Drew's Seminar Papers
From digmovements
Contents |
[edit] Seminar Papers
[edit] Week One
The book, “Cyberactivism: Online Activism in Theory and Practice” by Martha McCaughey and Michael Ayers, the authors spend a great portion of the introduction and the first chapter speaking on how the rise of the world wide wed has influenced the way activists go about creating social and political change and whether online activism is as legitimate and effective in creating change as real life activism. On page four of the introduction, the authors raise the question: “How is the internet different from previous communications media that have influenced the nature and shape of political organizing?” The Internet has had a larger influence on political organizing than any other communications media to date due to its ability to instantly connect you to millions of people across the world. The main reason the Internet has had such a large influence on how activists go about creating changing and mobilizing people for their cause is because with the use of e-mails and posts on the internet, activists now have the ability to spread their message to millions of people with the click of a mouse. In the pre-internet days, activists had to call or find people to sign their petitions; nowadays with use of the Internet they can now send an e-mail with their petition to millions of people without leaving their house. This differentiates the Internet’s influence on political organizing from other communications media because no other device has been capable of this. The Internet has the ability to instantly connect millions of people from all over the globe, a feat that had previously been impossible. The instant access to information that the Internet provides people allows activists to share their message to a wider audience more effectively and with less effort.
[edit] Week Two
In Dan Gilmor's book; "We the media: grassroots journalism by the people, for the people" he explained in detail how the rise of the Internet has effected the media and how newspapers and television stations have lost their monopoly over the distribution of information. With the new capabilities of the Internet such as chat rooms, blogs, and interactive websites, it is now possible for anyone to be a journalist. these new advances allow anyone with Internet access to spread their opinion to millions of people. With older forms of media such as newspapers, radios and televisions, there were few to many communications. Members of the media were able to spread their message via the radio, television, etc... to millions of people. But becoming a contributor of a major radio station or newspaper was a very difficult task. As a result, the spreading of news was left mainly to the elite and it was very difficult for the average person to get their message out. In the mid to late 1990's when the Internet first started to gain popularity, the distribution of news began to shift from few to many to many to many. The Internet allows many people to interact and send their message to many other people . With the capabilities of the Internet, it is possible for anyone to go online and express their opinions about current events. This new phenomenon allows a more balanced media where opinions on events are not left solely to that of the media's elite.
[edit] Week Three
In Charles Tilly's book: "Social Movements, 1768 - 2004" he speaks in great detail about how current day social movements came to be by providing a historical perspective on them. Furthermore, he speaks on how current social movements are being affected by new technology. On pages 70 and 71, Tilly speaks about the development and future of social movements in the 1960's when he states that: "Social movemens of a new type according to Touraine, held out the hope of breaking the bureaucratic stranglehold. The crucial task, he concluded, was Touraine's language promoted a comparison between resistance to state socialism and attacks on the rulers of capitalist democracies; both could forward liberation from oppressive systems of top-down control. Social Movements of a new type could play vital roles in either setting." Tilly's statement is very correct. In order for social movements to be effective and have a long lasting impact, it is necessary for them to make a clear and distinct message to the state and clearly outline their goals. Furthermore, compromising with the state or accepting actions by them which are clearly wrong will only further lead to oppression by the government. In order for people to have control over their lives and the way in which their government is run, they need to take an active role in creating change and that is the central point Tilly is making. It is necessary to resist state run oppresion, if the country is for the people by the people, then the citizens must have a major voice in how their country is run.
[edit] Week Four
In Bob Ostertag's book: "People's Movements, People's Press" he details the history and development of alternative media in the context of major social movements throughout history. He explains in detail how activists have used independent media to create change and spread their message in relation to five major social movements: gay rights, woman suffrage, environmentalism, vietnam anti-war activism, and abolition. In the first chapter, Ostertag details the accounts of woman suffrage and abolition activists who were using early independent press media to spread their views on slavery and women's rights policies at the time. On page 50, Ostertag states that: "Many historians have considered the foregoing events as encompassing not one but two stories, divided by race: the story of the early "black press" and that of the predominantly white "abolitionist press". This approach is not without merit the life experiences of antebellum whites and blacks, even free blacks in the north were starkly different. Whites could choose abolitionism from several reform movements they might participate in. Northern black however had no such choice. With friends and family enslaved just a state or two away, white racism constricting every aspect of their lives and the constant threat of being captured and sent to the south hanging over their heads, slavery even if confined to the southern states continued to define their lives." This statement exemplifies a characteristic of meaningful activism often not mentioned by most: personal involvement. If you are personally involved in an issue and it affects you first hand, you can give a much more impassioned and realistic account on the matter. That is one of the reasons why garrison and john brown were so successful despite some of their pitfalls. They were personally involved with slaveyr and had seen the affects of it first hand that allowed them to form a very well rounded opinion, because unlike uninvolved abolitionists from the society's elite, they had dealt with issues like slavery and racism first hand.
