[ecrea] ECPR Panel on Social Web

5th ECPR General Conference, Potsdam 
10 - 12 September, 2009 

Panel: Mobilization and Protest Communication on the Social Web  

(Section: Protest Politics)

Call for Papers

The work of transnational social movement organizations and protest networks is highly dependent on social networking, trust-building and strategic alliances. These NGO networks are addressing political issues which cause global problems and challenges to cope with (e.g., human/women/childrens' rights, poverty, ecological and environmental issues like sustainable development, pollution etc., fair trade, international democratization, peace, health and other problems that are mainly interconnected with implications of globalization). Transnational NGOs and civil society organizations have been fairly successful in setting many of these issues on the public agenda by organizing global campaigns and mobilizing for world-wide protest activities. One central success factor of this international engagement was the early adoption and intense use of new media and internet technologies by NGOs since the early 1990th. Since the new internet technologies, which are summarized by the label 'social web', offer a whole range of new opportunities for social networking, collaborative engagement and the building of social capital among users, it is expected that transnational NGOs and civil society organizations will develop strategies for the appropriation, usage and adaptation of these social web applications for their purposes. 

The presented panel aims to analyze these NGO strategies concerning mobilization and campaigning on the social web. Specifically, possibilities and limitations for the democratization of media and formation of independent media networks, which enable new forms of collective action. The social web- a technical opportunity structure for the emergence of a global civil society? 

It addresses researchers investigating in transnational NGO activities and the socio-technical basic conditions for international NGO networking. The scope of submissions includes (but is not limited to): 

* social web appropriation strategies of NGOs 

* use of social web tools for mobilization and campaigning 

* new forms of transnational NGO collaboration 

* requirements analyses and needs assessment of NGOs and civil society activists 

* development of social web applications for NGOs 

* evaluation studies and case studies 

* quantitative and qualitative analyses 

* empirical research methods for social web technology usage 

* social web applications for open source/open access movement engagement 

* the deliberative quality of protest communication on social networking sites on the web 

* protest communication on commercial formats of social networking sites 

 

Abstract Submission (max. 300 words): http://www.ecpr.org.uk/potsdam/select_panels.asp?panelID=557&sectionID=40 

The deadline for submissions is 1 February 2009.

 
 
Johanna Niesyto 
Universität Siegen 
SFB/FK 615 "Medienumbrüche" 
Am Eichenhang 50
Raum AE-B-103 
D-57068 Siegen 
 
Tel.:+49(0)271/740-4921 
Tel.:+49(0)221/45396322
Fax:+49(0)271/7404924 
 
Internet: http://www.protest-cultures.uni-siegen.de <http://www.protest-cultures.uni-siegen.de/>  
Internet: http://www.fk615.uni-siegen.de/de/teilprojekt.php?projekt=A6 <http://www.fk615.uni-siegen.de/de/teilprojekt.php?projekt=A6>