Activism in a Digital World.

'ac·tiv·ism  

n.

The use of direct, often confrontational action, such as a demonstration or strike, in opposition to or support of a cause.' (www.thefreedictionary.com)

Activism has existed for as long as any of us can remember, it is human nature to stand up for what you believe in with a group of like minded people. An example of Student activism is evident in the following video taken of the Tuition Fees protests in 2010. Nick Clegg infamously went back on his promise to dramatically reduce / cut tuition fees, and supported David Cameron in doing the complete opposite.

“Other campaigns have been run by activists using Facebook, Twitter, Second Life and blogs. These range from virtual Union protests against IBM in Second Life to organisation of real world demonstrations. The student protests against tuition fee increases and government cuts were organised on social networking sites. Even the X-Factor’s dominance over the Christmas number one slot has been challenged by digital activism” (http://www.infobo.com/blog/34-news/79-digital-activism-comes-of-age)

My first experience of ‘activism’ was at the age of 13. I was told that I could take the afternoon off school if I joined the march against war in Iraq in Exeter city centre; all I needed was parental permission. Aged 13 I understood very little of the situation and endured about half an hour of the march then scurried off to enjoy an afternoon’s shopping and revel hysterically in rumours about being bombed. Despite my limited involvement I do remember the excitement and buzz in the crowd at standing up for something, the shocking passion with which participants chant and shout their point of view across the hustle and bustle.

This would have been 2003 and to my knowledge was organised mainly through word of mouth. Social media did exist but was not widely recognised or used. This was probably one of the last examples of Activism involving young people where the internet wasn’t heavily utilised.   Having searched Google, the local Exeter paper websites and Youtube I can’t find any material on the event; this just goes to show how undigitalised and recorded events like this were just 8 years ago.

The online world has opened up a myriad of opportunities for anyone to get involved in just about anything. This can be a threat and cause difficult situations for governments an example would be ‘Wikileaks’. The government certainly has a lot to contend with as “censorship and monitoring of the internet and social networking tools opens western governments up to accusations of hypocrisy, given the criticism of censorship in countries like China and Iran.”

‘Slacktivism’ (Feder, 2002) “is an apt term to describe feel-good online activism that has zero political or social impact....” "Slacktivism" is the ideal type of activism for a lazy generation: why bother with sit-ins and the risk of arrest, police brutality, or torture if one can be as loud campaigning in the virtual space? Given the media's fixation on all things digital -- from blogging to social networking to Twitter -- every click of your mouse is almost guaranteed to receive immediate media attention, as long as it's geared towards the noble causes. That media attention doesn't always translate into campaign effectiveness is only of secondary importance.”http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/19/the_brave_new_world_of_slacktivism

This phenomenon is definitely evident and I do believe it means there is less real activism occurring.  People are adapting to the online world and the ease of just about EVERYTHING is normality. However it’s important to remember that through history there have always been people who have chosen not to get involved, these people are possibly the ones ‘lazily’ involving themselves through online activity today. 


 Online activity does enable lazy involvement but without it organisation and planning would be much more time consuming and it would be difficult to get people together. Take the recent happenings in Egypt for example, technology played a huge role in this.

 As a result, there is a negative side to Digital Activism but I believe it helps more than it hinders. 

Privacy; moral panic of the information age

In this rapidly changing technological context, individuals, institutions, and governments will be forced to re-examine core values, beliefs, laws, and social structures if their understandings of autonomy, privacy, justice, community, and democracy are to continue to have meaning” (Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age Waldo, Lin, Millett 2007)


Privacy is one of the most talked about moral panics of the information age...


“How do you know that?” “Because it’s all over facebook!”. In the past few years the majority of our knowledge about other people and events has come from online and social media.

Privacy is a thing of the past, with the youth of today unaware that it was ever normality. As Mark Zuckerberg said in January 2010 “People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people” (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/6966628/Facebooks-Mark-Zuckerberg-says-privacy-is-no-longer-a-social-norm.html)

 Digitalisation has revolutionised many professions; Journalism is an example of a job that social media had changed immensely. No longer is it imperative to be the first one on the scene, instead computer skills are needed to weed out any information available on social networking sites.


“Whether it is the latest celebrity gossip, candid shots or getting pictures of the latest car crash victim, journalists in newsrooms around the world are now scouring social networking sites for their stories. But questions are being raised about whether the increasingly standard practice of Facebook journalism is an ethical one.


