Re: [Air-l] social movements / social software
Hello all, I'm currently writing-up my PhD thesis on the use of the internet by the 'movement for alternative globalization' or anti-globalization movement as it is more widely known. I have focused on the European Social Forum, one of the main events organized every year by the movement in Europe attracting thousands of participants. I have examined the processes of mobilization, organization and collective identity formation through interviews with organizers, a content analysis of the main email lists devoted to the organizing process, as well as a survey of activists who mobilized to participate in it. One of the main patterns that seems to be emerging from this research is that the impact of email lists and the internet in general cannot be fully understood without examining their relationship and co-existence with other modes of communication and particularly face-to-face. For instance, in the European Social Forum organizing process the main decisions are taken in face-to-face, large meetings, while the internet is used to prepare for these meetings (in terms of circulating the agenda, circulating/co-writing documents for discussion, publicising the time and place of meetings and making practical arrangements for people to attend) and also circulate, discuss and challenge the decisions that have been taken. In addition, while face-to-face communication is deemed indispensable for the development of relationships of trust and solidarity (a recurrent quote is that 'you have to look people in the eyes' in order to trust them), the internet helps to maintain these links in-between physical meetings and across geographical boundaries. On a more general level, it seems that different modes of communication are better suited to different functions within the political process depending on how they configure time and space. In that respect, synchronous, oral, interpersonal communication aids the development of a sense of unity and belonging within a bounded space and time. On the other hand, asynchronous, written and more impersonal communication expands the geographical scale of social movements and helps to relax the constraints and frustrations of direct face-to-face contact, allowing a looser, more flexible structure to emerge. Of course this is a quite simplified suggestion as different applications or modes of communication display varying degrees of synchronous/asynchronous, oral/written and personal/impersonal communication. Now on the issue of mobilization, the results of my survey seem to agree with Todd's suggestion that interpersonal communication is the most important mode of communication. People attending the ESF in Paris in 2003 (my survey had 257 participants) were mobilized predominantly through face-to-face communication and then through email or email lists. Only 4% has heard about the ESF solely through the mass media and not also through a political organization, friends or relatives, the workplace or the university. (For anyone who might be interested in more info about this, I've published an article in an open-access journal, which is available here http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/pdf/Kavada.pdf) I'm really sorry for the long email, it's just so exciting to see people interested in this subject. Anastasia Kavada PhD Candidate University of Westminster Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
This interests me in part because my Master's Thesis (completed in early 1995) addressed social movements about, for, and within cyberspace. You might want to consider previous research (largely since my Thesis, which itself I don't particularly recommend) which relates to, supports, and even predicts some of the things you discuss, such as NetLab's work (the National Geographic studies, the Connected Lives study, the Pew study). -eg
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Anastasia Kavada Sent: Friday, April 14, 2006 4:10 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] social movements / social software
Hello all,
I'm currently writing-up my PhD thesis on the use of the internet by the 'movement for alternative globalization' or anti-globalization movement as it is more widely known. I have focused on the European Social Forum, one of the main events organized every year by the movement in Europe attracting thousands of participants. I have examined the processes of mobilization, organization and collective identity formation through interviews with organizers, a content analysis of the main email lists devoted to the organizing process, as well as a survey of activists who mobilized to participate in it.
One of the main patterns that seems to be emerging from this research is that the impact of email lists and the internet in general cannot be fully understood without examining their relationship and co-existence with other modes of communication and particularly face-to-face. For instance, in the European Social Forum organizing process the main decisions are taken in face-to-face, large meetings, while the internet is used to prepare for these meetings (in terms of circulating the agenda, circulating/co-writing documents for discussion, publicising the time and place of meetings and making practical arrangements for people to attend) and also circulate, discuss and challenge the decisions that have been taken. In addition, while face-to-face communication is deemed indispensable for the development of relationships of trust and solidarity (a recurrent quote is that 'you have to look people in the eyes' in order to trust them), the internet helps to maintain these links in-between physical meetings and across geographical boundaries.
On a more general level, it seems that different modes of communication are better suited to different functions within the political process depending on how they configure time and space. In that respect, synchronous, oral, interpersonal communication aids the development of a sense of unity and belonging within a bounded space and time. On the other hand, asynchronous, written and more impersonal communication expands the geographical scale of social movements and helps to relax the constraints and frustrations of direct face-to-face contact, allowing a looser, more flexible structure to emerge. Of course this is a quite simplified suggestion as different applications or modes of communication display varying degrees of synchronous/asynchronous, oral/written and personal/impersonal communication.
Now on the issue of mobilization, the results of my survey seem to agree with Todd's suggestion that interpersonal communication is the most important mode of communication. People attending the ESF in Paris in 2003 (my survey had 257 participants) were mobilized predominantly through face-to-face communication and then through email or email lists. Only 4% has heard about the ESF solely through the mass media and not also through a political organization, friends or relatives, the workplace or the university. (For anyone who might be interested in more info about this, I've published an article in an open-access journal, which is available here http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/pdf/Kavada.pdf)
I'm really sorry for the long email, it's just so exciting to see people interested in this subject.
Anastasia Kavada
PhD Candidate University of Westminster
Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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Apologies if this has already been posted, but I saw this presentation at AoIR, Toronto, and I believe this won a "best student paper" award - Ryan, Sherida (2003). Don't trust anyone outside your pack: Initial trust formation in an online social activist network. Internet Research 4.0: Broadening the Band, Totonto, Canada, Association of Internet Researchers. Cheers, Denise Denise N. Rall, Ph.D. submitted, School of Environ. Science, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 AUSTRALIA Tuesdays: Room T2.12, +61 (0)2 6620 3577 or Mobile 0438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/drall/index.html Virtual member, Cybermetrics Group, University of Wolverhampton, UK http://cybermetrics.wlv.ac.uk/index.html
All, I will shamelessly plug myself here with my own 2003 Air online social movements paper: Coopman, T. M. (2005) Dissentworks: Identity and emergent dissent as network structure. In Matthew Allen & Mia Consalvo (eds.). 2nd Internet Research Annual. Peter Lang. Continuing with more flagrant self promotion: I have a paper I presented at NCA and is in submission, Weak is the New Strong: Weak Ties, Communication Networks, and Collective Action if the fellow grad student is interested I'll send a copy. Also recommending the edited volume: Diani & McAdam (eds.)(2003). Social movements and networks: Relational approaches to collective action. New York: Oxford University Press. Especially the Mische, A. chapter, Cross-talk in movements: Reconceiving the culture-network link. -TED Ted M. Coopman Department of Communication University of Washington On Mon, 17 Apr 2006, Denise N. Rall wrote:
Apologies if this has already been posted, but I saw this presentation at AoIR, Toronto, and I believe this won a "best student paper" award -
Ryan, Sherida (2003). Don't trust anyone outside your pack: Initial trust formation in an online social activist network. Internet Research 4.0: Broadening the Band, Totonto, Canada, Association of Internet Researchers.
Cheers, Denise
Denise N. Rall, Ph.D. submitted, School of Environ. Science, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 AUSTRALIA Tuesdays: Room T2.12, +61 (0)2 6620 3577 or Mobile 0438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/drall/index.html Virtual member, Cybermetrics Group, University of Wolverhampton, UK http://cybermetrics.wlv.ac.uk/index.html _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
participants (4)
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Anastasia Kavada -
Denise N. Rall -
Ellis Godard -
Ted M Coopman