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Information and Communication Technologies have had a powerful impact of many aspects of western industrialised society. With the rise of E-Business and retailing to the social implications of virtual communications, the internet has no doubt changed the way people communicate. An area that has been substantially affected by this technological paradigm shift is political activism. While political activism has been around for some time, the networking of computers has established a world-wide communication sphere which attempts to provoke social, cultural, or political change within the real world (Meikle, 2002, p.4). There are several important issues that are currently surrounding Internet Activism.
The network society has given birth to the theory of digital democracy, which is the use of new media technologies for purposes of enhancing political democracy, such as encouraging participation of citizens in democratic communication (Hacker and Van Dijk, 2000, p.1). This could be in the form of online discussion forums, blogging and virtual communities which allow for a wide range views to be heard and debated and thus creating active political participation in the sense of an informed public sphere (Tsagarousianou, 1998, p.167). Politics Forum is an example of constructive political disucussion.
Alternative Media
has also expanded considerably within the increasing boundaries of the internet. Alternative media are independently owned and managed, cover viewpoints which are not covered sufficiently within mainstream media and are often dissonant in nature, and also have a horizontal non-hierarchal structure allowing for audience interaction (Meikle, 2002, p.60). While first confined to old mediums such as radio (Branwyn, 1997, 215-216) the internet has allowed several campaigns to be gain a world-wide audience.
The Independent Media Centre, B92 , and Guerrilla News Network, have all effectively used the Internet to enable new connections and coalitions, and new horizontal communication flows (Meikile, 2002, p.610).
Tactical media and culture jamming have also been affected by the internet and should not be confused with alternative media. Meikile (2002, p.119) refers to tactical media as being “the critical usage for achieving a variety of specific non-commercial goals and pushing all kinds of potentially subversive political issues� and their characteristics include being “flexible, mobile and responsive to changing contexts�. Culture jamming could be seen as a method used by tactical media activists, using satirical spoof humour to make their statements (Branwyn, 1997, pp.258-268). While beginning as a term used to describing the alteration of billboards or other signs, the internet has allowed many humour campaigns to take place. Such examples are http://www.whitehouse.org/, http://www.deportation-class.com/ , and http://www.gatt.org/ .
Hactivism or electronic civil disobedience is the convergence of computer hacking and politilcal activism. It includes activities such as attacking and brining down certain govenrment or corporate websites, flooding websites with virtual sit-ins, automated e-mail bombs and viruses which will disrupt the targets operations. Since the September 11 (2001) attacks, hactivism has been under critical scrutiny and has been confused with Cyberterrorism, which are actions that are intended to cause serious harm including loss of life (Denning, 2000).
The internet has also been used for the Organisation of Events. While obviously overlapping with other topics the internet has enabled many activists to easily inform people on upcoming political events and rallies. These involve specific websites and mailing lists and are usually local in nature. An example is of Brisbane’s Just Peace network, http://www.justpeaceqld.org/web/index.jsp .
In 1996 when the internet was still quite small the campaign McSpotlight was launched. This website was a form of culture jamming to raise awareness relating to McDonalds exploiting children through advertising, cruelty to animals, and the paying of low wages. This was tremendously successful receiving over 35000 visits in the first day (Meikle, 2002, pp. 77-83). The success caused many more internet campaigns to start up.
Security issues in 1998 were not as concerning as they are today. Flooding software developed by hackers had been used in the Zapatista movement against the Mexican government. Also a British hacker altered 300 political websites and added anti-nuclear messages, which also influenced many other hackers to do the same. These acts caused the security of the internet to be enhanced dramatically (Wray).
The most successful use of the internet as a communication device for political purposes would have to be the creation of the Independent Media Centre websites. Setup in 1999 for coverage of the anti-globalisation protests, The IMC has since grown to having over 300 specialised websites for cities across the world (Meikle, 2002, pp.88-94), (Independent Media Centre, 2004).
The future of Internet Activism and alternative media could well be in the form of this website. As streaming media technologies become more accessible, and the popularity of the website continues to grow, the IMC could well become a serious alternative for everyday news for many everyday people.
The internet is still a New Media Technology even thought it has successfully woven into our everyday lives. One of the most important aspects to remember is that the internet is classed as an “interactive� media rather than a “sit-back� media. This means that the audience is participatory in what they are exposed to, and can also add their own content, being a two-way process (Bruns, 2004). Political activism is important because it helps establish a greater sense of democracy within a society and also puts pressure on governments to respond to important issues. The Internet has basically increased this ability and has also given people who would not normally be associated with these issues a broader understanding and access to differing views. This can inevitably affect voting decisions and therefore increase democracy.
Internet activism can be related to many areas within this encyclopaedia. Wireless technologies have been used in many protests to coordinate movement against police responses (CNN, 2004)). This topic also relates to the development of Virtual Communities. Blogging and online journalism are related to the idea of a digital democracy and an informed public share. Electronic Civil Disobedience or Hactivism relates to issues regarding the security of the internet, and cyber terrorism.
Branwyn, G. (1997) Jamming the media: a citizen’s guide: reclaiming the tools of communication, San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
Bruns, A. (2004, July 26) “The Web and Beyond�, Brisbane: QUT.
CNN (2004, Sep. 2) “The latest protest tool: ‘texting’� retrieved September 4, 2004 from http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/09/02/textmessaging.protest.ap/
Denning, D.E. (2000), “Activism, Hacktivism, and Cyberterrorism: The Internet as a Tool for Influencing Foreign Policy� retrieved August 28, 2004, from http://www.totse.com/en/technology/cyberspace_the_new_frontier/cyberspc.html
Hacker, K.L. and Van Dijk, J. (ed) (2000) Digital Democracy: issues of theory and practice, London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Independent Media Centre (1991), viewed 5 August 2004, <http://www.indymedia.org>
Meikle, G. (2002) Future Active: media activism and the internet, New South Whales: Pluto Press.
Tsagarousianou, R., Tambini, D. and Bryan, C. (ed) (1998) Cyberdemocracy: technology, cities and civic networks, London: Routledge.
Wray, S. “Electronic Civil Disobedience and the World Wide Web of Hactivism� retrieved August 29, 2004, from http://switch.sjsu.edu/web/v4n2/stefan/
Jason Spierings 11:46, 10 Sep 2004 (EST)
