This is our group presentation for the Master Program Communication for Development within the area of New Media Activism.

1. By: C. Schubert, L. Bergman, A. Shulipa and A. GngGroup 5

2. Outline of the presentation
 Purpose with our presentaion
 What is New Media Activism?
 Gender and Online Activism – new
opportunities for women?
 Online vs. Public Activism
 Intellectual property perspectives
 Surveillance – there are two sides
 Hacktivism
 Summary of our literature review

3. What is the purpose of this?
The
increasing
influence and
impact that
the tool –
internet – has
have to
continously
be
scrutinized,
researched
and
discussed.
Otherwise we
won’t be able
to keep up.

4. New Media Activism - Definition
New media
activism
differs from
traditional
activism
since being
more reliant
on
technological
competence
and mobile
devices and
being more
geographicall
y dispersed.
Media is:
- Medium to communicate
- Interact and execute
- Create meaning
Activism is:
- The intent to change or make
history.

5. Gender in the context of new media activism

6. Gender and New Media Activism
 The percentage of women included
as news subjects only increased from
17 percent to 24 percent between
the years of 1995 and 2010.
 Only 4 percent of the news stories
published online challenges gender
stereotypes while 42 percent
reinforce them

7. Online vs. Public Sphere Activism
Can this type of activism lead
to social/political change? Or
is it only public sphere activism
that can create an impact?

8. What really makes a difference?
 New opportunities
 Risk of ’Slacktivism’
 Extract the strengths from both sides
 Steps forward

9. Perspectives of Intellectual
Property in Media Activism
 Three key issues being examined here;
 firstly, the commodification of that
process;
 secondly, the issues of propriety and
 finally, the diffusion of the private vs.
public delineation raising issues of
privacy.

10. Perspectives of Intellectual
Property in Media Activism
 in particular copyright, increasing creeping
commodification of knowledge and the
corporatization of its structure (Scholz, 2008:362).
 Assertion of ownership over uploads on blogs and
social networks, often in the form of an implied
license.
 E.g., on Facebook, the copyright ownership of that
picture is then transferred onto Facebook until it is
deleted or the account is closed
(http://www.facebook.com/terms.php).

11. Perspectives of Intellectual
Property in Media Activism
2 opposite directions:
- <-emergence of the ‘copyleft’ and the creative commons
on the one hand
- ->Increase copyright assertions –e.g., Digital Rights
Managements; expansion of TRIPS plus regimes (from
WTO to Bilateral agreements)

12. Perspectives of Intellectual
Property in Media Activism
 Diffusion of the dichotomy of private vs.
public delineation that raises not only the
issues of increasing commodification but also
its privacy and the controls of personal
autonomy .
 Not easy to migrate or leave- entrenched
communities and as captive audience –e.g.,
Facebook
 Centralized – means easier to control and
manipulate e.g., from targeted commercials
to state surveillance.

13. Perspectives of Intellectual
Property in Media Activism
 Dichotomy of online and offline lives are also
diffused!
 Notion of knowledge, its meaning and space
is contextualized and contested in
cyberspace (Lovink, 2007)
 Most coherent global legislation is TRIPS but
application is fragmented while regionalism
or bi-lateralism add further layer of
obligations

14. Perspectives of Intellectual
Property in Media Activism
 Regulatory lacuna and global agreement and/or
understanding of normative practices
 Opportunities for Media Activism But also
Challenges
 Media Activism –premised on fundamental
rights of expression

15. Surveillance
 New tools and technology have opened
the door of opportunity for sharing,
creating, and distributing content.
BUT also - to STEAL content.
 Today all the information about the person
is in provider’s hands.
 People start to worry about their private life. People’s awareness
causes deviance and social activity. As a result different social
movements appear.
 Many organizations and foundations reacted to problems of
communication privacy online. They develop toolsets and
software that help to protect information.

16. Hacktivism – What is that?
Form ofForm of
DigitalDigital
ActivismActivism
Hacking +Hacking +
activismactivism
HackingHacking
for a causefor a cause
RaiseRaise
awarenessawareness
• Hacktivism – new term used to describe a type of
computer hacking for political or social change.
• Question: Is hacktivism a truly civil disobedience of the
computer age or just a group of bored computer geniuses
with too much time on their hands?
• Hackers join forces with activists – hacking for a cause.
• Hacktivism could be understood as the writing of code to
promote political ideology:
promoting expressive politics,
free speech, human rights, and
information ethics through
software development.

17. Summary of our presentation
 Public sphere activism has a real
competitor
 Are those still my pictures? Rights
after uploading property
 How to protest online but staying
inside the law – Hacktivism
 How to engage people in both
spheres – the future challenge!