RE: [Air-l] terrorwar and the internet
Hi all, Actually, I'd like to disagree that "most of its because of the internet." I've been part of a research project studying the anti-globalization movement and the ways in which the movement has used the internet to organize demonstrations and mobilize participants. We randomly surveyed 1,500 anti-globalization protesters at five protests in three countries. We've found that only a little more than 15% reported hearing about the protest through the internet, compared to over 17% having heard about it through other media (including flyers, handbills, movement literature, etc as well as broadcast and print media). Participants in the anti-globalization protests were over twice as likely to report having heard about the protest from a social movement organization or from their friends and family than from the internet. Arguably, the anti-globalization protests are even more "run" on the internet compared to the peace movement, which has a much longer history of coalitions and cooperation among social movement organizations and church and community groups. Media reports to the contrary, old-fashioned organizing done through social movement organizations still plays a huge role in turning people out to protest, especially, we found, people traveling from out of town to large national and international protests. We're doing a follow-up email survey to tease out many of the finer points of political participation and Internet use, and as we get articles out, I'll be sure to keep you all posted. And a small point about what's getting circulated online: there has been an incredible amount of misinformation spreading on the internet about the war. How many wrong-headed petitions have been circulated by otherwise informed and engaged citizens? One stalwart of the New York left sent me the e-petition that was circulating that said the UN was collecting signatures. He said he believed it because someone he knew had sent it to him. In a very sad way, hoaxes like this one and the "25 members of Congress walked out" hoax reflect how online political engagement is not yet valued as a form of political participation. Best, Gina
Gina,
We're doing a follow-up email survey to tease out many of the finer points of political participation and Internet use, and as we get articles out, I'll be sure to keep you all posted.
i for one would love to hear more about the research project. i hope my email didn't smell of technological determinism; that wasn't my intention. perhaps it's because i'm here in wired seattle, but saturday's peace march had all kinds of cybertech-trimmings, many of which i mentioned in the last post. that said, i'd be curious to hear how your survey teases out less obvious intersections between the net and the global peace movement. i'm thinking of folks who have used the net to gain knowledge not contained within mainstream media and the ways in which that knowledge may have influenced their participation in the march. ("ooh, i didn't hear about this on CNN, maybe i'll make my way down to the march to get a better idea of what's going on?") i'm thinking about how a number of folks, especially in the US, have used the net to discover that despite what the polls or media say, there is a strong and global peace movement growing and perhaps now's the time to join. ("wow, campus and town squares are relatively quiet but things are buzzing online ... maybe i have more allies than i thought?") and i'm thinking about the hyperactive activity on sites like indymedia.org where folks extend their local marches into the global sphere, perhaps a necessary step if a global movement will survive. in other words, i'm interested in these kinds of scenerios and how they fit into your survey. david
participants (2)
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david silver -
Gina Neff