Social Action and New Media:On Becoming a Smart Mob
Richard SmythUU Church of HaverhillSocial Action Youth Conference Workshop3 March 2007
Outline
I. What Inspired This PresentationII. A Short History of TechnologyIII. Doing Democracy
the four roles of social activism the eight stages of social movements
Goals
To find ways to help you use digital literacies as citizenship skills
Recognize technology as a prosthesis augmenting human mental and social capabilities
To learn effective and ineffective roles that social activists can play in social movements
To learn the eight stages of social movements
I. Inspiration
--Howard Rheingold. “The Pedagogy of Civic Participation.” Lecture delivered in Second Life (www.secondlife.com)
Inspiration
my avatar,Abaris Brautigan,listening tothe HowardRheingoldlecture in Second Life
The full presentation is available here: http://www.nmc.org/campus/Rheingold_Presentation
Inspiration
“Learning to use participatory media to learn and speak and organize about issues might well be the most important citizenship skill that digital natives need to learn if they are going to maintain or revive democratic governance.”
Inspiration
“I think we have an opportunity today to make use of the natural enthusiasm of today’s young digital natives (for cultural production as well as consumption) to help them learn to use the media production and distribution technologies now available to them as a way to develop a public voice about issues they care about.”
Inspiration
“This population is both self-guided and in need of guidance. Although a willingness to learn new media by point & click exploration might come naturally to today’s student cohort, there’s nothing innate about knowing how to apply their skills to the processes of democracy.”
Inspiration
“Education that recognizes the full impact of networked publics and digital media must adopt a whole new way of looking at learning and teaching, not just add another set of skills to the curriculum. I’m not at all sure how to get there, I don’t pretend to be an expert on that, I don’t know exactly how to evaluate efforts to create such a curriculum and measure their impacts, or whether schooling as we know it is even the place to start building the necessary institutions.”
Small Group Discussion
Answer the following questions in small groups of 3-4: What new technologies do you use?
myspace.com or facebook.com youtube.com or livevideo.com secondlife.com or there.com del.icio.us or digg.com rss feeds and blogs/vlogs? others not mentioned here?
How do you use these technologies?
Networked Participation:Wisdom of Crowds or Stupidity of Masses?
Presentation at Emerson College on 2/28/07. Quotes on thefollowing three slides from http://ideant.typepad.com/shows/fp4.html
Publics vs. Masses
The first defining characteristic of a public sphere is a balance between the ability to produce and consume ideas. According to Mills, in a public, "as many people express opinions as receive them."
In a mass, "far fewer people express opinions than receive them; for the community of publics becomes an abstract collection of individuals who receive impressions from the mass media" (Mills, 1956, pp. 303-304; my emphasis).
Publics vs. Masses
Advocates of the power of sociable web media argue that these media give more people the opportunity to become producers of information, not mere consumers, thus leveling the balance between those who produce and consume opinions.
Take for instance WikiNews, a wiki where anyone can contribute to the production of news. No longer is the production and dissemination of information about what's happening in the world the exclusive domain of big media.
Publics vs. Masses
But how many people are involved in WikiNews as compared to the number of people writing about their favorite celebrities or products?…
The new power to produce will be co-opted by the old desire to consume. Consider the concept of 'contests' in YouTube. Basically, companies offer money for user-produced contribu-tions that are advertisements for their products.
Critiques of Participatory Culture
“We need to develop the will power to turn off the computer”
--Trebor Scholz
“We end up surrending agency to technology instead of delegating it”
--Ulises A. Mejias
Presentation at Emerson College on 2/28/07.http://institute.emerson.edu/floatingpoints/2007/
II. A Short History of Technology
Inventions
lphaetic
Literacy1100 B.C.E.
Printing Press1447 C.E.
1901
1927
1984The Indexcirca 1600
an
alo
g t
ech
nolo
gie
s
dig
ital te
chnolo
gie
s
1990s
Three Eras of Communications
Orality f2f communication (storytellers) memories/history stored in stories
Literacy (alphabetic and print) memory stored in books, libraries
Electracy (“secondary orality”) memory stored electronically/digitally “Pixels are the movable type of the future”
(Stafford 288).
Technology as Prosthesis
Think of communications technologies as augmenting functions of the human mindbrain: memory reason emotion social networking
Technology as Amplification
“The knowledge and technologies that triggered the jump from clan to tribe to nation to market to network all shared one characteristic: They each amplified the way individual humans think and communicate, and magnified their ability to share what they know.”
