Thoughts on Digital Activism
Digital Activism is becoming an important topic of discussion on internet, thanks to some very good digital activism campaigns across the world. Facebook, blogs, twitter and mobile phones are becoming important tools for people to connect with others and build a grassroots campaign.
Today I attended an interesting presentation by Mary Joyce co-founder of digiactivism on Digital Activism. Several questions and thoughts emerged in my mind after listening to her presentation -
1. What exactly is digital activism? Is it individuals advocating for a cause or a network of people coming together to take action for a cause? Because an individual may have an opinion or a personal agenda which may be worthy of action but should it be characterized as digital activism? Or is it individuals creating awareness, networking with people and building consensus to take action?
2. How important is the language used in a digital activism campaign? For example, using threatening language against the government may be risky and lead to a blocking of social media? But when the same issue is presented in a non-threatening language it may be more persuasive?
3. Are digital activism platforms connecting the converted or are they useful in converting?
2 comments
Glad you liked the talk! Were’s what I would say to your questions:
1. No change occurs without collaborative action. Though individuals are a part of a group, I would say the latter is more important.
2. Depends on the censorship/surveillance practices of that country
3. I don’t think this is known for sure. We do hope that the low barrier to entry of many activism platforms – like Facebook – will act as a “gateway drug” to activism.
Hi Mary, Thank you for your replies. I do hope that people use Facebook and other social media platforms to improve their lives.
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