Online Activism, Offline Passivism

Social media and Web 2.0 have radically changed the way we communicate with each other. Blogs and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter let us participate with each other in a whole new manner. People with the same interests and ideas from all over the world have the ability to connect with each other without the necessity of physical presence. Apart from that and in comparison to the other mass media, Web 2.0 applications enable us ‘citizens’ to engage in the public debate on a whole different level (Keren, 2010). Can we think of web 2.0, blogs and social networking sites as public spheres and how does this translate to our offline lives?

The Danish Cartoon Controversy
Take the Muhammed cartoons for example. The Danish newpaper Jyllands Posten called upon several cartoonists to draw caricatures of the prophet Muhammed. During a time where the position of Muslims in Denmark was already fragile, the newspaper wanted to make a statement and shake up the masses with a message: we are a country with freedom of speech! What started as a national quarrel, ended in a worldwide heated debate where violence was not shunned. After the event, Facebook did the same and asked everybody to draw cartoons of the prophet. Bangladesh blocked the website and government control strengthened. Through blogs, video sharing websites and social network sites, the message was spread which lead to a heated discussion between ‘Muslims’ on the one hand and ‘the West’ on the other (Nørby Bonde 2007).

Many research has been done on the effects of blogging and forums on the public sphere. Most often, the public sphere is understood in Habermasian terms, referring to the critical rational public debate that forms the basis of a real public sphere (in: Lister et. al, 2003). Some are in favor of the idea of the blog as an extension of the public sphere, others like Poell, contradict this view. Most of the posts online are not classified as ‘discussion’, rather, they are individual outings that are non-responsive to the previous posts. But even though this might be the case, I believe that the web does have the ability to move people into action on a global level, to question the messages presented in other mass media and to criticize the political public sphere.

With millions of blogs and personal profiles at our disposal, it is quite a task to conduct research that can lead to broad conclusions about its effects. What is interesting to me, is not so much what is said online, but more how these outings are translated to the life we live offline. It seems to me that without the availability of the Internet, the Danish Cartoon Controversy would never have gotten the chance to develop as it did now. Blogs, forums and other social networking sites are providing new communication channels that can change the flow of a topic radically and globally. Or as Keren states: The modern community will be built by the digital empowerment of the individual. The blog is at the heart of it.”

Twitter Revolution
Let’s take a look at the Twitter revolution in Iran. Through the microblogging site people openly showed their discomfort with the current state of affairs in Iran. James Carafano (in: Keren, 2010) argues that “the war in the streets spread to an online war of words” and that it is yet unlikely that the blogosphere could change the power relations in oppressive regimes. On the other hand, people from all over the world openly showed critique towards the Iranian state with one of the biggest campaigns being United 4 Iran. During the Nacht van de Vrede Michiel Kruijf gave a speech about the Amsterdam campaign United4Iran where he explicitly emphasized the power of New Media. Without it, there would be no doubt that the campaign would have reached such a broad audience. The regime is still there, but the case hasgained a lot of international attention which might be fruitful in the future.

Future Perspectives
How then, can we conduct research to the effects of online communities in the offline world? Like the Danish cartoon controversies, web 2.0 managed to move an international crowd into action, but the line from where online ends and offline begins still remains a gray area. Unlike Poell argues, I believe that people do maintain an offline relationship as well as an online and new methods would be necessary to investigate the million blogs that are there and their effect on human kind.

Nørby Bonde, B. (2007) ‘How 12 cartoons of the prophet Mohammed were Brought to Trigger and International Conflict,’ Nordicom Review 28 (1): 33-48.

Poell, T. ‘Conceptualizing forums and blogs as public sphere’ in: van den Boomen et. al. (2009) ‘Digital Material, Tracing New Media in Everyday Life and Technology,’ Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam: 239-251

Lister et. al (2003) ‘New Media: a critical introduction,’ Routledge, New York.

Tags:Danish Cartoon, Internet, media, newspaper

Book Review- Pirate Modernity: Delhi’s Media Urbanism by Ravi Sundaram.

In Pirate Modernity: Delhi’s Media Urbanism, Ravi Sundaram clearly explains the way the new media have affected post colonial Delhi’s urban landscape from the 50′s onwards. Sundaram is one of the initiators of Sarai, an online platform dedicated to address media issues in South Asia. He focuses merely on globalism and modernity in India and puts new media at the center if this. He has written multiple articles on technology, media and urban experience and their effect on each other and is also one of the editors of the Sarai Reader series. In 1996 he gave an interview on the ‘Brazilianation of India’ where many elements also treated in Pirate Modernity are discussed. Pirate Modernity starts with a broad description of Delhi’s urban development where the pan-optic idea over the years slowly changes into a more decentralized pirate modernity to a commodity culture eventually. Where the Masterplan, based on the US model firstly introduced zoning and a centralized management, it soon became clear that the effect did not have the desirable outcomes imagined by the state and the elite. Instead, pirate culture became increasingly big amongst the urban villagers which made (technocratic) management from above almost impossible and made civic liberalism an increasingly important definition. In the 70′s, Delhi had become a ‘megacity’ with ever growing opportunities in piracy for the masses all set in the context of social unrest. This eventually led to a crisis in the 90′s where technology seemed to have backfired on society. Not the villages and slums were the reason for congestion but rather the fast development of technology. As a novice in the field of Asian media culture, this book certainly provides an interesting kickoff. Although explanations are somewhat lengthy and complicated at times, you certainly finish the book with a clear and surprising view of contemporary Delhi. Using original examples and metaphors to describe the changing urban setting of Delhi, he manages to put the idea of piracy and its sociological and political implications in a new perspective. Using road accidents as an allegory for the contemporary urban life it becomes clear to the reader how citizens are torn up between the desire for new commodities and the fear for its deadly effects. Additionally, he managed to dig into the ‘underground’ scene and highlight also some positive effects of piracy in society. A relief after the often elitist perspectives towards copyright, though I find it disappointing that he does not offer any possible solution to the problems this has inflicted on society. As a reader, you are still left with questions considering Delhi’s future. All in all, the book draws a clear picture of how contemporary Delhi was affected by the Internet and technology in general. It is especially interesting for those interested in urban planning, piracy and politics in the developing world. Countries like India are growing rapidly and fill in an increasingly important role in world economy and politics. This book will provide a great starting point from where to explore further into the field of new media in the developing world. ISBN Number : 9780415409667 (248 pages)

