Digital activism

 

'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever does.' -Margaret Mead (Inspirational quotes, 2012)

     Wow, what a huge issue to be discussing. Activism itself has been defined as "The doctrine or practise of rigorous action or involvement as a means of achieving political or other goal, sometimes by demonstrations, protests, etc " (Dictionary.com). the digital side is obviously the platform in which the activism is getting it's publicity.
     This brings to mind firstly for me, the movement on Facebook last year that was both widespread, traumatic and moving. The KONY 2012 movement was a video released on UTube, trying to raise awareness about Joseph Kony abducting thousands of African children and turning them into little soldiers, killing at his command ( KONY 2012 Official video). Now why this issue got under so many people's skins could be put down to the fact that this issue was about children. Helpless, harmless children. I personally cried the first time I watched this video. I got mad, I wanted KONY's head on a platter. I have two young boys and to think someone has the power in whatever country it may be to come into your home, take your children, and make them do things to others that they will never be able to forgive themselves for is mortifying. Then I wrote a university assignment on this movement. Not only was there widespread support for this case, but there was also a lot of criticism following this video's release. There were questions about whether Joseph Kony was even still alive, questions about the motives for the video, and also questions about the creator of the video's moral integrity ( Huffington Post, 2012).
     Did watching this video make me a better person? I don't think so. Did it make me aware of an issue I had previously been unaware of? Of course it did. What did I do about it? Nothing. I watched the video, I cried, I even had discussions with some family members and friends about it. But did I physically do anything? No, I did not. Does this make me a 'Slacktivist'? The Urban dictionary.com coined 'slactivism as ;

The act of participating in obviously pointless activities as an expedient alternative to actually expending effort to fix a problem (Urban Dictionary.com, 2008).

     Oops, I was made aware of an issue, but by doing nothing I became a slactivist. I am a keyboard warrior! I defend the rights of the less fortunate and hard done by all whilst sitting in my lounge room on my laptop drinking a cup of coffee and watching 'The doctors' on television.



     So does digital activism work? I guess that depends on the outcome you are wanting to achieve with it. If you want a mass movement I truly don't think this is the way to go, but for exposure to an issue there is no better way to have to plastered in the faces of thousands of people. A post on Facebook may only take seconds to be liked and shared all over the world, but is it really making a difference?

References

UTube, 2012, KONY 2012 official video, viewed 11th December 2012 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M2vjy6aSkg

Huffington post, 2012. Jason Russell Arrested, viewed 11th December 2012 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/16/jason-russell-arrested-invisible-children-

kony_n_1354455.html

Inspirational quotes; Margaret Mead, 2012, viewed 11th December 2012 <http://voices.yahoo.com/ten-inspirational-motivational-quotes-social-justice-2324663.html

Urban Dictionary.com, 2008, viewed 11th December 2012 <http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=slacktivism

UTube, 2012, KONY 2012 official video, viewed 11th December 2012 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M2vjy6aSkg



Follow me! Twitter....

"On Twitter we get excited if someone follows us. In real life we get really scared and run away." ~Unknown via @mozusa

     Twitter, what a weird word. I wonder why they chose a bird as their symbol? We can't argue with statistics, in 6 years twitter has 140 million strong users (Mashable, 2012) That's pretty impressive. I think the appeal of twitter lies in the short character restrictions that are imposed on it's users. People either have to be dramatic, or funny, or morose, but only in 140 characters. How limiting is that? If someone told you that you had to sum up your entire life in 140 characters do you think you could do it?
     I am the first to admit, I do actually have a twitter account. Do i know how to use it? No sir! I thought a hash tag was a game u played with a deep fried breakfast option. And a re-tweet? I wonder if re-tweeting something could open the door for lawsuits, what happens if you tweet something and then say to yourself 'Ooopsie, perhaps consuming 5 litres of tequila before posting that was not the best idea', but by the next morning your drunken tweet has been exposed to 140 million people? There is no deleting your tweet once someone has gotten hold of it and re-tweeted it. What happens if you want to tweet something and don't want anyone else to re-tweet it? I guess there are some things you should never post online, but clearly people do anyway.
     Is twitter a virtual community? In a way I guess it is. Howard Rheingold's view on how cyber space (quick, don your space helmet) will help to eliminate differences in the world sounds lovely. It's great not to have to have a conversation in person with the person who suffers from bad body odour. It's fantastic that people can't judge someone by the way they look before getting to know them via text. But clearly there are limitations here. Hold someones hand on the internet, experience what it's like to touch someone, or even hearing someones spontaneous giggle, all things that are missing from online communities.

 If I could google to find a way
To help me say that I like you
I'd go yahoo make you my boo
Within a day or two

If I messaged, would you read it
Tweet it would you see it
Cause I can't say it to your face
If I post it up on aim
Would it feel the same?
Oh well, here goes nothin'

[Chorus:]
I'm gonna poke you 'cause I miss you
Like you cause I do
Reblog everything that reminds me of you
I hope you get the hint
And if you don't get it yet
I'm tryna say I like you the use of the internet

(John Cedrick - Internet love song)

     In closing, I think twitter could be an amazing tool for advertising, public relations or maybe even updates to the family, but 140 characters is not enough to explain yourself. Perhaps moving all of the clutter out of a status is the key, keep things simple. I do wonder if people will eventually start talking in short bursts of approximately 140 characters to each other in the future. This may be beneficial, remove the complexity of conversations, get right down to it! Perhaps for low context cultures this would work, but definitely not for countries like Japan who take a lot of meaning from body language. Here's your homework; try and describe yourself in 140 characters. Is it a blessing to not have a lot to write, or will people miss so much of who you are due to the word restrictions? I guess your answer would say more about the type of person you are, and opinions would be varied on this one!

References

Mashable, social media 2012, viewed 2 December 2012 <

http://mashable.com/2012/06/05/twitter-for-beginners/

Urban Lyrics, 2012, Internet Love song , John cedrick, viewed 4 December 2012 <http://www.urbanlyrics.com/lyrics/john-cedrick/internetlovesong.html

Video: TEDTalks, Howard Rheingold: The new power of collaboration, viewed 21 November 2012, <http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html>.