The Internet as a Tool for Activism - Michael Geist

The first line of the article is "He calls it the new normal", "he" being Michael Geist, Canada’s answer to Larry Lessig..

Those of who who have been reading my blog for any length of time will know that I am not surprised.

Much of what passes for activism, around the world, is action of some sort or other against top-down driven policies and decisions and the purview of hierarchic institutions.

I don’t believe that it is necessary to tear down or explode all institutions, nor the way things are down generally in some areas of human activity, but I do believe that there needs to be much more two-way (or n-way) dialogue, and much more listening and comprehension on the part of those who occupy the positions at the top of systems and institutions.

Thus, the definition of wirearchy:  a dynamic two-way flow of power and authority based on knowledge, trust, credibility and a focus on results, enabled by interconnected people and technology.

It might be the case that there would not need to be so much activism if we all lived and worked in a less manipulative, more open and fair society, rather than in societies where people are pitted against each other in order to ‘win".

.

Geist lauds Net as activist tool
MATT HARTLEY

He calls it the new normal.

The Internet and the rise of Web 2.0 tools have created a new reality, one in which anyone can become an agent of change capable of affecting public opinion, Canada’s most prominent digital activist, Michael Geist, told a Toronto audience on Wednesday.

It’s a new reality that policy makers ignore at their own peril and one the Canadian government doesn’t quite understand how to respond to yet.

“Governments need to be receptive to this,” said Mr. Geist, who teaches e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa.

Mr. Geist’s keynote address to the 2008 mesh conference outlined the various ways that social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Google Maps are increasingly being used to disseminate messages of advocacy across the globe at rapid speeds.

“The potential for digital advocacy to change our policy, our political discussions, our democracy, our education and our communications, to change so many different issues that matter … we have to recognize that it’s not about “hands off the Internet,” but recognize that those kinds of features are in our hands,” he said.

Social media and the Internet are the newest and most powerful weapons in the activists’ arsenal. Protesters in Europe now use Twitter to communicate in real time with fellow supporters, while sites such as Ushahidi.com utilize Google Maps and Google Earth to catalogue violent incidents in Kenya that the local governments don’t want recorded or shown to the rest of the world.

Powered by Qumana