Digital Activism

TOP 10 GAMES

1. The McDonald's Game (http://www.heavygames.com/themcdonaldsgame/showgame.asp)
2. PeaceMaker (http://peacemakergame.com/)
3. Howard Dean for America Game (http://www.deanforamericagame.com/)
4. The Redistricting Game (http://www.redistrictinggame.org/index.php?pg=game)
5. 3rd World Farmer (http://www.3rdworldfarmer.com/)
6. Balance of the Planet (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=115130)
7. The Grocer Game (http://www.thegrocerygame.com/)
8. Freaky Flakes (http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/advertisingtricks/cerealbox_flash.html)
9. A Force More Powerful
10. Super Columbine RPG
11. Ayiti
12. Hush
13. Madrid (http://www.newsgaming.com/games/madrid/)
14. September 12th (http://www.newsgaming.com/games/index12.htm)
15. Disaffected - a.k.a The Anti-Kinkos Game (http://www.persuasivegames.com/games/game.aspx?game=disaffected)

TOP 10 ETHICAL GAMING GROUPS

1. Games for Change
2. Global Kids
3. Values at Play group
4. NewsGaming (www.newsgaming.com/games)

TOP 10 GAME MODS AND INTERVENTIONS

1. Velvet Strike (http://www.opensorcery.net/velvet-strike/about.html)
2. Dead in Iraq (http://www.unr.edu/art/delappe/DeLappe%20Main%20Page/DeLappe%20Online%20MAIN.html)
3. 911 Survivor (http://www.selectparks.net/911survivor/911screenshots.html)

TOP 10 GAMING COURSES

Brown University "Code, Software, Serious Games." You can find the blog here (http://codesoftwaregames.blogspot.com/). The instructor, Braxton Soderman, is writing his Dissertation at Brown on these sorts of things.

TOP 10 DIGITAL ACTIVIST SITES

• http://www.digiactive.org DigiActive is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to helping grassroots activists around the world use the Internet and mobile phones to increase their impact. Their goal is a world of activists made more powerful and more effective through the use of digital technology.
  DigiActive was created from the belief that every person in the world has political power and that digital tools are a great way to express this un-tapped power. Tools like the Internet and mobile phones let us communicate with other people who share our concerns, to disseminate a message of change, to organize and inform ourselves, to lobby the government, to take part in activism. These activities are called digital activism: the methods by which citizens use digital tools to effect social and political change.

• http://www.frontlinesms.org FrontlineSMS is free software that turns a laptop and a mobile phone into a central communications hub. Once installed, the program enables users to send and receive text messages with large groups of people through mobile phones. To date, FrontlineSMS is being used by well over three hundred NGOs for various projects.
  FrontlineSMS was created by Ken Banks, the founder of http://www.Kiwanja.net.

• http://www.mobileactive.oMobileActive.org is a community of people and organizations using mobile phones for social impact. It works to create the resources NGOs need to effectively use mobile phones in their work: locally relevant content and services, support and learning opportunities, and networks that help MobileActives connect to each other in order to enrich and serve their communities.
  Note: If you go to “directory” and “projects” you can find all kinds of cool initiatives which are using mobile technology in creative ways.

• http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/ Global Voices Advocacy is a project of Global Voices Online. It seeks to build a global anti-censorship network of bloggers and online activists throughout the developing world that is dedicated to protecting freedom of expression and free access to information online.
  The aim of the network is to raise awareness of online freedom of speech issues, and to share tools and tactics with activists and bloggers facing censorship on different parts of the globe. The network is meant not only to provide support to its members, but also to produce educational guides about anonymous blogging, anti-censorship campaigns, and online organizing. By collaborating with software developers, activists, and bloggers, the network hopes to design new and more appropriate tools to protect our rights on the Internet.

• http://www.mideastyouth.com MideastYouth.com is a student-owned independent network that promotes constructive dialogue and understanding within the Middle East and North Africa. Arabs, Iranians, Kurds, and Israelis work side by side on a variety of different projects in order to advance towards moderation and interfaith understanding.
  Their mission is to inspire and provide young people with the freedom and opportunity of expression, and promote a fierce but respectful dialogue among the highly diverse youth of all sects, socio-economic backgrounds, and political and religious beliefs in the Middle East. We use this freedom to create social change and to prove that the collaboration necessary for stability is possible.

