The document discusses the evolution of activism through YouTube, highlighting its advantages for activists, such as accessibility, ease of use, and the ability to expose issues globally. It provides examples like Neda Agha Soltan's death and the civil rights movement, demonstrating how YouTube can educate and promote action. However, the platform also faces challenges including copyright infringement and misinformation, making critical thinking essential for users.

1. You Tube Advocacy The Good, The Bad, and the Inadvertent Sam Rhee 1143715

2. Overview Since the advent of the Internet , people have used its anonymity and broadcast power to further their causes and create awareness for a myriad of issues. chat irc news groups ? blogs bbs

3. Overview As the Internet matured , three things happened in succession: Video streaming became practical Web hosting of large files became cheap YouTube was created ?

4. Specifications Founded: By: Owned by: Number of YouTube Viewers: 2003 Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, Jawed Karim Google, Inc. Over 100,000,000* *Source: Social Media Optimization: http://social-media-optimization.com/2009/03/100-million-people-use-youtube/

5. Activism on YouTube YouTube is well-suited for activism for several reasons: Free and ubiquitous Keyword Searchable Simple to use, organize, and broadcast Encourages interface with other websites YouTube is used by activists to: Expose injustice and call to action Educate Create awareness

6. Exposing Injustice: Neda Neda agha Soltan , 1982-2009 Killed while walking through a demonstration to get to her car Demonstration was anti-government Graphic cellphone video sent to Facebook accounts Widely disseminated via YouTube Dozens, if not hundreds of tribute videos show up on YouTube Result: Became icon and rallying cry for the movement Circumvented heavy totalitarian suppression to expose Iranian government and anti riot policies Created global awareness and outrage

7. Education: The Civil Rights Movement The Civil Rights Movement is developmentally mature in the United States . Its groups are: Highly sophisticated Well funded Politically connected Epically historic YouTube provides the Civil Rights Movement with: A space to archive a considerable amount of video footage A mechanism for organizing said footage A searchable index that is as powerful as Google A memorable and easily accessed by children and adults from almost any device that has an Internet connection.

8. Call to Action: Community Activism Communication via video is uniquely suited for the concept of community activism. Sophisticated concepts that would normally take up volumes of text can be explained or shown graphically and with animation. Individual communities can be targeted with tag words for journalists and “civilian” viewers. YouTube fits within most organizations’ sustainability philosophy and budget. Tools for Community Activism on YouTube: Council meetings Local criminal activity, safety hazards and other issues Vlogs of activists Primers/How To’s on organization and activism Access to channels set up by like-minded individuals

9. Challenges YouTube, like any other large corporate subsidiary, has its share of downsides, issues and critical users: Copyright Infringement Piracy Sheer Number of videos online Pornography and Graphic Violence Libel/Slander Misinformation/disinformation Too slow to remedy issues For the community activist, the most important concepts to grasp are avoiding copyright infringement, misrepresentation, and any other liability issues, critical thinking in terms of a video’s validity, and searching techniques.

10. YouTube and Activism YouTube is an indispensible partner for the modern activist. Its robust back end technology is based on many open source initiatives, promoting the community minded aspect of programming while being backed by a company with enough clout to withstand outside pressures. With shortening attention spans and an ever increasing number of sources vying for that attention, reaching intended audiences and motivating them to act has become a challenge. YouTube has consistently (if inadvertently) met that challenge. With its rudimentary but useful video editing ability to its ability to integrate with social networking sites and blogs to its limitless storage, YouTube is a powerful suite of tools for activism.

11. Sam Rhee 1143715