Global Internet Activism
Week#2 The Internet and the
Democratization of Society
Trebor Scholz | LCST 4014 A | Spring 2009

Political Activism,
Advocacy, and Art Activism
week 2
week 1 Access, Censorship,
Social Media, and the
week 3
Alleged Democratization
Citizen Media: from
of Society
Seattle to South Korea
War and Social Media: Serbia
week 5
week 4
War and Social Media: Iraq, Gaza
week 6 Spring Break
week 7
War and Social Media: Counter-publics
Iran, Afghanistan in Iran
week 8 week 9
Cell phone-enabled
Citizen Media in China
week 12
activism: Philippines
Burma
week 11
week 10 Japan, Singapore
A Better World in Second Life?
week 14
One Laptop Per Child
week 13
Cyber Publics in India
week 15
Mobilization
Trebor Scholz | LCST 4014 A | Spring 2009

http://www.dosomething.org/awards

Access, Censorship, Social Media, and the Alleged
Democratization of Society
week 2
Feb 3, 5
Questions:
What are valid arguments for and against the claim that the Internet democratizes society? How do the mainstream
media pick the conflicts that they cover? What are our chances to be affective/effective as individuals or small groups
dealing with issues like the US prison system, and (urban) poverty in the prevailing surroundings of corporate late
capitalism? How do we decide which issues we take on and which ones we ignore?
Required Readings:
John Palfrey and Urs Gasser, \"Activists,\" John Palfrey and Urs Gasser, Born Digital (New York: Basic Books, 2008)
255-270.
Sunstein, Cass R. \"The Daily We.\" Boston Review — Home. July-Aug. 2005. 14 Jan. 2009 <http://bostonreview.net/
BR26.3/sunstein.html>.
Suggested Reading:
Brea, Jennifer. \"From Kivu to Gaza: How the Media Choose the Conflicts They Cover.\" Global Voices Online. 9 Jan.
2009. 14 Jan. 2009 <http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/01/09/from-kivu-to-gaza-how-the-media-choose-the-conflicts-they-
cover/>.
\"Overview.\" The Internet In the Arab World A New Space of Repression? 1 Jan. 2004. The Arabic Network for Human
Rights Information. 14 Jan. 2009 <http://anhri.net/en/reports/net2004/intro.shtml>.
Trebor Scholz | LCST 4014 A | Spring 2009

Discussion:
John Palfrey and Urs Gasser, \"Activists,\" John Palfrey and Urs Gasser, Born
Digital (New York: Basic Books, 2008) 255-270.

Question:
Are there circumstances that would justify censorship of Internet content?
Which forms does censorship take on in different countries?
How do you know that your site is censored?
What can you do to anonymize your web browsing?
Globally, where is access to specific websites denied and which sites are affected?
Why did Yahoo and Google become complicit in the persecution of human rights activists
in China, for example?
Specifically, what does Internet censorship in China (and Hong Kong), Iran, Bahrain, and
Nepal look like?
What gets censored in the United States?

http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/projects/maps/

download the book for free:
http://opennet.net/accessdenied

How do you know for sure that your site is being blocked?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPMQHOUoMUA
http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/projects/maps/

This is rare:
http://opennet.net/blog/2009/01/pakistan‐communication‐authority‐issues‐directives‐block‐web‐sites

Google complicit in censorship
search for Tiananmen Square in
Google China vs. Google USA
http://www.labnol.org/internet/search/google‐image‐search‐in‐china‐is‐special/1492/

Section from: The Great Firewall Of China DURATION: 15 mins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWsXhNJFj78

Documentary in‐progress, Working Title: “Citizen Zola” by Stephen T. Maing ‐ Director, editor, cinematographer
http://www.stephenmaing.com/ohyesyoucan/coalminerson.php

Discussion:
Sunstein, Cass R. \"The Daily We.\" Boston Review — Home. July-Aug. 2005. 14 Jan.
2009 <http://bostonreview.net/BR26.3/sunstein.html>.

http://blip.fm/home

http://www.jango.com/

DOWNLOAD:
http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/Bloggers_Handbook2.pdf
http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=542

HONG KONG
http://glutter.typepad.com/about.html

IRAN
http://www.sigarchi.com/blog/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dih_IoYOrt8

NEPAL
http://www.radionepal.org/radionepal/index.php
http://www.sigarchi.com/blog/

BAHRAIN
http://chanad.weblogs.us/

Flickr deleted Maarten Dors' photo of a boy with a cigarette for violating a ban on depicting kids smoking.
United States Flickr censored the photo because it conflicted with the brand image of Flickr/Yahoo.
SOURCE: http://www.dlickr.com/photos/maartend/1429385268/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Access Denied: The Policy of Global Internet Filtering,
Rob Faris, the OpenNet Initiative's Research Director and John Palfrey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwQh‐43b1Vs
watch/listen after class (duration: > 1 hour)

Trebor Scholz
scholzt@newschool.edu
The New School University
Twitter: trebors
Blog: http://www.collectivate.net/journalisms
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