Talk & Panel Discussion:
International Trends in Digital
Activism
April 23, 2009
Yahoo!/ Georgetown University
Gaurav Mishra/ Evgeny Morozov/ Ivan Sigal/
Trebor Scholz
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Program Outline
 Talk: Digital Activism in India and China –
45 minutes
 Panel: International Trends in Digital
Activism – 45 minutes
 Q & A – 30 minutes
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Panel Members
 Evgeny Morozov
– 2008-09 Open Society Institute Fellow
– Writing a book on internet in authoritarian societies
– Previously, Director of New Media at Prague NGO Transitions Online
 Ivan Sigal
– Executive Director of Global Voices
– Previously, Senior Fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace
– Internews Regional Director for Asia
 Trebor Scholz
– Professor for Media Study at New School University, NYC
– Editor of the book The Art of Free Cooperation
– Founder: Institute for Distributed Creativity
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Three Questions
 What is social media and why is it
important?
 How are social media and digital activism
changing media, civil society, and
government?
 What are the challenges of using social
media for digital activism in emerging
countries?
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Tool Agnostic
 
Blogging Social networking
 
Microblogging Social voting
 
Videoblogging Social bookmarking
 
Photoblogging Lifestreaming
 
Podcasting Wikis
 
Mapping Virtual worlds
 …
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Terminology Agnostic
 
Social media Read write web
 
Social computing Citizen media
 
Social software Peer to peer media
 
Social web Web 2.0
 
Participatory media New media
 
Participatory web Crowdsourcing
 …
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Talk: Digital Activism in India
& China
April 23, 2009
Georgetown University
Gaurav Mishra
Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Context: Digital Inequality
India + China
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Why India and China?


Source: NYT
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

World Map: Internet Penetration
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

The 4 Cs of Digital Inequality
3 4
1 2
Computing
Devices Connection
Content
Capabilities
The Digital Binary Group:
Focus on Access
(Computers + Connection)
The Digital Inequality
Group: Focus on
Application (Content +
Capabilities)
Geography/ Nationality/ Urban-Rural/ Race/ Ethnicity/ Age/ Gender/ Profession
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: VNL MicroTelecom
Source: http://vnl.in
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: QuestionBox
Source: http://questionbox.org
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: United Villages
www.vnl.in
Source: http://unitedvillages.com
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: Google Internet Bus
Source: http://www.google.co.in/intl/en/landing/internetbus/
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India/ China: Cyber Cafes
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

But India + China = 430m Web Users


Source: NYT
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Context: Social Media Usage
India + China
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Coming Back to Social Media
USA China India World
Update personal weblog 16% 61% 36% 28%
Upload to video sharing website 18% 46% 45% 29%
Upload to a photo sharing website 32% 56% 49% 39%
Manage profile on a social network 35% 56% 59% 48%
Subscribe to a RSS feed 14% 44% 37% 26%
Download a podcast 22% 65% 49% 36%
Read blogs/weblogs 51% 84% 77% 63%
Watch video clips online 63% 84% 80% 75%
Number of internet users (millions) 100.0 61.0 17.8 475.0
Attitudes towards sociability, privacy and trust.
Source: Universal McCann, 2008; Active Internet Users, Age 16-54; Last Month
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

International SNS Preference
Facebook MySpace Orkut Xiaonei Vkontakte Hi5
Source: Oxyweb based on Alexa data, 2008
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

China: Parallel Internet Universe
Hat Tip: Shel Israel (http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2008/11/chinas-top-web.html )
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

China: Comsenz Build a BBS/ SNS
Source: http://www.comsenz.com/products/discuz
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

China: Direct2Dell
Source: http://chinese.direct2dell.com/
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: SMS Gupshup Group SMS
Source: http://www.smsgupshup.com
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: BabaJob
Source: http://babajob.com/tfoverview.htm
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Context: Social Media +
Digital Activism
India + China
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Old Media + New Media
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