• http://www.electronicintifada.net The Electronic Intifada (EI) is a not-for-profit, independent publication committed to comprehensive public education on the question of Palestine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the economic, political, legal, and human dimensions of Israel's 40-year occupation of Palestinian territories. EI provides a needed supplement to mainstream commercial media representations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Since its launch in February 2001, EI has become a pioneering online resource for media analysis, criticism, and activism, and has progressively expanded its scope into new arenas, including: reference materials, live reporting, editorials, arts coverage, and satire.

• http://www.fahamu.org Fahamu supports the strengthening of human rights and social justice movements by: promoting innovative use of information and communications technologies, stimulating debate, discussion and analyses, publishing news and information (check out its online newspaper: Pambazuka News), and developing and delivering e-educational courses.

• http://www.mjaft.org Mjaft! Movement, which was born out of a four-month awareness-raising campaign that targeted the key issues stunting Albania’s socio-political and economic growth, has set a new standard for Albania’s civil society sector. The Mjaft! Movement’s primary vision is to achieve a well-governed Albania with active citizens, strong communities and a positive image in the world.
  Mjaft!’s mission is to increase active citizenship, strengthen the sense of community, promote responsible governance and improve the image of Albania globally through: (i) encouraging citizen participation in decision-making by influencing and monitoring policies at both the local and national level; (ii) promoting volunteerism and improving cooperation within communities; (iii) rehabilitating the concept of protest.

• http://www.ushahidi.com Ushahidi, which means “Testimony” in Kiswahili, is a Kenyan web site that records reports of violence sent by SMS and e-mail on a Google Earth map. It provides living testimony to the atrocities committed following the recent presidential elections in that country. The idea for the Ushahidi web site was created by the bloggers behind http://www.KenyanPundit.com, http://www.WhiteAfrican.com, http://www.MentalAcrobatics.com, http://www.AfroMusing.com, and Skunkworks and was built by developer David Kobia.

• http://www.madeinkenya.org Made in Kenya’s focus is the application of information and communication technologies for development. It offers consultancy services and applies ICTs in profiling the development activities of the youth, their products and destinations in Kenya. They created the “BungeSMS” campaign (http://www.bungesms.com) - a mobile phone based campaign that combines the internet and mobile telephony with the aim of empowering every Kenyan to influence Local Governance in their Constituencies.Its achievements to date have included the establishment and coordination of the WSIS Youth Kenya Caucus and facilitation of the WSIS/ICT policy-related campaign on youth issues in Kenya. So far we have made gains in increasing youth awareness, participation, recognition and representation of youth within various areas.

• http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/ It’s Getting Hot in Here is the voice of a growing movement, a collection of voices from the student and youth leaders of the global movement to stop global warming. Originally created by youth leaders to allow youth to report from the International Climate Negotiations in Montreal, It’s Getting Hot in Here has since grown into a global online community, with over 100 writers from countries around the world.

TOP 10 2.0 US POLITICAL SITES/BLOGS

1. Personal Democracy forum http://www.personaldemocracy.com
2. TechPresident http://www.techpresident.com/

TOP 10 DIGITAL ACTIVISM ACTIONS

1. German finger print action http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/hackers-publish.html
2. Critical Mass Cell Phone Surveillance http://glassbeadcollective.blip.tv/file/784711/
3. Google Bombing: George Bush = Miserable Failure
4. Teens walk out of high school using text messaging http://publius.cc/2008/05/15/essay-by-clay-shirky/

TOP 10 VIDEOS FOR DISCUSSION IN THE SOCIAL CHANGE CLASSROOM

• "CLASS"
  • Step 1: Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTU2He2BIc0. Tea Partay -Gangsta Rap. A music video comedy about New England persons of privilege. Consider as a class the behaviors and values of the group presented in the video. Is this in-line with what you understand wealth is about?
    Step 2: Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Sb6RmRMbBY. "The Girl who silenced the UN for 5 minutes" A document of the 12 year old girl who spoke to the UN on behalf of the a children's environmental group. Consider what that this young women did, and what she means when she speaks of privilege. How is her perspective different than that of the first video? How is it similar? What would you do if you had five minutes in front of the UN? What about five minutes in front of your parents, your school council, or a local organization? When you imagine the future, what do you think needs to be done now to make the future safe and bright? Are you willing to work towards it?

