The document traces the history of media-supported revolutions from 1517 to 2011, noting how each revolution utilized the mass communication technologies of its time: 1) The Protestant movement used the Gutenberg printing press in 1517. 2) The French Revolution utilized newspapers and leaflets in 1789. 3) The 1968 Paris protests tactically employed transistor radios and wall postings. 4) Social media like Twitter and blogs supported the 2011 uprisings in North Africa. Each revolution strategically adopted the newest media to spread their message and bypass institutional media.

1. Brief History of media-supported Revolutions
1517 Protestant movement: Gutemberg printing press revolution
1789 French Revolution: newspaper & leaflets revolution
1968 Paris may days: transistor/wallpaper revolution
1968 Italian 68: autographic stencil (ciclostile)
1979 Iran: small media revolution (audiocassettes)
1989 “La Pantera” Italian student movement: fax “revolution”
1999 Seattle No Global movement: mailing list/first internet
revolution
2011 North Africa: social media “revolution”
giovedì 12 aprile 2012

2. Paris mediasphere May 1968
public
phones
wallpapers
transistor
graffiti
receivers square slogan
streets
people
Radio Europe 1
Radio Luxemburg
: bypass revolution: protesters bypassed institutional media
(national public radio and television broadcasters)
:: tactical use of the media
giovedì 12 aprile 2012

3. “Battle of Seattle” mediasphere 1999
cell
phones
mailing square World
lists streets media
people
local
web
indipendent
radio
fm/am radio
: bypass revolution: protesters bypassed institutional media
(national public radio and television broadcasters)
:: tactical use of the media
giovedì 12 aprile 2012

4. Tunisian mediasphere 2011
cell
tunisian phones
diaspora
Web radio
(Radio square
streets
SB Zone)
people
world
bloggers media
local clandestine
FM radio
(Radio Kalima)
: bypass-revolution: protesters have bypassed institutional media (national radio and
television broadcasters)
:: Twitter excelled as a medium in getting the message out, in driving mainstream
media coverage and in connecting activists on the ground with multipliers in the West
::: tactical use of the media
:::: multiplatform/networked flow of communication
2-3 cose che ho imparato sulle reti sociali:
networked public: persistence, replicability, la scalability (Kony2012), searchability (D. Boyd 2011:46)
+ approccio drammaturgico ai media (di nuovo, Kony2012)
+ studio delle reti
giovedì 12 aprile 2012