24 Hours for Darfur

Written by Tamara on July 17, 2008 – 8:17 am -

Description: The humanitarian crisis continues in Darfur after eight years and slow response from the international community. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has sought the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, while the United States denies involvement with the ICC and China and Russia supplies arms to the Sudanese government. As the crisis steadily deteriorates, Res Publica has been using digital tools in a advocacy campaign on behalf of the people of Darfur.

Tools: webcams, camcorders, digital cameras, cell phones

How are these tools being used: Internet users from around the world are given the opportunity to participate by recording messages transmitted through their webcams, camcorders, digital cameras and cell phones and then submitting them to the website, 24 Hours for Darfur. Videos range from personal messages from the general public to celebrities including actors Brad Pitt and Mia Farrow and Sen. Barack Obama. The material on the website can then be used for the purpose of lobbying, whereby users can simply email the video to world leaders. The site provides easy email links to such as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The 24 Hours for Darfur campaign is also supported by a page on YouTube.


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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.

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