses on the fact that Baha’is are Iranian, which is a good idea since Iran is very much in the news now and the Iran issue provides a “hook” for inserting Baha’i rights into the mainstream consciousness.  Finally, even though the video is about human rights abuses, it ends on a positive note, letting the viewer know that change is possible.  This “crisitunity” framing is very good for advocacy video: your help is needed because we are in a crisis, but there is an opportunity to change it, which is why your action will make a difference.  No matter how dire the issue, a potential supporter will not take action unless they believe their action will make a difference.

There are only two things I would change about the video.  First, I would give more background on what Baha’ism is (a religion founded in Persia in the 19th century which stresses the spiritual unity of people of different religions).  The video launches into the current human rights struggle without first identifying the group which is the victim of this abuse, and thus misses an opportunity for the viewer to more deeply connect with the Baha’i people.  Second, I would give a stronger call to action.  While the video does send viewers to the Baha’i Rights site at www.bahairights.org, a video is a great opportunity to inspire people to take a concrete action for your cause: like attend and event, sign up for a listserv, email or SMS a political representative, or at least “send this to a friend”.   Regardless, this is an excellent video that truly marks a new high point is grassroots video activism.

Tags: Baha'i rights, Iran, mideastyouth
Posted in Video | No Comments »

Tactic: Youth fight for food justice online

Written by Talia Whyte on July 28, 2009 – 1:28 pm -

Background: Last month the US Department of Agriculture released a report on food deserts – areas in the United States where communities lack access to supermarkets and other outlets selling foods necessary for a healthy diet. According to the report, 2.3 million Americans live more than a mile from a supermarket and do not have access to a vehicle. The report goes on to say that the “urban core areas with limited food access are characterized by higher levels of racial segregation and greater income inequality.” In short, this problem largely affects low income communities and people of color. In recent years, there have been efforts by food justice activists around the country to bridge the food gap. One group in Chicago is taking back the food system online.

Digital Tools Being Used: Blog, Video, Camera
What Are They Doing: The Umoja Student Development Corporation is a Chicago-based, youth development organization which runs a six-week summer program in partnership with youth media group Free Spirit to film a short documentary about food deserts in the predominately African American community of North Lawndale.

“In my neighborhood, there are no grocery stores,” said Porsha Treadwell, a student intern in Umoja’s community builders program. “It is unfair that my community doesn’t have the same access to healthy foods as other communities. It’s just not right.”

In addition to learning how to grow organic foods in community gardens and polling residents about their food shopping habits, the student interns have also kept a blog for the duration of the program about their own eating habits and the various social and environmental injustices that block access to food equity.

Also on the blog, the youth have created a slide show, displaying photos of themselves learning how to use cameras for their documentary.

What is the Impact: Treadwell said this program has been a rewarding experience. She noted that she has had informative conversations with other residents and student interns about the food problem in the community, and how they now feel empowered to do something about it.

“When a community comes together, we can do powerful things,” she said.

Tags: food justice, Umoja Community Builders
Posted in Americas, Blogs, Digital Images, Video | No Comments »

Tactic: NAACP gets digital to curb police abuse

Written by Talia Whyte on July 17, 2009 – 1:47 am -

Description: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is one of the oldest and most influential civil rights organizations in the United States. During its centennial convention in New York this week, it was announced that the venerable organization will be moving into the new digital frontier with the use of video and mobile technology. After much complaining from African American bloggers about the organization’s lack of online media use and relevance to engage constituents with its advocacy agenda, it looks like the NAACP is making strides to close its digital gap.

Digital Tools Being Used: Text-Messaging, Video, Email
What Are They Doing: The organization launched its new Rapid Response System though its website last week, which will be “a quick, effective way for citizens to report instances of police misconduct, and to help public safety officials move beyond the “tough on crime” policies that have lost their effectiveness.”

Users can send text messages, emails, or video reports of police abuse to the organization either by mobile phone or a web form that can found its website.

“Nationwide, more than 26,000 citizen complaints of police officer use of force were filed with state and local law enforcement agencies in 2002,” said NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Jealous in a statement. “However, because many incidents are not reported, this number does not capture the full magnitude of the problem…[P]ublic safety is a civil and a human right; and so we want a more accurate count of these incidents.”

