[ecrea] Digital activism #now conference - Information Politics, Digital Culture and Global Protest Movements

DIGITAL ACTIVISM #NOW conference

Information Politics, Digital Culture and Global Protest Movements

King’s College London – April 4th 2014

Confirmed speakers: Clare Birchall, Gabriella Coleman, Paolo Gerbaudo, 
Joss Hands, Tim Jordan and Guobin Yang
Twitter: @KingsDCS #DigitalActivismNow #DAconf
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/HXs2Hf
Blog: http://wp.me/p1BSEo-29
Sign up at 
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/digital-activism-now-tickets-9047139237

The so-called web 2.0 of social network sites was invented as a business 
strategy to react to the dot.com bust and, as revealed by the NSA 
scandal, it has been heavily used by the state as a tool of 
surveillance. Yet, this space has also seen the rise of new powerful 
forms of digital activism, as seen in the adoption of Facebook and 
Twitter as means of mass mobilisation in the context of the Arab 
revolutions, the Spanish indignados and of Occupy Wall Street.

These contradictions raise a number of burning questions for 
contemporary digital activists. What are the real opportunities and 
threats for digital activism at the time of social network sites and big 
data? How can protest movements make use of the power of mass diffusion 
and collective coordination afforded by social media without falling 
prey of state monitoring or cultural banalisation? And is it better to 
invest energy in creating alternative and non-commercial communication 
platforms or in "occupying" the digital mainstream?

The "Digital Activism #Now" conference will explore emerging digital 
protest practices at a time of increasing diffusion of social media and 
progressive massification and commercialisation of the web. By gathering 
leading international researchers and activists we will examine how 
digital activists are making use of the affordances of the social web. 
Moreover, we will debate the main issues of contention among 
contemporary digital activists, faced with increasing possibilities of 
mass outreach but also with new dangers.

Among the issues covered by the conference will feature the role of 
social network sites in contemporary protests, hacktivism at the time of 
Anonymous and Lulzsec, the activist use of digital culture, internet 
memes, and online pranks, as means of digital propaganda and the 
politics of transparency and secrecy in digital whistleblowing.

The conference is supported by the Culture, Media and Creative 
Industries and Digital Humanities Departments, by the China Lau 
Institute and the North America Institute, all at King’s College London.







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