Ukraine in Transit: From Digital Resistance to Digital Renaissance

Vitaliy Moroz, Internews Ukrainevitaliy.moroz@gmail.com

Tuesday, May 13, 14

Introduction. How do we see the Internet?

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Internet Optimists vs Internet Pessimists

Dan Gillmor We the media, 2005

Evgeny Morozov, The Net Delusion, 2011

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Ukraine: Internet as an island of freedom

• How the Yanukovych government did perceive the Internet?

• How the Internet has been developing in Ukraine. Diverse market. Cheap access, Traditions of civic oversight of the government’s activities;

• Skilled professionals. Ukraine is a world’s player in IT market - $3.3 billion;

• 20 million users (almost 50% of population), majority users live in urban area (100,000+);

• January 16 legislation against civil society and Internet freedom.

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The role of social networks during Euromaidan

• Twitter - effective during elections and protests for journalists and international community. #26 most popular site in Ukraine as of May 2014 (Alexa.com)

• Vkontakte - #1 social network in Ukraine (at least 10 million users). Mostly entertainment, but...

• Facebook - a public sphere of Ukrainian civil society. #7 most popular site in Ukraine as of May 2014 (Alexa.com). 60,4% of Facebook users in Ukraine aged 18-34 years old.

• The role of social media: informing, mobilization, coordination, agenda setting

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Map of rallies to support UA - new technologies implied since the first days of the protests

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Online streaming + hashtags - new technologies implied since the first days of the protests

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Mapping the location of protests - new technologies implied since the first days of protests

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Mapping protesters’ needs - new technologies implied since the first days of the protests

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The use of Twitter during the protests:

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FB: Євромайдан SOS - providing assistance to those victimized during the protests - 98,000 fans

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Євромайдан SOS - peaking during the most dramatic events of Euromaidan

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Євромайдан SOS - up to 700,000 users interactions/engagements

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Thank you!

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Challenges for Ukrainian media and non-profits, opportunities and suggestions

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Threats: internal vs external

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Digital challenges for non-profits in Ukraine

• Lack of knowledge about the Internet, digital instruments and cyber security;

• Not enough funds to sustain IT-specialists in staff;

• A tradition of ignorance of digital threats;

• Not enough funds to work with soft under licenses

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Digital challenges for media organizations

• Lack of knowledge about cyber security;

• A tradition of ignorance of digital threats;

• Vulnerability to cyber attacks;

• Journalists resist multi tasking (acquiring skills beyond reporting)

• Online: Trolling and anonymity

• Huge informational flow, more mistakes

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Manipulation through social media - creating fake profiles

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Manipulation through social media - creating misleading profiles

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Bots and trolls attacking newspapers and accounts of politicians

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What can be done for UA civil society and media organizations to meet new challenges?

• Providing IT-consultancy services for non-profits and media organizations (assistance in launching a site, ongoing support);

• Targeted consultancy for regional media organizations (media audit, redesign of site, strategy for online, advices in cyber security);

• Providing free hosting for non-profits;

• Seed funding: supporting innovative initiatives with micro-grants;

• Supporting research in digital transformations and lessons learned of the Internet use;

• Supporting translations in Ukrainian/Russian in cyber security issues;

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What can be done for UA civil society and media organizations to meet new challenges?

• Supporting government accountability projects (ongoing monitoring of corruption, budget expenditures);

• Education in journalism standards and online journalism targeting young generations;

• Expanding the space for innovations - by holding barcamps, hackathons;

• Bringing expertise of best Western technology practices to Ukraine (guest speakers, lectors, CEO);

• Exchange visits, scholarships for Ukrainian media activists (conferences - TheNextWeb, Picnic Amsterdam, LeWeb Paris).

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Vitaliy Moroz, Internews Ukraine vitaliy.moroz@gmail.com @vitaliymoroz

Thank you!

Tuesday, May 13, 14