1. SIOBHAN MCGUINNESS

2. • SOCIOLOGICAL BACKGROUND: how it all started
and who started it!
• Evolution of ideas and the impacts made to a
global community.
• The global community versus the local
community.
• Focus: UCD Student Union.
• Discussion: Technology as a instrument for
change? Technology + Society = Change?
• Do we see that the political change was already
going to happen?
• Goes further then politics, human rights issues,
environmental disasters.

3. • Andrew Feenberg’s Critical theory of technology.
• Technology is an “instrument”.
• As a powerful instrument is can enhance domination
over social groups.
• Through this instrument society can adapt it’s needs in
order to become a freer society.
• To understand that society has been given this powerful
tool so that change can be made in a political way.
• New technologies have devised this apparatus, so that
society can use it to alter the way society operates.
• The examples looked to;
• 2003 anti war protests which then 8 years later in
• 2010 to the Arab Spring and
• The Obama presidential candidacy 2008 and 2012.

4. “Community”
New technologies have challenged the concept of community from
a local aspect.
Political campaigns at a local level still use the traditional methods
of door to door canvasing, and local newspaper profiles, along with
community contributions.
However as an every increasing young generation will spend more
time online, others ways have been developed.
Politicians have since incorporated social media sites into their
campaign strategies, with various local issues being posted on
their Facebook pages and finding the old tradition of “word-of
mouth” for people to “like” the politician's page and get people
together.
Example of this is seen on Cllr. Gary Wyse a politician in Waterford
made his status shared with OVER 1,000 and gathered a march last
week in Waterford with an attendance of 15,000 over Waterford
Hospital.

5.  Political campaign in America: Obama versus
in 2004 McCain and 2012 campaign with
Romney.
• On Twitter, Obama has more than 21 million followers, while Romney trails with 1.6
million.
• On Facebook, more than 31.5 million people have “liked” the president’s page, while
11.5 million have “liked” Romney’s.
• On YouTube, Obama has about 233,000 followers, while Romney has just 21,000.
• According to Feenberg and Barardjieva (2004): use of online groups for political
involvement in Western societies has actual “NOT had a large scale democratizing
consequences that they envisioned” (2004:40).
• Is this all we have?
• Can it develop anymore?
• How much change can these communication technologies make?
• When is “Gangnam Style” going to beat Bieber at 801,678,056 views!

6. CLOSER TO HOME: UCD STUDENT UNION REPRESENTATIVES:
Here the representatives completed a questionnaire where I asked for usage in social
networking sites (SNS), Facebook and Twitter prior to the election campaign and
after.
The following stats showed that:
• Increase in Facebook was: 40%, due to various election campaigns over the years.
• Additional use with other social media tools was an overall yes, with added
connections through TWITTER and LinkedIn through political campaign’s.
• To gain employment there was an overall majority of using these social media
tools to gain access to various employers.
• Problems with using these has been many with clashing views and people using
your ideas to challenge other friends that were not affiliated with the political
campaign or vice versa.

7.  Communication: theory and analysis.
 How technology has become a medium for
society.
 Local level spread of change collaboration of
community.
 Global level shift in ideological direction.
 UCD/ OBAMA.

8. HOW EASY IS IT TO VOICE YOUR OPINIONS
THROUGH THESE COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGIES?
IS THIS THE REASON IT IS WORKING?
EQUAL VOICE: NO CLASS, NO RELIGION, NO
NATIONALITY, NO COLOUR.
DID OBAMA WIN BECAUSE OF THE AMOUNT OF
FB FOLLOWERS?