Facebook places the responsibility for privacy firmly on their users by allowing users to determine who can see what information they list on their profile. Facebook’s privacy policy warns users to be aware of what information they post on Facebook as “this information may become publicly available”. (http://www.newsphobia.net/?p=25)


As always there are two sides to this debate, one enables the journalist but compromises the subjects’ privacy while the other means a less detailed but fairer story.

A tragic scenario that I recall, where this debate is particularly relevant, was that of an Exeter uni student dying after excessive drinking in a bar crawl in 2006. He had just started university and was taking part in the night as part of an initiation to the golf society.


“Gavin Britton's body, dressed in fancy dress, was found slumped in a street”


(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-419496/Student-drunk-death-pub-crawl.html#ixzz1GZn1OG5O)


Around the time of this tragic event; Facebook privacy settings were less strict and as a result journalists pounced on his pictures and wall posts. As a student myself I am aware that drinking is a very normal part of the university experience, I am also aware that the pictures one has on their Facebook, Myspace and Bebo pages do NOT reflect reality as they are nearly all taken on nights out or special events.


Journalists on this case failed to acknowledge this though; plastering pictures of the teen downing shots across the press and online; labeling him as a drunk, party animal and referencing a quote from his Myspace “If you’re not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space", (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-419496/Student-drunk-death-pub-crawl.html) most likely done in a bid to create more public uproar surrounding binge drinking. We all know no one writes “I love staying in and studying” on their profiles. Yes, this was a horrific occurrence which could have been avoided but the same activities are happening all over the world every night. This example illustrates how an undoubtedly wholesome normal teenager’s life was taken away due to alcohol; but far worse than that – as a result of journalism, he will always be remembered as dying in an undignified manner.

 “Death amongst teenagers has also been caught up in social networking debates. The copycat suicides of seven young people in a Welsh town have sparked fears of an internet death cult.” (http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Sky-News-Archive/Article/20080641301942) In 2008 7 people from the same area in Wales all connected via Bebo, hung themselves in a copycat suicide mission. “Internet memorial sites for the dead have also been created, leading police to fear they wanted to achieve "fame".


Social networking sites increasingly stay active after the owner dies; kept going with tribute wall posts and tags. I personally think this is disrespectful and cheapens the death in a way. However I have recently learned that although you can shut down your Facebook account it never goes for good...so without knowing it, we’re all destined to live through our Facebook profiles forever?

PP

“In order to exist, a brand must be known; not necessarily by everyone, but in every event by those who are likely to buy its products. For this to occur, it must be placed in all the strategic locations that will enable it to connect with this potential audience.” (Lehu, 2007)

The 28^th of February saw the lift of the ban on Product Placement in the UK.

Edouard Manet - Une bar un Folies-Bergere (1881) oil painting is one of the first examples of product 

placement. Although it was never explicitly stated; the bottles on the bar are replicas of ‘Bass Beer’.

Product Placement as a marketing tool has come a long way since then and has been legal in many countries for some time.

 Britain has stayed out of it but has recently made a u- turn; lifting the ban in order to “throw a lifeline to struggling ITV and other independent broadcasters who would be able to boost their advertising revenues” (Telegraph)

Ben Bradshaw (Culture Secretary) spoke when the plans were announced, stating; "To the critics of our regulatory structure I ask the simple question: if regulation were a problem in itself, how is it our media market is amongst the most successful in the world? It is because we have got the right balance between public and private. We have stayed ahead of the game and, as our Digital Britain plans show, we are determined to maximise the future potential of the broadcasting industry."

It seems the government believe Product Placement will bring a boost to our broadcasting industry that it clearly needs to enable it to fund better programmes.

I think when product placement is done properly it can work well in associating positive connotations to a product and subtly creating brand awareness. However when it’s overdone it can reflect negatively on the products and the programme it’s shown in.

Gossip Girl is an example of a US series which uses extensive product placement.

The most obvious deals I’ve noticed are with Vitamin Water, Microsoft, Blackberry, Bing and Samsung. In one episode recently a character actually said “just bing it”, which I think sounded very unnatural and 

obviously paid for.

Music videos are another medium in which a huge amount of paid for placement is used. See how many products you can spot in the first minute of this one?!

I’m not sure whether I find these instances so obvious becuase I study Advertising; so on a subconscious level am looking for them. However I do feel that when Product Placement is overdone it does have a tendency to ruin the credibility of films/soaps,dramas/music videos when it feels so set up.hOhO

All we can do now is watch and wait to see how it works out for us in Britain....