Posts tagged activism

Likes Don’t Save Lives

UNICEF Sweden has a new ad campaign reminding people that while social media Likes are nice, what they really need is money to fund their vaccination campaigns.

As The Verge points out, “Facebook likes aren’t treated as currency in other commercial venues, so they shouldn’t be equated with charitable donations.”

And via The Atlantic:

In the beginning, organizations wanted you to like the heck out of their Facebook pages. Why? You know, community-building, awareness-raising, general “engagement”-upping…

…But one thing clicking “like” doesn’t do is, say, get malaria nets to African villages or boost funding for charity groups. And now that Facebook is nearly 9 years old and Twitter is 7, we’re seeing the inevitable backlash against social-media “slacktivism.”

Back to The Verge:

The campaign, created by ad agency Forsman & Bodenfors, takes a rather bold stance against the awareness campaigns that often spread across Facebook and other social media platforms. UNICEF officials acknowledge that such efforts can help introduce issues to a wider audience, though they fear that for most users, the action stops with the click of a button. To further stress this point, UNICEF Sweden released a bold poster alongside the video clips, saying that every like it receives on Facebook will result in exactly zero vaccinations.

That’s not to say “slacktivists” are a bad thing. Liking, sharing and reblogging do serve their purpose in bringing issues to a wider audience. But then what?

Last year, The Atlantic notes, Zeynep Tufekci, a sociology professor and a fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society, had this to say:

What is called commonly called slacktivism is not at all about “slacking activists;” rather it is about non-activists taking symbolic action—often in spheres traditionally engaged only by activists or professionals (governments, NGOs, international institutions.). Since these so-called “slacktivists” were never activists to begin with, they are not in dereliction of their activist duties. On the contrary, they are acting, symbolically and in a small way, in a sphere that has traditionally been closed off to “the masses” in any meaningful fashion.

The goal then for those working in social media is to simultaneously help the “slacktivist” set help you by building out ambient awareness of an issue through the messaging you create, while also giving activists and more consistently loyal proponents direct calls to action be it donations, volunteerism, network building, etc.

Meantime, if you’re moved to Like a cause, consider volunteering your time and/or other resources to it as well.

The other two commercials in UNICEF’s campaign can be viewed at The Verge. — Michael

Child Marriage: South Sudan

humanrightswatch:

This visually stunning short film tells the story of child marriage in South Sudan. According to government statistics, close to half (48 percent) of South Sudanese girls between 15 and 19 are married, with some marrying as young as age 12.

Read more after the jump.

FJP: Chilling. “This girl is the property of the family… If she still refuses [to get married], we will beat her and force her to get married.

Citizen Journalism Outfitters in Cairo Succeed in Crowdfunding Campaign

An Egyptian “media collective” called Mosireen, which trains journalists and activists in the Cairo area, successfully finished its crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.

From an interview with the collective’s leader, Salma Said, posted at The Lede:

The activists initially came together to build an archive of clips documenting the street protests of early 2011, Ms. Said said, but then, struck by the lack of independent reporting on the post-Mubarak government, they began to make their own reports, often incorporating video recorded on phones. Given that the airwaves were still dominated by state channels that were loath to broadcast any critical reports on the country’s new rulers, the Mosireen activists staged a series of public screenings of video that challenged official accounts of clashes, like the claim that the security forces only used force against “thugs,” not peaceful protesters.

With it, they’ll continue to screen films, train journalists, and do archival work. See their videos, taken by those they’ve trained in workshops, on YoutTube or in Cairo.

Web App Demands a “Democracy without Secrets”

Nulpunt, meaning zero in Dutch, is a web app that aggregates public government documents and allows registered users to rifle through them by topic, comment on sections of interest, and share their investigations over social media. Its a Dutch entity that only covers the Dutch government.

FJP: Elsewhere in Europe, the free-access movement is spreading. Earlier this week, the British government announced that all publicly funded scientific research will be made free and available to everyone by 2014. Yesterday, the EU made a similar initiative, which lays the groundwork for other member nations to follow suit.

Networked Activism

In early June Yochai Benkler spoke at the Personal Democracy Forum about the political power of networked activism.

Drawing on the campaign against the proposed SOPA and PIPA copyright and intellectual property laws, he describes the influential nodes (eg., TechDirt and the Electronic Frontier Foundation) that drove awareness and action on the issues. 

Important to the discussion is how radicalized media environments and information systems have changed the way politics, policies and democracy works.