Photoshop Dependency

The flyer I made below was the result of tedious work in Inkscape, Gimp and good old Photoshop. I found myself caught in some sort of moral dilemma, where I wanted to use Inkscape and Gimp badly because of their ‘ open sourceness’, but I couldn’t help longing badly to use the interface where I was already so used to.

In a weak moment, I again volunteered to take up another task for Kriterion and design the flyer for one of the upcoming events. I thought this would be a good way to pressure myself to make something nice of the assignment, instead, I was frustrated all over. After trying to figure out the so called powerful features of Inkscape for hours I gave up, though I refused to let Photoshop win so easily! So I downloaded Gimp in order to still be faithful to the Open Source ideology and not surrender to expensive Adobe. Having almost the same features, I had to sadly conclude that my patience was just pixels short and I had to beg Photoshop on my knees to take me back. It became clear to me that our designing skills are dependent on the program we use. I am just not ready yet to separate myself from good old Adobe…

Tags:design, flyer, gimp, inkscape, kriterion, photoshop

Did Internet Make Me Stupid

Working in a coffee bar gives me the advantage of having access to many different newspapers. In quiet hours I try to read several articles from at least three newspapers in order to get a more balanced view of what’s happening globally. The last weeks though, there was one name in particular that sprung to mind: Nicholas Carr.

As a student New Media, I was attracted to the title which often contained the word Internet and I ended up reading a number of articles on this celebrity. Internet makes you stupid, was the message. We apparently can no longer keep our focus for more than an hour due to the multitasking we’re so used to on the Internet. One of my friends drew some attention to the fact that it was logic the papers would discuss this article as Internet was one of newspaper’s biggest competitors, nevertheless, from that moment on I kept on wondering if this case would apply to me.

The shocking conclusion of this all was that I indeed couldn’t remember the last time I’d read a book! All the attempts I had made during the last year resulted in well… nothing really. Carr seemed to have made his point, multitasking seemed to have slipped into my system without noticing and replaced concentration. Then I started thinking that it wasn’t necessarily the fact that I couldn’t concentrate for longer than an hour, moreover that my social life was a lot more hectic and bustling than it was a few years ago. When I have to, I can still set myself to it and focus. Isn’t it a bit blunt to state that we simply get ‘stupid’ from Internet? By stating this, people will automatically start thinking that they indeed don’t read books anymore and multitask a lot more. As a result agreeing with Carr that the Internet does indeed make you stupid. But even if there was a change of mind, what does it really matter? If I remember well, Marshall Mc Luhan already put forward the idea that new media are much more than innocent means to communicate and that they can change our world view (( in: Lister, M et. al. (2003) New Media A Critical introduction. Routledge, Oxon)). That certainly counts for the Internet.

So even if the Internet did change our minds, we should ask ourselves if that’s really a problem. Shouldn’t we think of it more as an evolutionary shift that we should accept, take advantage of and work with instead of trying to counteract and criticize?

Tags:Internet, Mc Luhan, media, New, newspaper, Nicholas Carr, stupid

Hello World! Hello Work!

What do you write on a personal blog? This has kept me busy for the last couple years and as I see myself as a pretty average girl with no extraordinary talent, I didn’t see a reason why people would read my blog. I wrote a travelblog and a corporate blog, but I haven’t really tried a personal one yet. I am not particularly good with computers or anything else I can give people advice on, neither am I a famous writer or fashion icon people want to hear more of. It really got me thinking that there should be at least something I could write about for a while and the one thing I could think of was: Kriterion.

Kriterion is my house, my baby and my hell when I’m busy. To be more concise, it is my job. Kriterion is founded right after the second World War as an independent cinema where students could work to pay off their studies. And the best thing… We don’t have a manager, boss, or other higher authority controlling us. How that works? Honestly, sometimes I really don’t know! From 7 hour long meetings to 7AM parties, for some reason we haven’t bankrupted it yet. At the same time, people work hard (part voluntarily), harder than anywhere else I have worked and exactly that is why I love the place. We still have that feeling that we are all responsible for the outcomes, no manager, no boss, we all carry the same amount of responsibility. That makes it easy and at the same time a lot harder. Same mistakes are made over and over again, but there is also room for innovation, education and fun.

What else can I do than trying to get you involved in the successes, screw ups, quarrels and flirts of me and my colleagues?