Internet and Social Movements

As we move through this course and discuss the many ways that the Internet affects our lives, it is becoming more and more transparent just how interconnected my life is with the Internet. In my last blog I spoke about social interaction on the Internet. More specifically, I discussed social networking sites and relationship development. It is clear that one of the strengths of the Internet, and social networking sites for example, is the ability to link and connect people who are spread out geographically. These individuals come together for different periods of time and for many different reasons but the Internet has been the tool that allows for this to happen. Today, I’d like to extend the discussion by taking a look at how the Internet has become a very popular tool for activism.

In the article “International Plug ‘n Play?” Ronald J. Deibert discusses how the latest change to politics has been the rise of citizen networks which “among the many factors responsible for their emergence are new communication technologies and in particular the World Wide Web.” The reach of these citizen networks has been significant as Deibert quotes “…linked through the Internet across state borders, the tentacles of these citizen networks have begun to infiltrate nearly every major international political issue-area, from security to human rights to governance of the global economy.” Just as with every other aspect of our lives in which the Internet is now taking part in, there are both positive and negative views about the role of the Internet and politics. Some of these include the ability to reach many people spread out geographically which in turn allows people to have more power and authority in political affairs. However, this is a benefit only for those people who have access to these technologies (i.e., to ICTs) and this type of activism definitely enhances their ability to participate and to be heard. However, I believe that one of the main drawbacks of activism on the Internet is that it excludes all those (which are many as discussed in readings about the Digital Divide) who don’t have access and will never be able to participate online. Clearly one solution for this is to ensure that activism happens both on and off-line and I think that this happening. Just like with relationship building, I think the Internet is being used to supplement and to enhance political activism but does not stand alone. I think that the Internet activism phenomenon is quite interesting and has yet again illustrated how the Internet is seeping into every aspect of our lives.

Lastly, the author also takes a specific look at the citizen network Anti-MAI and questions weather or not this should be considered a community. He poses the following question “Can such a large group of diverse individuals and activists be considered a “community” in any meaningful sense of the term?” This is the same question we posed about online networking sites. Like we discussed before, I think that it’s very difficult to answer this question conclusively because it depends on how one defines a community. I would say that this specific activist groups’ activities online tend to lean more towards what constitutes a community rather than not. Clearly the individuals who are a part of this group came together for a specific goal and purpose and share a lot of common interests. The author believes that “…what the Internet has done, however, is to allow the existing nationally based organizations to link together with each other and with multinational organizations. The cross-referencing of the groups on the World-Wide Web and the continued vibrancy of the lists, thus suggests something much more than mere coincidental interests of disparate national groups.” I am still quite intrigued by all the different groups that are coming together on the Internet and the vast range of interest and goals they have. Community or note, many of these people share interests and exchange information that until now was not so easily exchangeable. At the click of a button we can learn much more than ever before and for me that is very exciting!

The People Have Spoken

Facebook has backtracked on its new policy!

For more information go to this article: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/589305

Social Interaction and the Internet

I find it very fascinating to read more about the Internet and how it relates to relationship development (both romantic and friendship connections). I have always been one to be very skeptical about the Internet and what it is used for. I primarily started to use the internet for email, which I think was quite common for people from my generation. Later on, in university, we were exposed to using the Internet as a research tool. Professors gave us assignments for which we were expected to do some of the research on the Internet. However, I was always very critical and almost suspicious about the information I found: “who wrote this?” and “how do I know this is reliable?” were the questions that always ran through my mind. Over time, the Internet started to be part of much more than just email and sporadic research for me. I started to use it to research everything that I wanted to know more about, to learn about the world, for banking, for communicating (SKYPE) and for social networks (Hi5 and Facebook).

Even so, I still consider myself a very cautious person when it comes to the Internet. I don’t like to post too much information about my life on Facebook and I definitely limit my profile to the friends that I select and accept. For me it’s an issue of privacy and I am not comfortable with who has access to this information. The recent backlash against the new Terms of Service (TOS) by Facebook confirms this privacy issue, and today I have had five of my friends change their status to show support against this new term. Some have removed all their information from their profile and are protesting for their rights. A group called “People Against the new Terms of Service” was established on Facebook which has about 840 wall posts already since only yesterday afternoon. Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=77069107432 And for more information about this new policy check out this article http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10166290-52.html

With this example, one can stop to really ponder the question: How does the Internet affect Social Life? Bargh and McKenna’s article “The Internet and Social Life” addresses the issue of how the Internet is affecting relationships. They mentioned that there is agreement about the fact that the Internet is affecting our social life, however, the extent of this impact (positive and negative) is something that is still argued by many.