In an interview with DigiActive yesterday, Monique Morris, NAACP’s vice president of advocacy and research, noted that with the recent proliferation of digital activism, such as the videos that appeared online following the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant by Oakland police officers (Viewer Discretion is Advised) earlier this year, there is a need to create a uniform space where information about police brutality can be collect and action can be taken to deal with the problem.

“There are so many videos on YouTube that show varying levels of injustices, but we want people to send their videos to us, so we can take the necessary legal and advocacy steps to address the problem in an organized fashion,” Morris said. “This idea will help drive our advocacy agenda.”

Analysis/Impact: When contacting the NAACP using the forms, users have the option of saying what type of incident occurred (i.e. sexual harassment, false arrest), what type of law enforcement agency was involved (i.e. state, federal) and what was the believed primary reason behind the incident (i.e. racism, sexism, homophobia). If this is used the way it is being proposed, along with the organization’s long established reputation, it could make an impact in the long term, which can both address injustices still occurring among vulnerable communities, while maintaining its reputation with the next generation of social activists.

Tags: NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, police brutality
Posted in Americas, Instant Messaging, Tactics, Video | 2 Comments »

Tactic: Hondurans get online despite gov’t media ban

Written by Talia Whyte on July 9, 2009 – 2:58 am -

 

Tags: Honduras
Posted in Americas, Blogs, Microblogging, Tactics, Video | 1 Comment »

What Neda Means: Citizen Media Frames the Protests

Written by Mary Joyce on June 24, 2009 – 12:39 am -

From left: a paining of Neda made by annebot, videos of Neda’s murder on YouTube,
an altered profile image on Twitter shifts the “where’s my vote?” meme

Background:  In his post on Saturday, DigiActive correspondent Hamid Tehrani referred in passing to “a scene of a girl murdered by security forces.”  A few days later and we all know who she was – Neda Agha Soltan, a 26-year-old killed en route to a protest in Tehran.  Only in this age, where every citizen with a cell phone can became a journalist and broadcaster is the story of Neda possible.

Tools: The story of Neda’s rise to prominence and powerful symbolism is a story of citizen media: from the cell phone cameras that recorded her death (video here – it is graphic), to the blogger who posted her story on the citizen journalism site NewsVine, to the Twitter conversation around the hashtag #Neda, and the Wikipedia entry that recorded the details of her murder in detail.   Finally her story reached the mainstream media: CNN, The New York Times, and Iranian television.

Analysis:  This is the story of Neda’s transformation from a person into a symbol.  But what does this story mean?  In particular, what does it mean for digital activism? Usually when we think of the use of digital technology for activism we think of communication tools which facilitate mass collective action: SMS, Facebook groups, listservs.  Yet the idea of Neda, though it may have inspired rage, sadness, and a commitment to continue protes, was not what we traditionally think of as digital activism.

Neda didn’t organize a protest but she helped to firmly re-frame the post-election protests in Iran.  The frame, or narrative, which the Iranian government was pushing was that the protests were caused by Western meddling and that the protesters were terrorists.   By making Neda the symbol of the opposition – a beautiful and unarmed young woman, previously apolitical – the new frame has moved firmly to those in the streets: the protesters are innocent idealists.  The government is murdering its people without cause.  Neda is not a terrorist.  She is a martyr (or so the Times story framed it).  And the practical effect of this re-framing on protests in Iran?  A renewed commitment to go out in the street every day, an ideal that Neda will not have died in vain.

Lessons:  What are the lessons for activists who wish to use citizen media to frame a public issue?  First, the media should be clear and emotional.  Neda’s video – the most spreadable form of media about her sotry – was raw and visceral.  Without understanding the words of the men trying to help her or knowing much of the story it was possible to empathize with her and feel the pain of her injustice.  It was international.

Second, push the media out on multiple platforms.  It is unclear where the video was first uploaded, though there are now several versions on YouTube.   The story was also pushed out through Newsvine, a news site accessible to ordinary citizens, and through Twitter.   Third, your goal should be to get into the mainstream media.  This is still where the majority of eyes are.  Email your content to media sources, but only if this will not put you in danger.  Finally, make is personal.  We understand news through human stories.  In America, we came to saw the corruption of our economic crisis through the crooked financier of Bernie Madoff.   Heroes too personify a struggle.

Tags: facebook activism, Iran, Neda Agha Soltan, twitter activism, youtube
Posted in Mid-East & N. Africa, Video | 2 Comments »