SIP 4: Two views of social change and activism
Objectives for this project: Consider how technology, and in particular, social media has influenced the way people organize and protest online. Analyze the ways in which protest movements are the same and/or are different in the “digital age.” Use this as a springboard to discuss how contemporary technology, and in particular, hashtags, influences methods of political organizing/protest and social change.
Background on the two speakers:
Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep on Twitter): assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill at at the School of Information and Library Science, writes regularly about technology and particularly about how it relates to collective action. Contributor for the New York Times
Mark Anthony Neal: (@newblackman) Professor of African & African American Studies and the founding director of the Center for Arts, Digital Culture and Entrepreneurship (CADCE) at Duke University
Videos to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo2Ai7ESNL8
Articles to read:
Earl, J. (2016). ‘Slacktivism’ that works: ‘Small Changes’ matter. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/slacktivism-that-works-small-changes-matter-69271
Making Connections: the Big Picture: Social Media and Social Change: A Match Made in Heaven from chapter 21 in your OpenStax ebook.
https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/1-2-the-history-of-sociology
Part 1: Compare/Contrast Tufekci and Neal: Use attached sheet (“chart for Part 1” posted beneath the link to SIP4) to fill out and upload into Moodle, labeled “Part 1”. If you have trouble filling out the PDF, then you can create your own chart or write it out. Be sure to fill in every blank/category, especially the Comments column. You can take/upload photos of this chart, if you need to do this separately.
Part 2: Reflection paper, numbered, to be uploaded into Moodle as “Part 2”.
1. Each of these speakers (in the videos) compares contemporary, digitally-mediated protest with “traditional” protest. What do they say (summarizing or applying what you put in your chart)? What do you think about it, citing from any points made by either speaker that you find most compelling?
2. What are the effects or results of using these tools and online environments for digital protests/gains?
3. What do you think the influence is of social media in propelling social movements?
4. What are the main points of interest in the Earl article? Are there instances in which you have engaged in online activism, by clicking on something or “liking” it or retweeting it? Explain and make connections to the Earl article.
5. Consider one of the major social movements of the twentieth century, from civil rights in the United States to Gandhi’s nonviolent protests in India. How would technology have changed it? Would change have come more quickly or more slowly? Defend your opinion.
6. Describe a social movement in the decline stage. What is its issue? Why has it reached this stage?
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Objectives for this project: Con appeared first on Skilled Papers.