A social movement (SM) does not have to be a group of extraordinary individuals (see image for classic example), rather it can be any “large informal groupings of individuals and/or organizations focused on specific political or social issues" issues” (http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Social_movements). Considering this quotation I would like to emphasize/add that SM today are largely facilitated today through the use of ICT, a point that was abruptly brought to my attention last class.
Although quite fatigued last Wednesday, I found myself caught up in the class presentation on social movements. Previously I had considered ICT to only be an aspect of modern social movements, however this presentation truly opened my eyes to the possibilities that ICT could provide for (almost) any SM. In the past, I had considered the role of technology in SM as a means of advertizing about the “need for change”, and as a tool for recruitment of new individuals. Although ICT still serves both of those needs, from what I have learned in class ICT provides and allows for so much more. For example considering the fact that SM are based around a shared theme that often unites many people together, ICT can serve to tackle huge boundaries such as geography, cost, and as well as issues surrounding self-disclosure.
Although quite fatigued last Wednesday, I found myself caught up in the class presentation on social movements. Previously I had considered ICT to only be an aspect of modern social movements, however this presentation truly opened my eyes to the possibilities that ICT could provide for (almost) any SM. In the past, I had considered the role of technology in SM as a means of advertizing about the “need for change”, and as a tool for recruitment of new individuals. Although ICT still serves both of those needs, from what I have learned in class ICT provides and allows for so much more. For example considering the fact that SM are based around a shared theme that often unites many people together, ICT can serve to tackle huge boundaries such as geography, cost, and as well as issues surrounding self-disclosure.
Given the above, it is obvious to think about the power that ICT could bring to the organizing of a large SM. To contrast this thought, consider the following video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dgPIV5RwRU
Although I’m sure that this video is nothing more than clever editing to further the creators’ bias, it does provide an example of how a large protest of people can seem silly rather than powerful without organization or direction. Taking what I learned from Wednesday’s presentation, I came to realize just how applicable and intertwinded the field of community informatics is with modern social movements. This was one of the more powerful links between class topics that I
have made this semester, and this junction caused my mind to snowball with ideas. I thought back to the awesome presentation on community informatics and considered how the example of “Oracle Beehive” Software could be applied to help organize any SM, providing a large group of people with constent updates, greatly increasing communication, and providing software flexibility within the group.
Although I’m sure that this video is nothing more than clever editing to further the creators’ bias, it does provide an example of how a large protest of people can seem silly rather than powerful without organization or direction. Taking what I learned from Wednesday’s presentation, I came to realize just how applicable and intertwinded the field of community informatics is with modern social movements. This was one of the more powerful links between class topics that I
have made this semester, and this junction caused my mind to snowball with ideas. I thought back to the awesome presentation on community informatics and considered how the example of “Oracle Beehive” Software could be applied to help organize any SM, providing a large group of people with constent updates, greatly increasing communication, and providing software flexibility within the group. Although the above sounds like a wonderful solution to help solve any organization issues a large group of people might have, I feel the solution potentially falls flat when applied to a group of people who are not familiar with computer technology. These groups of people might include senior citizens or individuals with very low incomes and as such they either have no use for or can't afford the technology. Therefore although ICT is able to improve many aspects of a social movement, it perhaps still falls short when trying to aid certain individuals or demographics.
-Dan