The article noted that some critics argue that Internet usage can cause alienation and loneliness and that it hinders building relationships. However opponents of this idea, and surveys conducted show that Internet users are no less likely than nonusers to visit or call friends on the phone, or that Internet users actually have the larger social network “the Internet allows people to stay in touch with family and friends and, in many cases, extend their social networks…” [Howard et al. (2001)] Furthermore, it was found that most people don’t use the Internet as a substitute to face-to-face relationships, but instead, to supplement/maintain them (especially long distance relationships).

I have to agree with the last point because this has been my main experience with the Internet and relationship building/maintaining. When I lived abroad, I used the Internet as my main communication tool to be in touch with family and friends. From here, I depend on the Internet to keep in touch (or to maintain) my relationship when my husband travels (as I mentioned in a previous blog). And for my husband, whose entire family and many of his childhood friends live abroad, this is his main tool for him to keep in touch. At different times, and in different ways, the Internet has allowed us to not only maintain, but also to strengthen long distance relationships.

Further in the article the authors talk about two factors about the Internet and interpersonal relationships. The one that I found quite interesting was the fact that many relationships can be quite anonymous on the Internet. Kang (2000, p. 1161) notes that anonymity can actually contribute to close relationship formation by reducing the risk of self-disclosure, “Cyberspace makes talking with strangers easier. The fundamental point of many cyber-realms, such as chat rooms is to make new acquaintances. By contrast in most urban settings, few environments encourage us to walk up to strangers and start chatting. In many cities, doing so would amount to a physical threat” (p. 582) Even though I agree with Kang’s comment I think that the anonymous nature of the Internet has also brought quite a bit of hesitation, resistance and even problems. Since one can easily disguise their true personality and appearance (among many other things) it leaves people with TRUST as the only way to navigate the Net.

As our discussion followed in class, TRUST involves a leap of faith. And as we outlined,
there are various antecedents of trust formation. The two that spoke out to me the most were “Third-party trust” and “Dispositional history-based trust”. Reputation and experience play a big role in how/what I decide to participate in online. Even so, I believe there are times when I am taking a chance because in reality, you just don’t know who you are dealing with. As we were asked to think about the questions “How aware are you of online trust situations and what cues do you use?” the group that I worked with, and most of the members in the class felt that reputation plays a very important role in your Internet experience. Therefore, like in offline relationships, TRUST is something very hard to gain, but once broken, it is even harder to get back. And the great thing about the Internet is that people are generally very clever and quick to let the world know about their bad experience. It is up to the individual to stay objective and to make their own decision. And as noted earlier, Facebook’s TOS policy seems to have tested, if not broken, many people’s trust. Below is one wall post from the group “People Against the new Terms of Service”

Chris wrote at 6:31pm
This could completely destroy the social networking sites, if the changes are gonna stat I will be deleting my account and switching to a social network that is not gonna lay claim to my life. I truly hope that Facebook wakes up and realizes this is a huge mistake. What if every social network did this? Who would still post and share info/images/videos?Let social networking live!

Clearly people are taking this very seriously, and joining in unison to stand up for what they believe. The Internet makes this much easier and faster to do.

I also found another very interesting website that belongs to Chris Pirillo and one of his YouTube videos in which he addresses the question: Are Social Networks Destroying Offline Relationships? Here’s a quote that really stuck out to me from his video:

“I have more in common with guys from Ireland than with people who live down the street. You can develop genuine relationships.” Being connected across borders allows us to meet people with which we may have more in common than our best friends and family. Proximity and geography are not longer barriers for such friendships.

Check out his YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSguQjQ256U and website http://chris.pirillo.com/

On a lighter note...

Just to add some humour to my previous blog I wanted to share a Blog with you that sheds some light on how technology has become part of all of our lives in a comical way. I can't deny that it's scary to think what my life would be like without the computer and access to the Internet-- perhaps just fine, but it's hard to imagine anyway!

All are Addicted to Technology......Nice Comics:
http://capalang.blogspot.com/2007/05/all-are-addicted-to-technologynice.html

Technology- Are We All Participating???

This is my first Blog entry and interestingly enough it is about how technology, and the Internet more specifically, is affecting and/or changing our lives. I’ve called my Blog space That was then…This is now because when I think of technology, and its affect on my life, I always compare the past with the present- it’s something I do automatically probably because I’m still not quite sure how I truly feel about all these changes. On the one hand nostalgic—for the simple days of the past, but equally intrigued by the potential technology brings today and for the future.