• RACE
• GENDER
• IMMIGRATION
• SOCIAL NETWORKING/FRIENDSHIP
  • Step 1: Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrlSkU0TFLs. This hilarious video explores the ways we take friendship for granted on FaceBook. Question to ask the group: Friendship is one way to use FaceBook, but how can the tool be used for larger social change? The class should explore and find specific case studies.
    Step 2: Download the free Handbook for Digi-Activism on FaceBook(http://www.digiactive.org); pick a key selection, and compare their hints and tips to 'offline strategies. What's the same and what's different? The class can discuss, analyze and compare.
    Step 3: Advanced Class. Consider Step 1. What are the 'codes' of friendship and behavior on Facebook and in real life? What are the codes of activism and social change movements? What can each learn from each other? Have the class split into groups and create real lists comparing the the two categories (friendship v social change movements). Then have them come back together to discuss.

• POLITICAL PROPOGANDA
  • Step 1: Go to the Yes We Can Video by WIll.I.Am on YouTube. Watch it as a class and take notes on the words that are emphasized, underscored and repeated.
    Step 2: Go to the No We Can't Vidoe by "John.He.Is" on YouTube. Watch it as a class and take notes on the words th at are emphasized, underscorded and repeated.
    Step 3: Consider the arguments for these pro-Obama videos. Why is language so important to this group? What is the message underneath these two videos? What is really being said here? How would someone argue with this?
    Step 4: Go to the "He's The One" video by John McCain on YouTube
    Step 5: Go to the "Barack's a Celebrity" by John McCain on YouTube.
    Step 6: As with above, consider the arguments by the John McCain for President campaign. How does this criticize Obama's campaign? What is the message underneath these two videos? What is really being said here? How would someone argue with this?
    Step 7:What do you think the standards should be in political propoganda materials? Should there be any? Why are insulting videos effective?

TOP 10 OFFLINE ACTIVISM ACTIONS of 2008

1. NAS protests racist Fox News http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/338629/fox_news_attacked_by_rapper_blackroots_colbert
2. Obama gives speech about Race http://www.youtube.com

TOP 10 DIGI ACTIVIST EVENTS OF 2008

1. Blogging while Brown http://bloggingwhilebrown.com/

TOP 10 DIGITAL ACTIVIST CONTACTS

1. Mary Joyce - she is our beloved go-to person for digital activism and ran her own digital activism site a couple years ago: http://www.demologue.com -
2. Also: The Open-Net Initiative http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/research/opennet

peeps are currently compiling a digital activist map. Our new projects coordinator, Jill York, would be an excellent resource as she has a vast network of knowledge of and contacts with digital activists through her work with Global Voices Online.

1. Internet & Democracy Project have been about activism. You can check them out here: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/idblog/ They offer links that would be helpful. The posts which are relevant to your research are : "Online Activists Emphasize Offline Activism" - "Camera Phones: Democratizing the Global Media Landscape" - "Electronic Artists Carry on Tradition of Artist-Activism" - and maybe even "Tweets Sparked Over Twitter in Congress".

TOP 10 DIGITAL ACTIVIST ESSAYS

1. Activism Chapter in Born Digital, by Urs Gasser & John Palfrey (August 25, 2008)

http://www.digitalnative.org

1. MacArthur Series on Digital Learning (January 2008) Especially Civic Engagment, Games, Race & Identity http://www.mitpressjournals.org/loi/dmal?cookieSet=1
2. Civic Learning-The Generation Shift, By Lance Bennett (May 2008) http://www.engagedyouth.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/civiclearning-the-generationalshift.pdf
3. See also Young Citizens... by Lance Bennett (July 2008) http://www.engagedyouth.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/youngcitizensciviclearning-july2008.pdf

Questions

1. Does a ubiquitous web enable people to plug in to their world (or their city)?
2. Could it?
3. How?
4. Could classrooms contribute to the growing knowledge banks of social change movements?