What are the promises and perils of grassroots activism in the new/digital 21st century media age?
 
The promises and perils of grassroots activism in the new/digital 21st century media age are multifaceted, complex, and interconnected.  Among the promised is the tapping of “cognitive surplus” of America’s legions of screen-shackled slackers to employ and implement their creative and technical energies for a new brand of cyber activism and communication.  Connecting individuals, data, and context; the great yawning gateway of convergent and participatory web offers tantalizingly simple and innovative solutions such as data-mapping, web crawling, and nearly limitless connectivity between users and content generators.  In regard to nearly everything, the great towering question of “how the hell do I/we do this?” is suddenly less opaque and only a fraction as formidable.  As Clay Shirky attempts to update Margaret Mead-- “A handful of people working with cheap tools and little time or money to spare, managed to carve out enough collective goodwill from the community to create a resource that no one could have imagined even five years ago” (Shirky 17).

For activists this is a tantalizing prospect.  Why, now we can reach more people than ever before!  In just a few minutes one organizer can connect with as many citizens as it would’ve taken an entire army of canvassers several weeks to accomplish.  All that is required is a few Facebook posts, a tweat or two here and there, and (with a little more work) a quick iPhone video to upload directly to Youtube.  Bang.  Instant revolution and organizing and it’s all at our convergence blistered fingertips.  The LOLcat driven energies of interactive web transcend the communal sphere and enter the civic sphere, where they cross-pollinate with one another for the betterment of their community.  Simple right? The revolution is just around the corner right?



Not quite.  As he summons up the words of Marshall McLuhan’s “the medium is the message”, Nicholas Carr writes of the sticky-seductive power of the internet and the way it is rapidly affect our brains.  Even my brain as I write this (soon to be posted to a blog, for a class to view upon a screen) is being affected by that feeling of being “scattered” and flinging from one side of the ether to another.  “Info snacking,” as it’s termed within media and journalism fields is not just limited to how we move from webpage to webpage, but how we move from one thought to the next, no matter the text.  Not unlike the sticky black alien in the latest Spider-Man movie, this way of digesting and gathering information quickly wraps its tentacles around us… indeed once bonded, it can be very difficult to un-bond.  “The computer [and the web it facilitates] bulldozes our doubts with its bounties and conveniences.  It is so much our servant that it would seem churlish to notice that it is also our master” (Carr 4). Ultimately, it is a grave mistake to make a blanket judgement about the internet and the effect it is having upon us.  The interactive web is profoundly “mind-altering” in the way it changes the way we think, but its effects on the real increasingly connected world are beginning to emerge.  As demonstrated in Egypt and set down in old-fashioned ink (and Kindle) by Wael Ghonim, social networking and the participatory web are now indispensable tools for grassroots activism and community organizing.  Rather than traditional organizing where everyone is briefed, de-briefed, and instructed what to do and how to do it; the era of the participatory web changed all the rules.  Facebook was had been radicalized as had Twitter and a variety of other social networking platforms.  Ghonim writes “The rapid pace of events drove home one of the key strategies I learned from the revolution: to achieve your vision, you need friends and communication channels more than you need plans.”

The take-home lesson, ultimately, is that the internet is fundamentally changing the way we think and look at the world around us.  Through the participatory web and convergent media the reality of existence and the reality of the web are drifting closer and closer with each passing day.  With every Facebook login those two worlds overlap a little more.  In terms of activism, this convergence means greater connectivity between individuals and movements.  Something happens, an iPhones is there, the world knows in just the few seconds it takes for the video to upload and buffer.  Lightening fast and easy to use, this remarkable new avenue of connectivity is still no substitute for all the strategies of traditional organizing.  What’s the number one purpose for e-activism?  Many would argue that it’s all about getting people to show up when something happens.  People must know what’s happening and why it’s happening.  Yet, when they all congregate in Tahrir Square, Zuccotti Park, or Oscar Grant Plaza; they are not there for the sole purpose of re-tweeting or updating their status.  They are they for each other. The revolution not only continued in Cairo when the internet was shut down, it grew.

What do we learn from this?  What is the great lesson to post as a link on your newsfeed?  Something new is happening, share the link, write the post, like the page.. and get into the fucking streets already.

Gear Shift

In a bit of an about-face, and partially to stir the pot a bit, I'm posting this article about the limits and drawbacks of crowd sourcing and "making it work" in the era of Web 2.0.

:)

Unanswered Questions

Here are a bunch of questions that I've sent to my contact, a local activist code-named Susan Hutchings. She has been heavily involved with Occupy Burlington as well as numerous other actions and occupations along the east coast.

So, we both know that you're intricately plugged in to both social media as well as the Occupy Movement...

Can you describe (in detail) the various organizing techiques that you utilize and how has the new technology of social media has (or hasn't) transformed or shaped these techniques?

I would put my organizational techniques into two different categories: internal communication and information sharing and movement building. Internal communication requires both in person communication and strong bonds as well as twitter, facebook, email and instant messaging to communicate and organize on the ground as well plan larger events. To recruit new activists and build a movement, in person meetings are preferable to give a face to a movement. Old school flyering is also critical to get people to events. Social media has the advantage of getting information out quickly to people who are already involved but nothing replaces in person communication.

What would you say are the great limits of social media as organizing tools? What new lessons have you learned through your interaction with the new medium?

