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Mobile Activism:

FromSwarms to Political Change


Dr Madanmohan Rao
Editor, The Asia-Pacific Internet Handbook
Research Projects Director, MobileMonday
Consultant, AMIC
http://twitter.com/MadanRao
Media and Politics
19
th
century telegram: Peccavi "I have sinned (Sindh)
1979: Khomeinis cassette tapes in Iran
CNN and the Gulf War (1990-1991)
2001: Philippines and deposing of Estrada (SMS)
The 2003 Iraq war and the Internet (second superpower)
2011: Mobiles and social media in Tunisia, Egypt
Agenda
Recent developments: mobile phones, social
media and political change
View from Asia
Frameworks for understanding and mapping
converging new media
Points to ponder
Points to Ponder
Where does technology end and media begin?
Where does private end and public begin?
Where do swarms end and social movements
begin?
Where does news end and where does
knowledge begin?
Base and Trigger Factors
Youth
Urban
Socio-political sentiments
New media penetration
New media consumption/creation patterns
What's most important about the future is that it is
for the masses, not the elite.
Eric Schmidt
CEO, Google
(Mobile World Congress, Barcelona; 2011)
Twitter is more than micro-blogging; it reduces the
gap between awareness and engagement.
Dick Costolo
CEO, Twitter
(Mobile World Congress, Barcelona; 2011)
New Media and Socio-Political Change
Consumer empowerment, citizen empowerment
Counseling for victims of substance abuse, violence,
social taboos
Neighbourhood safety
Civic reporting
Political freedoms
BoP media, crowdsourcing, crowdfunding
Rise of social media phenomenon; but vulnerabilities of
youth
New Media in Asia
Consumer/citizen base is active!
Companies: not yet optimising social media
Governments: cautious
Asia is different from the West yet similar?
Asian countries: not yet cooperating
Passive => active engagement
Convergence: Web + social media + mobile
Sense of urgency: disaster reporting and relief
From Usenet to Web 1.0 to Web 2.0:
The pendulum has swung back to activists!
Generation 1
Content, not Conversation
Generation 2
Invite conversation
Generation 3
Join their conversation
Mobile + Social Media: User Activities
Level I: filter, rate, tag, relay
Level II: social profiling, social networking
Level III: remix, modify, mashup
Level IV: compose original content, applications
Level V: collaboratively create content,
applications
Level VI: online + offline (eg. tweetups)
Online User Behaviour: Sociology 2.0
Lurkers
Predators
Spammers
Trawlers
Thought leaders
Advisors
Fixers
Provocateurs
The 8 Cs of the Digital Age
Connectivity
Content
Community
Culture
Capacity
Cooperation
Commerce
Capital
The 8 Cs of The Digital Age
Connectivity
Connectivity, bandwidth, devices, platform, interfaces,
standards, portals
Content
News, information, databases, feeds;
media/businesses/government/citizen
Community
Group dynamics, evolution of communities, support
Culture
Trust, support, openness to change
The 8 Cs of the Digital Age
Capacity
Skills, talent, organisational support, training, HR, processes,
lawmaking
Cooperation
Between citizens, industry, government, academia, NGOs,
external institutes
Commerce
E-commerce/M-commerce provisions, regulation
Capital
Investments in ICT infrastructure, RoI metrics
Dimensions of Digital Media
ICTs as an Instrument
Providing affordable access to ICTs, local language
content/tools, sectoral benefits (news, education,
healthcare, environment, business, government)
ICTs as an Industry
Boosting digital content industries, venture capital,
stockmarkets, technical skills, regulation, global
alliances
Classification of Internet Environments in Asia
Restrictive eg. Myanmar
Embryonic eg. Afghanistan
Emerging eg. Nepal
Negotiating eg. China
Intermediate eg. India
Mature eg. Australia
Advanced eg. J apan, South Korea
Internet and Social Change:
Top Ten Impact Areas
Disaster reporting and relief
Human rights, freedom of expression
Healthcare (epidemics/pandemics)
Poverty alleviation
Improving education, environment
Social inclusion, access to capital
Connecting diaspora
Cultural preservation
Government transparency, accountability
Enhancing private sector, SMEs, informal labour
Mobile Media Impacts: Converging Theories
Mass media
Telecom
Political communications and organisation
Social media
Mass Media Theories
Cultivation
Gatekeepers
Structural flows of international news
Agenda-setting
Telecom Theories
Power of the network is proportional to the
number of members
Correlations/causations between
telecom/broadband density and GDP
Political Communication and Activism
Propaganda
Influence
Framing, de-coding
Mobilisation, confrontation
Foreign factor
Social Media
Manuel Castells: two-way mass self-
communication
Compressor/accelerator/catalyst/amplifier
Tipping point
The New Media Mix
Group-based v/s open communications (Facebook v/s
Twitter)
Converging technologies
Mesh-based networks (non-centralised)
Connecting technologies (international-dialup)
Bridging apps: Google+Twitter+SayNow: Speak to
Tweet
Partnering services: Small World News: Alive in Egypt
(Arabic-English translation)
Mobile Activism
NGO Breakthrough in Bangalore has SMS
HIV/AIDS helpline for answering queries; also
domestic violence
Suruk.com offers SMS-based info/rating services
for autorickshaw (tuktuk) drivers
Greenpeace: SMS to raise funds (India), monitor
forest destruction (Argentina), send climate
alerts (Australia)
Metrics
Technology/activity metrics
Process metrics
Knowledge metrics
People metrics
Organisational metrics
Metrics
Quantitative metrics
Semi-quantitative metrics
Qualitative metrics
madan@techsparks.com
http://twitter.com/MadanRao

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