A “loose” transcription comes from OpenCongress:

The networked public sphere is composed of layers. There are the traditional media organizations and they continue to play a role, but interestingly, in this dimension they are not in a privileged position. They are complemented by blogs that allow particularly engaged & knowledgeable individuals… to play substantial roles. We see the tech media, not at all political, playing a critical role. We see traditional NGOs also playing a large role as info brokers & sources of education, and amazingly enough, over 3 dozen special purpose action sites that are set up specifically to find a way to block the legislation… one or two of them stick, and they move forward, and they stop this piece of legislation.

Together creating a tapestry that is in fact the nature of the networked public sphere. No, not everyone is a pamphleteer, but we’re also not falling off a cliff. What you see is a complex relationship between NGOS & commercial organizations, between V.C.’s & activists, b/w traditional media & online media, between political media left & right and tech media, all weaving together a model of actually looking, learning, mobilizing for action, and blocking [SOPA]. This, ideally, is the shape of the networked public sphere.

Recommended Bonus: If you haven’t read it and are interested in how peer production and the information economy works, how the Internet can (and should) reimagine property and the commons, and how all this affects personal freedoms, read Benklar’s The Wealth of Networks (PDF). It’s simply one of the, if not the, most important books on these topics. There’s also an an ever evolving Wiki that you can dive into too.

Run Time: ~16:00.

I VOTE for Women

In 2008, over 51% of 18 to 29-year-olds voted in the US presidential elections. While numbers are usually down across the board during midterms, in 2010, youth voter turnout dropped to 24%.

To counter that and get young people back to the voting booth, a pending nonprofit called I VOTE has launched an issues-based media campaign to demonstrate that people can affect change on the issues they care about. It really comes down to voting.

The appeal here is different by a level of degree than traditional get out the vote campaigns. Instead of appealing to a sense of “civic duty,” I VOTE is attempting to engage people on issues of importance as a gateway to further political involvement and actual voting. Call it an appeal to enlightened self interest: vote because you give a damn.

The video above focuses on women’s health and was directed by Jessica Sanders, an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker.

In the Q&A below, I VOTE founder Haroon “Boon” Saleem talks about his vision for this election season and beyond. — Michael

FJP: What is I VOTE and what is it trying to accomplish?
Boon Saleem: I VOTE is a pending non-profit organization that will produce, acquire and disseminate high-quality, youth-issue based viral campaigns for the 2012 election cycle and beyond.

Specifically, the “I VOTE” campaign will highlight issues that will spur 18-35 year olds to the polls in November — civil rights, jobs, the environment, women’s self-determination, wealth inequality, education, healthcare, and above all, holding government accountable for protecting our future. The multi-platform campaign will utilize social networking, online video spots, organizational partnerships, and cultural creation to funnel the youth into America’s tried and true tool for change: the vote.

FJP: How is it different than other get out the vote campaigns?
Boon: What differentiates I VOTE from current run-of-the-mill campaigns is the quality of the content. The co-creators of I VOTE have worked at the juncture of entertainment and activism and have a particularized knowledge of youth oriented engagement (concerts, comedy shows, debate watch parties, art gallery auctions). There is no group of individuals with a stronger track record of outreach, engagement and activation of 18-35 demographic. Traditional campaigns/politicos simply do not speak in the parlance of the youth. We do.

FJP: Is it partisan?
Boon:I VOTE is proudly non-partisan. We are guided not by political ideology but by American Optimism.

FJP: What is its media strategy and how does reflect I VOTE’S mission?
Boon: The lynchpin of I VOTE is a digital and mobile strategy focused on communicating with the 18-35 target demo through viral videos/PSAs and interactive social media. We will then leverage technology to share the content and promote a two-way dialogue with young voters, inviting them to add their story to the movement using video, photos, blog posts, and tweets.

We will establish this dialogue by tapping into an extensive nationwide network of A-List creatives to produce fresh, original content that resonates with younger voters. Filmmakers, actors, photographers, and musicians, both established and cutting edge, will lend their talents to give voice to the issues facing the youth in 2012.

FJP: What do you hope to accomplish by the 2012 elections, and then what do you want to accomplish afterwards?
Boon: We aim to engage, unify, and motivate the youth aged 18-35 to turn out in November at the same level they did in 2008. We know this will not be achieved by brow-beating them over civic duty - it will only be accomplished by building a cultural groundswell that makes them want to vote.

Moving beyond Election Day, I VOTE as an organization will sustain robust levels of youth political engagement. By continuing to marry fresh creative content with innovative outreach to like-minded individuals, organizations & NGO’s, I VOTE will evolve to fit the issue-based needs of the day, ensuring that the youth culture develops into a dependable activist force — one that participates in the political process every single day instead of every four years.

BONUS: Aren’t registered? You can do so quickly via TurboVote, a nonprofit that uses technology to increase civic engagement.