Social media in conflict situations - Ushahidi, Twitter and More

Social Media in Conﬂict Situations
-
Ushahidi, Twitter and More

IIJ Summer Academy 2010
August 18, 2010
Berlin

ms@immateriblog.de
Twitter: @spielkamp

...certainly the earliest after dinner
lecture I've ever delivered - but:

...'post-culinary
depression'...

Shirky vs. Morozov:
The showdown

in the blue corner
‣ defending champion
‣ New York City, New York

‣ born in the United States of America
‣ 6 books

‣ numerous articles in international papers
‣ under contract by New York University

in the red corner
‣ contender
‣ from Washington, DC

‣ born in Belarus
‣ 1 (forthcoming) book

‣ numerous articles in international papers
‣ under contract by George Washington University

Do "Social Media"further democracy -
or do they help authoritarian regimes?

The 'Twitter Revolution'

BBC
How Iran's political battle is fought in cyberspace


BBC

Time Magazine
Iran Protests: Twitter, the Medium of the Movement


BBC

Time Magazine
Iran Protests: Twitter, the Medium of the Movement

Washington Post
Iran Elections: A Twitter Revolution?

cartoon removed for copyright reasons, available here:
http://0.tqn.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/y/m/2/stop-or-tweet.gif

Shirky
"Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing
Without Organization"

Shirky

Hypothesis:

Shirky

Hypothesis:
The Internet and social media help synchronizing a
politically engaged public -

Shirky

Hypothesis:
The Internet and social media help synchronizing a
politically engaged public -
and this, in itself, is politcal and furthers
democratisation.

Morozov
"How Dictators Learned to Stop Worrying and Love
the Web" (January 2011)

Morozov

Hypothesis:

Morozov

Hypothesis:
Authoritarian regimes can adjust their methods of
governance to Internet communication -

Morozov

Hypothesis:
Authoritarian regimes can adjust their methods of
governance to Internet communication -
and at times work 'better' (more effectively) with it
than ever before.

The Minsk Flash Mobs
image removed for copyright reasons, available here:
http://www.spokesman.com/photos/2010/jul/16/109917/

‣ started in March 2006, a day after the violent
dispersal of the opposition's peaceful rally in Minsk
‣ goal: to 'peacefully express one's point of view on
what's going on in the country'
‣ several ﬂash mob activities have been carried out
in Minsk

Shirky: 'I think that the thing that's worth ﬁghting
for here is the ability of citizens within a country to
communicate with one another, and I remain
convinced that that will have political ramiﬁcations. I
think that to the degree that citizens can
communicate with each other, that actually matters
much more than access to information, or than
communication with the outside world. What we
should be worrying about is freedom of speech,
lower case "f", lower case "s", not as a political
right, but as just a daily capability.'

Morozov: 'My biggest problem with these
ﬂashmobbing kids in Belarus was that they had
erroneously thought that the Internet presents an
entirely new way of doing politics. They thought
that they would build up and operate a fully virtual
movement, that they would not need to bother with
the dirty and bloody business of opposing a
dictator, a business that often entails harassments of
all kinds, as well as bloodshed, intimidation,
expulsion from universities. Let's not kid ourselves:
that's what being in an opposition in authoritarian
country entails. It's never a pretty picture.'

'So I do fear that some of these kids thought that
the Internet offered a nice shortcut that would allow
them to meaningfully challenge the dictator without
having to go through any of that unpleasant stuff.
They thought they could just blog the dictatorship
away.'

1st Round: Morozov 10 - Shirky 8

2008 Sichuan Earthquake (China)

‣ some 7.000 schools collapsed

‣ some 7.000 schools collapsed
‣ some 10.000 children dead

Mothers coordinate via web to protest

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/06/03/c4.jpg

Chinese ofﬁcials sacked over handling of
earthquake

The Guardian, June 23, 2008

Shirky: 'the ﬁrst time the Chinese government has
faced a radicalized population who had no
preexisting coordination'

Morozov: Will governments 'be able to adapt to
this environment by engaging in new ways of
propaganda? By selectively manipulating who gets
to cover which story?'

Example of Chinese man dying in police custody in
Yunnan Province

Yunnan Province
‣ public protest, organised over Internet

Yunnan Province

‣15 'netizen investigators' appointed, looked at the
prison, wrote an inconclusive report

Yunnan Province

‣ 15 'netizen investigators' appointed, looked at the
prison, wrote an inconclusive report
‣ Story died, it later came out most of the 15 were
current or former employees of state media

Sichuan earthquake activist to stay in jail for ﬁve
years

The Telegraph, June 9, 2010

2nd Round: Morozov 10 - Shirky 8

Iran
Shirky: there was a cause-and-effect situation

Iran
Morozov: there was a synchronicity of events. But:

Iran
Morozov: there was a synchronicity of events. But:

'How many completely uninitiated protests have
actually engaged with the real world because of
something they had read on Twitter or Facebook?'

Neda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Neda_non_graphic.jpg

Neda
Shirky: Social media have a coordinating effect;
things would not have happened without them

Neda
Morozov: 'despite millions of angry tweets and
cellphone cameras pointed at their faces, the
Iranian government still cracked down on the
protesters'

Neda
Morozov: 'despite millions of angry tweets and
cellphone cameras pointed at their faces, the
Iranian government still cracked down on the
protesters'

cartoon removed for copyright reasons, available here:
http://0.tqn.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/y/m/2/stop-or-
tweet.gif

What are the results?
Shirky: Yes, but there are still changes:
'I believe that the Green Uprising altered the
balance between the theocracy and the military
aspects of the Iranian government. [...] it seems to
me that one of the effects, paradoxical and sad, of
the Green Uprising, is that it has pushed Iran into
being an essentially military power.'

Morozov: Agreed. But these kinds of changes are
much more complex and have multiple causes -

Morozov: Agreed. But these kinds of changes are
much more complex and have multiple causes -
take the example of the smuggled Xerox machines
in Poland: 'they may not have been all that
important, for it was the fundamental economic
unsustainability of communism that precipitated its
collapse.'

3rd Round: Morozov 9 - Shirky 9

Final Score after Three Rounds

Not a knock-out, but Morozov wins on points (29 vs.
Shirky's 25)

Not a knock-out, but Morozov wins on points (29 vs.
Shirky's 25)
What's your score?

Thank you!
images under Creative Commons licenses:
slide 04: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kplawver/481666069/sizes/l/in/photostream/
slide 07: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/1397946225/sizes/l/in/photostream/
slide 09: http://www.flickr.com/photos/re-publica/4520673288/sizes/l/in/photostream/
slide 16: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dci/243722737/sizes/z/in/photostream/
slide 52: http://www.flickr.com/photos/remkotanis/3251729749/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Matthias Spielkamp
www.immateriblog.de (in German)
ms@immateriblog.de
Twitter: @spielkamp

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