(Rheingold, Smart Mobs 181)
Smart Mobs: Nonviolent Political Swarming
November 30, 1999 demonstrators protesting WTO meeting used
“swarming” tactics, mobile phones, websites, laptops to win “Battle of Seattle”
January 20, 2001 President Estrada of Philippines loses power to
a smart mob Tens of thousands gathered within an hour of
first text message volleys (Rheingold, Smart Mobs 157-58).
www.smartmobs.com for many more examples
Activity
Write about an issue or issues that you care about. (10 mins)
Share your thoughts in small groups (10-15 mins)
Large group discussion (10-15 mins)
III. Doing Democracy with Technology
Wired and Activated? Now what?
I. Four Roles of Social ActivismA. CitizenB. RebelC. ReformerD. Change Agent
(Moyer 28-29)
Four Roles: Citizen
Effective promotes positive American values,
principles, and symbols normal citizen grounded in center of society
Ineffective naïve citizen: believes “official policies” super-patriot: automatic obedience to
powerholders
Four Roles: Rebel
Effective nonviolent direct action and attitude actions have strategy and tactics empowered, exciting, courageous
Ineffective authoritarian anti-authoritarian anti-American, anti-authority strident, arrogant, egocentric: self-needs
before movement needs
Four Roles: Reformer
Effective uses official mainstream system and
institutions uses variety of means (lobbying, lawsuits,
rallies, candidates) watchdogs successes
Ineffective patriarchal model of organizational structure organizational maintenance over movement
needs
Four Roles: Change Agent
Effective educates/involves majority of citizens and
whole society on issue promotes strategies and tactics for waging
long-term social movement creates/supports grassroots activism and orgs
for long-term
Ineffective too utopian: visions of perfectionist
alternatives isolated from practical action tunnel-vision: advocates single issue ignores personal issues and needs of activists
Eight Stages of Social Movements
I. Normal TimesA. critical social problem exists that violates
widely held valuesB. public unaware of problem and supports
powerholders
II. Prove Failure of Official InstitutionsA. use official channels (courts, government
offices, hearings) to prove they don’t workB. become experts; do research
Eight Stages of Social Movements
III. Ripening ConditionsA. recognition of problem/victim growsB. more active local groupsC. 20-30% of public opposes powerholder
policies
IV. Take OffA. trigger eventB. dramatic nonviolent actions/campaignsC. problem put on social agendaD. 40 % of public opposes current policies
Eight Stages of Social Movements
V. Perception of FailureA. see goals unachievedB. see powerholders unchangedC. despair, hopelessness, burnoutD. emergence of negative rebel
VI. Majority Public OpinionA. majority oppose present conditionsB. re-trigger events happen/re-enact stage 4C. involve mainstream citizens/institutions
Eight Stages of Social Movements
VII. SuccessA. large majority oppose current policiesB. powerholders make only minimal reforms
while movement demands social changeC. new laws and policies
VIII. Continuing the StruggleA. extend successes (e.g. even stronger civil
rights laws)B. oppose attempts at backlashC. recognize/celebrate successes so far
The Two Percent Rule
“There’s a myth in this country, and it separates us from our strength. The myth is: to win, you have to have the majority actively with you. The winner is the one who gets more than fifty percent of the vote…”
(Prokosch 261)
The Two Percent Rule
“This is not how social change happens. During the 1960s, most Americans never sat in at lunch counters or marched against the Vietnam War. But the civil rights and antiwar movements abolished legal segregation and stopped U.S. military intervention overseas for fifteen years...
The Two Percent Rule
“Social scientists say that successful movements tend to have about two percent of the population active and a majority passive supporters.
“Who are the two percent? Determined people like you…”
(Prokosch 264)
Resources
Prokosch, Mike. “Building a New Group.” The Global Activist’s Manual: Local Ways to Change the World. Eds. Mike Prokosch and Laura Raymond. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press/Nation Books, 2002. 255-264.
Rheingold, Howard. Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, 2002.
Rheingold, Howard. “The Pedagogy of Civic Participation.” Lecture 21 October 2006. Second Life New Media Campus 5. Available <http://media.nmc.org/sl/audio/rheingold-oct-21-2006.mp3>.
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