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DigiActive’s Introduction to Digital Activism

It’s been a long time in coming, but here is DigiActive’s official introduction to digital activism.  This short presentation (19 slides) includes the following content:

• definition of digital activism
• examples from 3 countries (Colombia, Pakistan, China) including 3 different tools (social networks, mobile SMS, blogs)
• qualities of good digital activism: sustainability, effectiveness, reproducibility
• challenges to digital activism: the need for online-offline coordination, elitism and inequality of access, hype and tool transience, and persecution of digital activists
• what DigiActive does in this space and ways to get involved

Like all DigiActive content, the presentation is created under a Creative Commons Attribution License, so we encourage you to download it, use it, and remix it with your own content.  You can download the presentation here.

Tool: push out your content with widgets

Tool: the widget

Tool Description: A widget is a piece of HTML code that can be embedded into a blog or web site to display content from another source. For example, the widget on the left, from the American site http://jobs.change.org, pulls content about recent social change job postings from the Change.org database and displays them on this page. Other widgets which work in the same way include event count-down clocks and DigiActive’s comment and Twitter feeds, which you’ll find on our left and right-hand toolbars.

Activist Application: As activists, we are often looking to bring useful content to our web sites in order to attract readers or to push out content we have created to other platforms so we can get as many “eyes” on that content as possible. According Danny Moldovan of Jobs for Change, “Our goal is to spark a nationwide movement toward careers in the common good.” Their methods for achieving this goal is to bring together lots of these jobs in a single place (their site) and then send job-seekers to that site.  If they can push out these job posting to other sites and blogs through their “featured jobs” widget, that means that  more people will find  those positions.

Ease of Use: Embedding a widget is quite easy.  If you have a blog, you just create a new box on one of your tool bars, copy and paste the HTML of whatever widget you want to add to your site into that box, and then save your changes.   The widget will appear on your toolbar next time you load your site.

Creating your own widget is also easier than it once was, thanks to free online services.  The  Free Kareem campaign, for example, created a Free Kareem widget of news update on Kareem’s imprisonment using the free application WidgetBox.com.

Hat-tip: Danny Moldovan

Tool: WordPress plug-in for Kareem

Tool Description: A plug-in is a small application that functions as part of a larger host application. They are very common in blogs. For example, Akismet, the spam filter on DigiActive, is a plug-in which works through our blog platform, WordPress. Plug-ins can also be used for activism as a way of disseminating information over a blog network via a widget that a blogger installs and which produces content for the blog’s readers.

Activist Application: In February of 2007, Egyptian blogger Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman was arrested for perceived anti-Muslim postings on his blog and sentenced to three years in prison. Even since that time, a dedicated group of activists has run the Free Kareem campaign (http://www.freekareem.org), which sought first to obtain Kareem’s release and now to support him in solidarity while he is in prison. They have released a WordPress plug-in (download here) in order to maintain awareness of Kareem and to connect people to their different online efforts.

The widget (above) includes text explaining Kareem’s situation, links to the campaign on social network (Facebook, MySpace), video (YouTube) and mobile micro-blogging (Twitter) sites, and a tell-a-friend button so bloggers can ask their friends to insert the plug-in into their blog as well.

Ease of Use: Moderately easy. You need to download the plug-in and then upload it to your WordPress blog. You can also personalize the plug-in according to the features you want to show.  Installation instructions are available here.

Action Alert: Join the Rallies to Support Egyptian Blogger Kareem Amer

What: The organization Free Kareem uses digital tools to organize on the street rallies in front of several Egyptian embassies. This is one means to keep their promise not to let Kareem be forgotten in jail, and also a useful tactic to attract interest in the case of the prisoner of mind.

When: The protests will be held on November 6, the second anniversary of the imprisonment of Kareem Amer. The exact time may differ from place to place and will be posted at the Free Kareem blog.

Where: Currently, rallies in front of the Egyptian embassies in the following cities are confirmed:

Paris, France;
London, UK;
Brussels, Belgium;
Stockholm, Sweden;
Bucharest, Romania;
Washington, DC, USA;
Rome, Italy.

Other places, including Prague, New York, Bern, Berlin and Moscow, are considered to host a rally. If your local Egyptian embassy is not yet listed, you can initiate a protest there.

How: On the one hand there is work to be done ahead of the events. Free Kareem uses several web 2.0 tools to advertise the protest, including Twitter and Facebook. The latest information can always be derived from their blog, e.g. updates on the participating cities.
On the other hand, coverage of the ongoing rallies is important. Participants can use Twitter to report live from the ground. For instance, Hash tags are a great tool to sync updates from several participators.
Another way to document the rallies is videoing them. Free Kareem has previously used Youtube to distribute videos covering the world wide rallies to inform their global community about the local events.

Why? The Egyptian Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman, known under the blognym Kareem Amer, was one of the first bloggers to be arrested for what they wrote on their blogs and the first person jailed in Egypt for publishing online. Based solely on his blog posts, Soliman is charged with the alleged crimes of “defaming Egypt’s President, incitement to hate Islam, and highlighting inappropriate aspects that harm the reputation of Egypt.” But members of the Free Kareem Coalition argue that imprisoning Kareem has severely harmed Egypt’s international reputation, and has made millions of people around the world question the country’s supposed commitment to free speech and human rights.

Kareem has stated countless times throughout his writing that freedom of expression is a fundamental human right. The Internet has made possible the dissemination of these ideals to a global audience. For that reason, Egyptian officials evidently feel threatened by Kareem and others who, like him, are not afraid to speak their minds.

Several Middle Eastern human rights organizations have expressed concern for his life. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, English PEN and Reporters Without Borders have all strongly condemned his arrest. The roster of government officials who have written the Egyptian government on behalf of justice for Kareem continues to grow.

Action Alert: Write for imprisoned Egyptian blogger

What? Blog posts and letters dedicated to the imprisoned Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer.

When? On June 28, the 600. day for Kareem to spend in prison.

Where? On your blog / website.

How? You can do this in two ways:

Option 1: Write a post/letter directly to or about Kareem. Make people aware of what Kareem is going through. Express your opinions or concerns over the fact that he is still in prison just for sharing his personal views on radical Islam, extremism within Al Azhar, and the president of Egypt.

Option 2: Write about something controversial, fearlessly, the same way as Kareem did (whether be it about free speech, human rights, religious freedom, political rights, et al) and then dedicate this post to him.

You may also choose to directly write to Kareem. Instructions can be found here.

Why? On June 28, Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer is due to spend his 600. day in jail. To increase awareness for Kareem in prison, and get in touch with him, the watchblog Free Kareem calls for blog posts and letters dedicated to the imprisoned.

Who is organizing the action? The campaign is organized by Free Kareem. Read more »