Human in the Net

online activism without getting strung

up in tech © Reuters

http://hci.stanford.edu/jheer/projects/vizster/

http://yan.me/dium/sharism

Computers don't fix the world.

We do.

'techno-utopianism'

'technological determinism'

"...not only young people in the Muslim world, but young people across theworld are increasingly disconnected from authority, from government,from all kinds of institutions that have been historically thefoundations of society, because they are so interconnected through theinternet, something that my generation can’t really understand."

"...when you think about the power of this information connection to youngpeople, I don’t think it should cause panic in people my age. I don’tthink we should begin trying to stop it and prevent it. We ought tofigure out how better to utilize it. You go back to the millennia; howwere values passed around? Sitting around a fire, how were valuescommunicated? In the homes by parents and grandparents. Now, values arebeing communicated by the internet, and we cannot stop it. Solet’s figure out how better to use it, participate in it, andparticularly to focus on the needs of young people. They’re oftenlooking for information. They’re looking for answers." ——Hillary Clinton, Jan. 21, 2010

So what works and where to begin?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/02/19/iran-cyber-islamic-militarism-on-the-march/

in many cases, illiberal (or worse) discourse goes unquestioned; this online social fabric can be reconstituted. The space needs to be filled.

@CN4Iran

#CN4Iran

http://www.cn4iran.org/

A primary human rights issue indirectly receiving mainstream media exposure

•incomprehensible•very few Chinese have independent blogs•Streisand Effect; CCP paints itself into a corner on this one ("harmonization")

•lack of clear focus ("government transparency")•barriers to access (bit.ly and twitpic.com)•English 'Tweets' really turn people off; high deterrence factor

http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/03/un-backs-out-of-virtual-protest-against-internet-censorship.ars

Participaction

One simple but effective way to get human rights information online in a way that 'netizens' will be able to process, share, and interact with.

http://taksim.bobiler.org/?lang=e

Visualize Dissent: Turkish Users Protest Censorship Using Google Mapshttp://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/visualize_dissent_turkish_users_protest_censorship.php

http://threatened.globalvoicesonline.org/

http://votereport.in/

http://www.aliveinafghanistan.org/

http://www.sokwanele.com/map/all_breachesMapping the election conditions in Zimbabwe

http://labs.aljazeera.net/warongaza/War on Gaza

China Freedom Map 1.0http://bit.ly/fkooA

China Freedom Map 2.0https://freedomap.com/

http://www.digiactive.org/map.htm

1. What issues can be mapped?2. Where would the data come from and who would post it?3. How would you expect the project to develop (challenges, obstacles, next stages)?

Internet addicts aren't the only group of people being subjected to electroshock therapy, but they're certainly the loudest.

"It is the future battlegrounds that Human Rights supporters should be identifying and occupying, not wasting valuable time and energy re-fighting old wars."——Professor Conor Gearty

"Can Human Rights Survive?", Oxford University Press, 2006