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I had a good chat with John Emerson the other day. I think you will find his draft to be quite engaging and useful. It is great to see some up-to-date analysis on online trends and activism. Some other good (mostly older) sources are listed on my links page <http://www.publicus.net/articles/edemresources.html> and the <http://www.network-centricadvocacy.net> blog is also a good read. Steven Clift http://dowire.org Read and comment from: http://www.backspace.com/action/ by John Emerson An Introduction to Activism on the Internet Introduction International Web Landscape Campaigns Around the World Cell Phones Surveillance and Crackdown Protection and Anonymity Advocacy Tools On Email On Blogs On Openness Viral Marketing Translation and Accessibility Examples of Effective Action On Torture and Terrorism Tips and Recommendations Additional Resources Acknowledgments Introduction There are many factors that make Internet attractive for campaigning: its transmission speed, its reach globally and locally to a enormous number of users, low publishing cost, and 24 hour access. The Internet is an important alternative source of information to official and mainstream media, and a powerful means of connection outside of mainstream institutions. It is a truly mass medium, enabling individuals world-wide to share information and converse. Where open access is available, the Web does not differentiate information by age, status, geography, or point of view — though not all Web pages are accessible to persons using assistive devices to browse the Web (such as screen readers or Braille interface.) However, while the Internet has created new forms of individual power, social inclusion, and mass participation, it also amplifies existing forms of social exclusion. Internet access is determined by, and can reiterate, existing social and economic relations. The Web is of little use without the ability to read and write. While the Internet’s communication structure allows for some anonymity, absolute anonymity and security online is extremely difficult to guarantee. The same structure has created new methods of surveillance and profiling. However, it also makes absolute censorship extremely difficult. This document offers a brief introduction to a few different techniques of electronic advocacy using email, the Web, and other “new media” to bring about social change. This document is not intended to endorse electronic campaigning tactics at the expense of other offline tactics. Constituencies that are less connected to the Internet, for instance, are less likely to be reached by Internet organizing alone. Any campaign determining its strategy should analyze its goals and consider the best way to influence, facilitate, create, or seize power. Electronic campaigning techniques may work best when supplementing offline tactics... or may be entirely unsuitable given a campaign’s intended audience, targets, timing, or resources. As with other campaigning tactics, strategies that work in one context will not necessarily work in another. The notion of a centrally coordinated, traditional “campaign” should also be reexamined with respect to the emergence of large scale, even spontaneous, online collaborations that are not centrally or hierarchically organized. In an increasingly wired world, the Internet will become an increasingly important tool in the struggle for human rights and social justice. Coming improvements in eGovernance are likely to open up new opportunities for electronic advocacy. This document was drafted in January 2005. Technology and telecom policy change rapidly, so this will likely become dated very quickly. But I suspect some of the advice transcends our specific technological moment. This document was composed for a non-technical audience employed by nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations working on civil and political human rights. As such, I did not address the finer points of developing an overall campaign strategy, and left out discussion of many excellent Internet services, tools, and campaigns — for instance, challenges to restrictive copyright and patent law — one of the broadest campaigns on the Internet right now. Though I touch on it here, I leave a detailed analysis of online fundraising techniques for another day. See: http://www.backspace.com/action/ ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. Clift - - - W: http://publicus.net Minneapolis - - - - E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota - - - - - - T: +1.612.822.8667 USA - - - - - MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift UK Office Hours - 1pm - 11pm - - T: 0870.340.1266 Join my Democracies Online Newswire: http://dowire.org *** Past Messages, to Subscribe: http://dowire.org *** *** To subscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** Message body: SUB DO-WIRE *** *** To UNSUBSCRIBE instead, write: UNSUB DO-WIRE *** *** Please send submissions to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** New RSS XML Feed Available: *** http://www.mail-archive.com/do-wire@lists.umn.edu/maillist.xml