I consider myself quite lucky because I have been able to live during times when the newest and coolest technology was the VCR and the walkman, right up to current times in which technology is changing so rapidly that one can hardly keep up. It seems that capacities, speeds, functionalities and features are changing so fast that what you have today will be old and behind next month. This holds true with the Internet since its accessing speed and utility is improving constantly. For some time I was dodging calls from service providers and their “it’s the fastest and most reliable” marketing pitch but eventually I succumbed to having the hi-speed, wireless service because I felt that I was missing out if I didn’t; that I would somehow fall behind.

After some recent readings I feel that my fears about falling behind are not so far-fetched because after all—if you’re not in, you’re out! What I am talking about is those people who do have access [are connected] to the Internet and those who don’t. I am talking about the Digital Divide. My feelings were confirmed in Neil Selwyn’s article “Reconstructing political and popular understanding of the digital divide” You can access the full article here: http://nms.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/6/3/341
In this article he describes the popular understanding of the digital divide to be “…divide between those citizens who are ‘connected’ and those citizens who remain ‘disconnected’ from technology, information and , it follows, modern or postmodern society.” Clearly I am not alone in my fears since the issue of access to technology is wide-spread and holds the potential to disconnect people from SOCIETY!!! It’s also interesting to point out that this issue is not only between countries, as it may have been in the past, but is now an issue within countries—countries like Canada and the US!

Today computers are the cornerstone of our daily activities—used for work, to learn, to communicate and to find out things about the world, and not having access in now an issue of exclusion and about falling behind! My husband travels extensively for business and without the internet (chats, Skype, email etc.) we would not be able to be in touch so frequently. Sadly enough I no longer feel him that far away. I have come to accept the distance that his work is putting between us every month because technology is making it a lot easier to do so. Is that good or bad?!? I have mixed feelings. In some way technology is helping to link people together, in others it’s allowing for people to move further apart [physically] because it provides you the tools to have almost instantaneous contact—no matter where you are in the world.

What caught my attention, however, was Selwyn’s notion that people are looking at the issue of digital divide from a very simple point-of-view i.e., assuming that by providing access, internet usage will increase and the divide will disappear. I found another interesting organization that seems to share this “simplistic” (according to Selwyn) view as per their definition of the Digital Divide: “There currently exists a gap between people who enjoy the benefits of technology and those whose lives could be significantly improved by it. In most cases, lack of access to existing and new technologies prevents these individuals from truly taking advantage of computers and the Internet. While this is painstakingly clear in developing countries, there is evidence that the digital divide exists even within North America. Regardless of the reasons for this gap, there is a moral imperative to ensure that everyone has equal access to information technology.” Access their website at http://www.digitaldivide.net/ Along this idea one would conclude that the solution to bridging/eliminating the digital divide is to provide everyone with access to the Internet, or more broadly to ICT (information and communication technology). Indeed many other sites draw on statistics and economic figures that link income and access rates [of internet] together and imply that if access was increased the gap would be filled. I agree that income levels can be an indicator as to the type of technology you have; the exposure and access to the Internet. But I now realize there is more to it and that the solution is not so simple.

Critics however, such as Neil Selwyn, say that this is an oversimplified understanding of what causes the digital divide and what is needed to close this gap. He suggests that we need to understand other factors that hinder people from participating in this technology, and therefore in society, factors that foster further “inequalities of access”. Such factors include context of access (ex. Does the individual feel they can make use of this access- home vs. public library), ability to use (required skills and knowledge), culture etc. I believe these factors are extremely important to consider when understanding the digital divide because many people are still behind and this gap is going to widen. Currently technology is connecting and dividing: “…the very technology that has power to empower us all also has the potential to increase the problems of social exclusion unless we act to bridge the digital divide…” (Selwyn)

What about the Internet and learning? How has that changed? I know that computers and technology are part of many school programs but the issue of digital divide must also run deep where learning is concerned. I came across an interesting video on YouTube that talks about the digital divide in the US as it pertains to education for children. In it they discuss the need for increased “technology literacy” programs to help kids take advantage of the new technology tools. Shireen Mitchell, the Executive Director of Digital Sisters (http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/digitalsista) states: “…we have moved very far in a digital era but there’s still a lot of people behind and if we talk about 29 million people, if we said that that was some disease we would think that it was an epidemic and we would do something about it…” The full clip can be found at http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=_ExQrzH8Ers&feature=related
Come back and visit my blog for more entries about learning and the digital divide…