Social Software for Political Activism

Christina Neumayer and I recently presented our ongoing joint research on Social Software for Political Activism at two conferences.

From October 27 – 30 2008 we attended the 5th Community Informatics and Development Informatics Conference in Prato, Italy. This highly international and interdisciplinary conference was organised by the Centre for Community Networking Research [CCNR] at the Monash University, Australia and the Community Informatics Research Network [CIRN], which is "an international network of researchers, practitioners and policy makers concerned with enabling communities through the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and specifically with research and practice in Community Informatics". The focus of this year's conference was on Social Inclusion.

Our presentation [and article] entitled as "Facebook for Global Protest: The Potential and Limits of Social Software for Grassroots Activism" questioned how issues such as digital divide, globalisation, community building and the interrelation of the real and the virtual sphere influence political activism.

Here are some photos of the conference and the social event.
There are also photos of Prato, Florence, Pisa and San Gimignano in Tuscany.
We visited these cities before and after attending the conference in Prato.

From November 7 – 8 2008 we presented our research at the Social Web Conference in Siegen, Germany. Our presentation "Assessing the Potential of Social Software for Political Activism Exemplified on the Anti-FARC-Rallies" was a contribution to the overall topic of the conference: Social Web: Towards Networked Protest Politics? Further information on the conference can be found here.

Before going to Siegen wie made a short stop in Cologne.