[edit] Week Five
In the first five chapters of the book: "The Art of Protest: Culture and Activism from the civil rights movement to the streets of Seattle" by TV reed, the goes over the history of social movements. Furthermore, Reed goes in depth to how culture has affected social movements throughout history. In chapter 3, Reed speaks on the feminist movement and how poetry affected the women's movement. On page 87, Reed speaks on the structure and effectiveness of feminist groups when he states: " The typical social science story of the women's movement has a difficult time dealing with the fact that large scale, mass organizations with clear hierarchies were only a small part of the movement. Indeed, they were often seen as part of the problem. The most common form was the small group or collective. These CR groups or rap groups, consisting most often if from five to twenty women, gave a mass movement an unusually intimate form and forum highly appropriate to the movements goals and ideologies." This statement raises a lot of questions about the effectiveness of the structure of activist groups, there can be a lot of bureaucracy involved with making decisions, furthermore the more people the more you need to compromise the beliefs of the group and appeal to outside groups. I believe the most effective set up for an activist group is small and personal. With a small personal group, where all of the member know eachother well and have similar ideals, t will be the most effective for bringing about the change they want. The larger the group, the more complex it is to run and you have to worry about keeping all of the members happy and this can cause a lot of problems and make creating change difficult.
[edit] Week Six
[edit] Week Seven
Robert McChesney’s book: “Communication Revolution”, provides the reader with an in dept analysis on the media. Not only does McChesney provide an in depth analysis of media, but he also provides a historical context for the development of media, as we know it. McChesney explains how we are currently in the middle of a communication revolution and poses many questions on media that many media analysts do not go into. On page 118 of the chapter entitled “The Historical Turn”, McChesney makes a very strong statement, when he says: “The founders of the republic did not authorize a corporate-run, profit-motivated, commercially driven media system with the first amendment.” Many people try to justify the corporate driven and controlled media of today by citing the first amendment saying that the declaration of freedom of speech and press in the first amendment justifies corporate media because freedom of press means people and corporations have complete control over the news they distribute. While the first amendment was set into place to allow people to express their beliefs and views in a manner in which they want, the first amendment did not mean anything in the way of how media is run and controlled. As a matter of fact, if the founding fathers could see what has happened to media under the guise of the first amendment, they would be sickened. The first amendment was put into place to protect and provide freedom of press/speech, there was no economic reasoning or implications involved. Freedom of speech allows us to speak our mind and not feel threatened by it and to make sure that freedom of speech would be guaranteed for years to come and to make reversing freedom of speech very difficult if anyone were to try.
[edit] Week Eight
“Insurgency Online: Web Activism and Global Conflict” by Michael Dartnell touches upon the politics of the Internet, how the Internet is changing the shape of politics in this day and age, and how web activism is effecting the political landscape. On page 44, in the context of IRSM web activism, Dartnell states that: “Web activism alone will not radically transform politics to serve individual input or create community. As stated above radio and television also initially seemed to herald a new individualism and new communities. Their eventual impact in the form of a greatly enhanced role for interest groups was not foreseen when the technologies were first introduced.” While online activism has not yet created radical change in the political landscape, I believe that the Internet, unlike radio or television, has the potential to. The Internet, unlike radio and television, has yet to go corporate and is likely to stay that way. With the Internet it is now possible to communicate with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Furthermore, this possibility that is unique to the Internet could very well be used to create drastic political change. The Internet is run by everyone which makes it very distinct from radio and television, even at inception, radio and television were run primarily by companies and over the years became incredibly corporate. With online media, the corporate monopoly on the distribution of news is beginning to dwindle. With blogging sites and social networking sites, anyone can spread news and awareness about current events, social issues, and even organize for real life activism. In conclusion, while the internet has yet to have a major impact on the political landscape, I believe that saying it is no different than radio or television is a very false statement and one day soon, we will see the effects of the internet change the face of our world.