The limits of social media are obvious: not all people know how to use the media effectively and find it challenging. It is also difficult to reach the least privileged in society. Social media also does not ensure people will get out to the streets. As we have seen, signing a petition is not nearly as effective at promoting social change as civil disobedience. Civil disobedience and direct action promote living revolutionaries and solidarity. Community can not be formed in cyber space. OWS has been so effective because people have come together in mini encampments societies to challenge the notion that money and power are worth striving for.

Do you have a medium of choice? Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc? Has this particular platform changed your relationship with movement building strategies or activities?

My favorite media is absolutely Twitter. Before #ows, I though Twitter was useless gossip. We have radicalized this space and are constantly trending. OWS currently has over 100,000 followers. This is a huge audience of receptive activists. Twitter allows for concise information and can connect you to other activists in a few clicks. Twitter has the potential to give you livestream, articles and connect to the activists on the ground instead of mainstream media. Livestream is also one of my favorite media because it allows people across the world to be watching. For the first time, we are telling the truth that the world is watching. We can show the police brutality we are facing, and correct the MSM lies, which plague all social movements. You cannot argue with a livestream because you are watching unfiltered truth. These two media have the potential to reverse the big brother effect.

As Occupy gathers more strength, we're seeing more and more technological platforms straight from the movement itself. Can you describe Interoccupy, Occupii, and Occupy Research?

As the movement begins to grow, we are actually creating our own Internet space. Some of the big sites include occupytogether.org, nycga.net, interoccupy.org, occupy research and occupii.org. Occupytogether.org has been the most effective at disseminating information and documents where the encampments and movements are, how to get involved and materials from the movement. Nycga.net is NYC website and runs in a horizontal fashion to create proposals and events. My favorite working group is interoccupy; which came into being after encampments began to pop up, and the purpose was to connect occupations together and create massive action. Occupy Research is research that is being driven by the activists on the ground. Occupii.org was created as a safer platform for activists to communicate than Facebook.

The authorites and the 1% have taken heed of the movement's embrace of social media and as a result have proposed various bills about making Tweating about protests and recording arrests illegal (with penalties as high as 15 years in prison). What affect do you see these proposals having on social organizing? Do you anticipate changing your particular activies to preserve your confidentiality or reducing your chance of being arrested? Why?

The repression of this movement has been absolutely ridiculous. In Oregon, they attempted to pass an anti-Tweeting bill, which would make even organizing for illegal activities subject to obscene litigation. Civil disobedience is a time honored tradition in movements and many of the laws that occupy have broken were minor infractions and were met by brutal repression. Another law that has serious ramifications for Occupy movement regards filming in Chicago. In May, many occupiers plan to head to Chicago to protest G8 and NATO. Filming police brutality could carry up to 15 years in jail. Our cameras have been the most important tools for keeping people safe and prosecuting violence. Having laws in place like this do not change my personal actions, but make my actions more covert sometimes. I will have a camera in G8, but if I am at the front lines it will potentially be in my pocket. Our movement is dedicated to transparency and free information sharing and these laws are making our rights increasingly difficult. For some actions, I do intend to go more covert before an action to prevent being arrested. For small direct actions it is important to balance transparency and the ability to actually act. But all actions that are taken should be shown to the world through media and activists held accountable for their actions.

And lastly, you use a pseudonym to protect your identity. Can you explain why and speak about how you implement this name (in addition to other techniques)?

I have used a synonym interchangeable. I only use my pen name Susan Hutchings when speaking to the media because they have butchered my words so completely that I do not wish to be slandered anymore. When speaking with other activists or new members I use my real name. I am also moving away from using a pen name as I become more comfortable in the movement and vulnerability. Another reason I have used a pen name is to prevent getting arrested. Another issue that many have brought up is the use of a facemask. Personally, I do generally wear a facemask. First off, I wear a handkerchief because it can protect you against pepper spray to the eyes. Hankerchiefs also allow you to infiltrate buildings for direct action without being prosecuted many years later. I only wear facemasks during direct action because I tend to be at the front lines. Lastly, as a young woman, I have had men comment on videos of me in sexist tones with intention to rape me. I sometimes wear a facemask because I lack the privilege to protect myself, but as I said I am moving away using pen names and facemasks as I continue to embrace the ideal of transparency and non-violence. Transparency builds trust and community amoung activists.

What HAVE we learned (part 2)

In this continuation of my previous post, I'd like to share this with those of you out there interested in this particular nerdy world of information, how we use it, and where it comes from in the age of convergence. This, in particular is about the increasingly itchy blanket of surveillance that we are coming under from enormous media companies such as Google. I'm sure they'll see this.

What HAVE we learned?

This post, being premature to any assignments from my Grassroots Toolbox class, is wholly and completely devoted to the inherent and joyous nerdiness of my personality and the glee that I get from discovering things like the full digitization of the Gutenberg Bible in it's digital entirety.

Additionally, I'm throwing up some more fun stuff such as the story of Martin Luther, in the single most famous act of dissent in human history, hammering his legendary 95 Theses to door of the Wittenberg Church:

And stuff like this:

Good luck.

Voices from the Ground

Greetings to all of those out there who may somehow find this blog out in the great ether of the world.

Image courtesy of FOX28 WSJV

My name is Dylan Kelley. I am a blogger, teacher, writer, journalist, and activist as well as a student at Burlington College where I triple major in Photography, Documentary Studies, and Media Activism.

It is here that this particular blog now comes into existence. Being a student, I've endeavored to enroll in a course known as Grassroots Toolbox. Though I know not what direction this blog shall proceed forth in, which direction this particular scrap of protocoled parchment my fly, it is here that I shall chronicle whatever journey it is that now sets itself before me. I'll shall advance as long as forever is... and now you're along for the ride.