Conference for Information Systems Applied Research 2011 CONISAR Proceedings Wilmington North Carolina, USA v4 n1842 _________________________________________________ The Era of Digital Activism Marcos Sivitanides [email protected] Vivek Shah [email protected] Dept. of CIS & QMST McCoy College of Business Texas State University San Marcos, TX 78666 Abstract The world is in the midst of a digital revolution. The new tools of social media have reinvented social activism. The purpose of the paper is to provide a framework and terminology to use when referring to digital activism and to provide and understanding of the fundamental difference between traditional activism as it existed for decades and as it has now transformed itself into a sharper and more focused tool with the use of digital technology. Keywords: Digital Activism, Social Media 1. INTRODUCTION stories from Iran or Moldova about citizens broadcasting mobile phone videos on YouTube The world is in the midst of a digital revolution. or giving protest updates on Twitter. These tales The new tools of social media have reinvented are analyzed, reported, and critiqued. And finally social activism. Over the past decade, people lessons are derived and best practices are around the globe have become increasingly imitated. The field, nonetheless, is fragmented. aware of and interested in the expanding use of Thus, in order to properly depict digital activism, digital technologies, computers, mobile phones, this paper will look into the fundamentals of and other Internet enabled devices, in the battle digital activism as well as the practices, for social and political change. These practices, arguments, and effects associated with the field AKA “digital activism,” have been approached by today. journalists, picked apart by bloggers, and enthusiastically studied by scholars, students, The purpose of the paper is to provide a activists, and corporations who desire to framework and terminology to use when understand and derive conclusions concerning referring to digital activism and to provide and such a controversial and disagreed upon topic. understanding of the fundamental difference The subject of digital activism is often associated between traditional activism as it existed for with stories and case studies: tales of political decades and as it has now transformed itself campaigns, like Barack Obama’s, that used a into a sharper and more focused tool with the social network to mobilize volunteers; inspiring use of digital technology. _________________________________________________ ©2011 EDSIG (Education Special Interest Group of the AITP) Page 1 www.aitp-edsig.org Conference for Information Systems Applied Research 2011 CONISAR Proceedings Wilmington North Carolina, USA v4 n1842 _________________________________________________ Digital Activism Defined each other as well. Therefore, allowing large groups of people to easily link to one another, Traditionally, activism is defined as “the doctrine exchange content, and coordinate acts, in turn, or practice of rigorous action or involvement as aiding the ability to create an effective political a means of achieving political or other goal, movement. Several different physical materials sometimes by demonstrations protests, etc.” are used in the production of networks. The (www.dictionary.com). Just as the field of materials used in one country are not digital activism is jumbled, so is the necessarily the materials that are used in terminology. In fact, some would argue that another. This is an example of how the “digital activism” is not even the proper term for interaction of infrastructure, economic, social, the use of technology for activism. Although the and political factors leads to different digital phrase “digital activism” is challenged, we activism outcomes. Modern cable infrastructure, elected to use it due to the fact that it best such as fiber optic, which transmits a signal describes the speed, reliability, scale, and low more quickly, is more expensive than older and cost of the Internet. Factors such as these are slower cable. Thus, those living in rich countries precisely what enable the scale and scope of are likely to have a faster Internet connection modern-day activism. than those who live in poorer countries (Joyce, 2010.) Politics contribute to this point as well. The term, digital activism, describes activities or For example, in many developing countries, practices that are both in-depth and exclusive. state-owned firms have historically monopolized In-depth in that it encompasses all social and a Internet service, leading to higher prices. As a political campaigning practice that use digital result, people in wealthier countries are usually network infrastructure; exclusive in that it more able to participate in digital activism excludes practices that are not examples of this because the cost and quality of Internet type of practice (Joyce, 2010). Therefore, connections available to them. because of its exhaustive and exclusive nature, “digital activism” is the best term to discuss all If materials are what differentiate digital instances of activism that use digital network networks, then codes, the series of the digits 1 infrastructure. and 0 that transmit all information on the Internet, are what unify them. Therefore, digital 2. The Digital Activism Environment code is the universal medium of digital activism. If an activist in Gaza wants to upload a digital The environment of digital activism refers both video, so that a college student in Texas can to the digital technology that is used in a given watch it, digital code is what transmits those activism movement and to the economic, social, images and sounds. Technology theorist and political context in which such technology Lawrence Lessig (2010) described the nature of use occurs. Digital technology infrastructure, the digital as “perfect copies, freely made.” If you combination of networks, code, applications, and create any piece of content and upload it to a devices that make up the physical infrastructure digital network, a copy of that content will of digital activism, is a starting point but not an become immediately transmissible to anyone ending point. Differences in economic, social, else in the world with Internet access. The whole and political factors ultimately alter how activists world speaking one language, that’s the power use this technology. In view of the fact that this of digital code. Even though we use digital paper has to do more with the technology side networks to transmit 0’s and 1’s to one another, of activism we only briefly touch on the digital activism is not thought of in terms of economic, social, and political circumstances of code but in terms of applications. digital activism. Applications are the software programs that Technological Infrastructure decode those 0’s and 1’s into information we understand. Luckily, digital infrastructure is, The infrastructure of digital activism is centered according Jonathan Zittrain (2008), on a digital network, an interconnected group of “generative.” People can easily develop devices that use digital code to convey applications that operate on top of the network information. The advantage of networks is that and create content using those applications, connectivity is distributed. Networks do not only both of which may not have been intended by link us to the center, but they also connect us to their creators (Joyce, 2010). Take for example _________________________________________________ ©2011 EDSIG (Education Special Interest Group of the AITP) Page 2 www.aitp-edsig.org Conference for Information Systems Applied Research 2011 CONISAR Proceedings Wilmington North Carolina, USA v4 n1842 _________________________________________________ the creators of Facebook, a group of US college inevitably determine how and if people employ a students, most likely didn’t see it as a worldwide digital infrastructure. activist tool, but it is in fact just that. Similarly, Twitter’s founders probably did not envision that Economic: The economic power of digital their service would be used to publicize protests activists, their ability to buy digital goods and in Moldova. Though committed activist services, affects their digital activism practices. applications and open source software do For example, because more individuals in contribute, most digital activists select wealthy countries are able to pay for Internet commercial applications such as Blogs, Twitter, services, these markets are more profitable for YouTube and Facebook to do their work. It is firms to enter, leading to greater competition through these applications that network and lower prices. As a result, more people can infrastructure is defined. The visibility element become involved in activism. Economics also that these applications bring to digital activism is affects the type of hardware activists can buy. the main reason so many books, blogs, and The high price of computers, consequently, teachings concentrate on the use of such specific affects accessibility making these high- applications (AKA “apps”) for political and social functionality devices more accessible to those change campaigns. However, applications are a with financial resources. This, in turn, greatly weak base for an analysis of digital activism due affects digital activism participation rates. to the fact that they are constantly changing, Although, it does not directly prohibit citizens gain popularity through media hype just as with limited