Mobile phones, social media and political change View from Asia. Where does technology end and media begin? where do "swarms" end and "social movements" begin? What's most important about the future is that it is for the masses, not the elite?
Mobile phones, social media and political change View from Asia. Where does technology end and media begin? where do "swarms" end and "social movements" begin? What's most important about the future is that it is for the masses, not the elite?
Mobile phones, social media and political change View from Asia. Where does technology end and media begin? where do "swarms" end and "social movements" begin? What's most important about the future is that it is for the masses, not the elite?
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