The Digital News Lifecycle
Context Analysis
News Story
Conversation
REACH/
Blog Post
DEPTH
Personalization
SMS Alert
TIME
© Gaurav Mishra (www.gauravonomics.com)
Hat Tip: The News Diamond by Paul Bradshaw (www.onlinejournalismblog.com)
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Social Media + Digital Activism
Source: http://www.digiactive.org/wp-content/uploads/digiactive_facebook_activism.pdf
http://www.digiactive.org/wp-content/uploads/digiactive_twitter_guide_v1-0.pdf
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Social Media + Digital
Activism
India
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: SEA-EAT Blog
Source: http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com/
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: Mumbai Terror Attack
Source: http://flickr.com/photos/vinu/sets/72157610144709049/
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: Mumbai Terror Attack
Source: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23mumbai
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: Mumbai Terror Attack
Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gauravonomics/sets/72157610357499942/
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: Pink Chaddi Campaign
Source: http://thepinkchaddicampaign.blogspot.com
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: Blank Noise Project
Source: http://blanknoise.org
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: NGO Post
Source: http://ngopost.org
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: Caste Based Orkut Communities
Source: http://www.orkut.com/Main#Community.aspx?cmm=5085362
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: Shiv Sena’s Orkut Crusade
Source: http://www.orkut.com/Main#Community.aspx?cmm=1308974
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: L K Advani’s Blog
Source: http://blog.lkadvani.in/
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: Bloggers for Advani
Source: http://groups.google.com/group/bloggers4advani?pli=1
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: Tata Tea’s Jaago Re
Source: http://jaagore.com/
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: No Criminals in Politics
Source: http://nocriminals.org/
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: Vote Report India
Source: http://votereport.in
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

India: Vote Report India/ Al Jazeera
Source: http://labs.aljazeera.net/console/
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Social Media + Digital
Activism
China
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

China: Censorship/ Net Police
Hat Tip: Rebecca Mackinnon (http://rconversation.blogs.com )
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

China: 50 Cent Army/ Astroturfing
Hat Tip: Rebecca Mackinnon (http://rconversation.blogs.com )
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

China: Human Flesh Search Engine
The Kitten Killer of Hangzhou Corruption Amongst Local Officials
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

China: Sichuan Earthquake
Source: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/6YdfN8iPwDs/
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

China: Harmonius/ River Crab
Jiang Zemin (Three Represents) + Hu Jintao (Harmoinus)
Hat Tip: Rebecca Mackinnon (http://rconversation.blogs.com )
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

China: Grass-Mud Horse/ Alpaca
Sheep
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3tPA_Z_MT0
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

China: Cyber Civil War 2.0
Hat Tip: Rebecca Mackinnon (http://rconversation.blogs.com )
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

China: Cyber Nationalism/ MSN Icons
Source:
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

China: Cyber Nationalism/ Anti-CNN
Source: http://anti-cnn.com/
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

China: People’s Daily E-Two Sessions
Source: http://elianghui.people.com.cn/2009/
Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Congress (NPC)
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Internet Freedom Index
Source: Freedom on the Net, Freedom House
http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/specialreports/NetFreedom2009/FreedomOnTheNet_FullReport.pdf
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

In Summary
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

The 4Cs of Social Media
Visible
Creators > Curators > Consumers
The 1:9:90 rule
Content Collective Action > Co-creation >
Conversations
Collaboration Size + Strength + Social Object
Implicit or explicit
Community Privacy + reputation + info filters
Collective Intelligence
Invisible
Easy Difficult
© Gaurav Mishra (www.gauravonomics.com)
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Three Mantras of Social Media
 The future has already arrived. It’s just not
evenly distributed yet.
 Technology determines what is possible
and what isn’t; society chooses what
happens and what doesn’t.
 The tools are transient; the value system is
here to stay.
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Digital Activism in Three Steps
 Listen/ Understand: Aggregate public
opinion and flag flash points.
 Engage/ Energize: Use virality, modularity
and granularity to build a grassroots
movement.
 Bridge: Use both new media and mainstream
media to translate online engagement into
offline action.
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com

Panel Discussion: International
Trends in Digital Activism
April 23, 2009
Yahoo!/ Georgetown University
Evgeny Morozov/ Ivan Sigal/ Trebor Scholz
Gaurav Mishra | Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University | www.gauravonomics.com | gauravonomics@gmail.com