Online Activism is the future!!!
Natalie Pitimson | 03.08.2006 10:56
My name is Natalie Pitimson and I'm an active member of the Stop the War coalition. My participation over recent years has become a large and important part of my life and I believe strongly that we are able to make a difference.
My experiences as a part of the coalition have led me back into education and I am now studying for my PhD at the University of Warwick. My thesis is concerned with the coalition's use of the internet as a vital tool in its activism and as such, I was wondering if it would be possible to speak with any of you about such matters. I would be really fascinated to hear about your experiences as activists in an online community and the role the internet has played in that, for example, the extent of your relationships with other activist groups, how you may have used the internet to generate new ideas amongst the activist community, and more broadly, how such new technologies are integrated into and have helped you to shape your work. In sum, what value do you believe online activism has to social movements? These are just some ideas I have; I would be delighted to talk about anything else you feel is relevant and important to you, in regards to both your online and offline activism.
I would keep my research as unobtrusive as possible, we can talk via e-mail whenever it is convenient for you and if you wish to remain anonymous I will respect that.
I look forward to hearing from you, and please do feel free to ask any questions of me in regards to my work. Please contact me at
npitimson@yahoo.co.uk to ask questions and/or to volunteer!!
Thanks for your time, all the best!!
Natalie Pitimson
My experiences as a part of the coalition have led me back into education and I am now studying for my PhD at the University of Warwick. My thesis is concerned with the coalition's use of the internet as a vital tool in its activism and as such, I was wondering if it would be possible to speak with any of you about such matters. I would be really fascinated to hear about your experiences as activists in an online community and the role the internet has played in that, for example, the extent of your relationships with other activist groups, how you may have used the internet to generate new ideas amongst the activist community, and more broadly, how such new technologies are integrated into and have helped you to shape your work. In sum, what value do you believe online activism has to social movements? These are just some ideas I have; I would be delighted to talk about anything else you feel is relevant and important to you, in regards to both your online and offline activism.
I would keep my research as unobtrusive as possible, we can talk via e-mail whenever it is convenient for you and if you wish to remain anonymous I will respect that.
I look forward to hearing from you, and please do feel free to ask any questions of me in regards to my work. Please contact me at
![](/img/maillink.gif)
Thanks for your time, all the best!!
Natalie Pitimson
Natalie Pitimson
e-mail:
npitimson@yahoo.co.uk
Comments
Hide the following 5 comments
research on line activism
03.08.2006 13:21
Truthbuster
Stop the War?
03.08.2006 14:49
How many wars have you stopped lately?
Unconvinced
Does anyone EVER fall for this type of ploy?
03.08.2006 18:39
Anyhow, Blair wants agents, the more the better. His network grows by the second. Most will be held in place with simple psychological methods, including the favourite, low level threats (the most common being told that the police will raid their computer, and claim 'child porn' was found on it)..
-Someone is demanding that the rules be changed, and atrocity images printed on the placards, and Blair wants to hear.
-Someone is demanding that protests MUST have demonstratable results, and Blair wants to hear.
-Someone is demanding that police tactics are discussed ahead of the protest, so that they can be neutralised, and Blair wants to hear.
-Someone is demanding that 'operation Blair is a puppet' and 'operation Blair gone by xmas' are recognised as Blair's own psyops, and Blair wants to hear.
-Someone is demanding that in the UK, Blair is the only target NOT Bush, and Blair wants to hear.
-Someone is demanding that preparations are made to film all acts of police brutality to protect activists against police perjury, and Blair wants to hear.
-Someone is demanding that Blair's agents are identified, and removed from leadership positions in the protest organisation, and Blair wants to hear.
Blair hasn't invented this game- it's as old as protest itself. However, when a monster rises to the position of absolute dictator, their desire to play and win this game magnifies to an infinite degree.
The masses empower the dictator, and then their passive support keeps him in power. If the masses actively turn against the monster, he will fall. Therefore, the first priority of monsters like Blair is to disrupt any mechanism that might swing the masses against him.
The 'trainspotter' activists are the most easily and cheaply turned, but the least valuable. The best, but most difficult, are those with sociopathic (or psychopathic as it is sometimes called) personalities. These people lack any sense of true empathy, but regard themselves as gods. See which of this type you can see Blair has running or representing official anti-war movements in the UK.
twilight
Our natalie
03.08.2006 20:09
Results 1 - 6 of 6 search matches for Natalie Pitimson in the whole Warwick web site.
Sort by date | Hide summaries |
1. Table of Contents (Word document) [29 kb] •• March 01, 2006
...Present: Robert Hill (Chair), Natalie Pitimson, Marc Bush, Christina...
...Election: Natalie Pitimson to become new Chair of Postgraduate SSLC...
54%
2. Minutes for the Post-Graduate Sociology SSLC Meeting (Word document) [29 kb] •• October 16, 2005
...Robert Hill, Manveen Kohli, Natalie Pitimson, Mark Smith...
52%
3. Minutes for the Post-Graduate SSLC Meeting (Word document) [29 kb] •• July 03, 2005
...Robert Hill, Manveen Kohli, Natalie Pitimson Chair: Robert...
52%
4. Minutes for the Sociology Postgraduate SSLC Meeting (Word document) [32 kb] •• October 24, 2005
...Present: Robert Hill (chair), Natalie Pitimson, Christina Hughes (staff...
52%
5. Current Topics •• July 18, 2006
...Natalie Pitimson Supervisor(s): Mike Neary, Annie Phizacklea...
52%
6. Postgraduate SSLC •• August 02, 2006
...Natalie Pitimson Mark Smith Christina Hughs (staff rep.) Nickie Charles...
52%
bob
The Spy Who Loved Me
03.08.2006 21:46
Hello Ms Natalie S Pitimson,
I am happy to talk to you via this thread, but helping you with your homework isn't really 'online activism' so it would be more polite to move it to any regsitration free forum you suggest or the admins may hide and thus lock this.I think the previous replies indicate some of the limits of online activism since two instantly accuse you of being an agent. I think Twilight probably suspects Twilights mother of being an agent but it is better to be paranoid than gullible, although too paranoid is as useless as too trusting. Worst case, if you are an FBI agent prepared to sleep with me for incriminating evidence then that'd be great too. Just giving you a quick scan there are a couple of dodgy points - I imagine the fact your blog has this on it would be a turn off for anyone who googled you:
"
- Harvard ? Are you receiving US sponsorship ? And why no blog ? And copyright, what is that about ? I'm copyrighting my reply to you then - you can't use my reply without paying me. Putting your real name is strange too, especially when you have an unusual and thus easily traced name - most people rationally fear identity theft and other nastier things.
People are prepared to lie more readily online due to lack of visual give-aways, and so people are more doubtful online. Also governments and corporations and cults and every form of manipulator watch the people who are sincere and then mimic their posts. However, if you operate on a 'need to know' basis both in real-life and online and check people out before you need to trust them then you can overcome paranoia and organise. You can recruit online for actions if there aren't serious arrests required. You can certainly publicise actions here and someone normally responds. I saw one non-political teenage life-style forum decide for itself to head en masse to a peace camp for a fortnight, and they did some great work seemingly although none of them were activists and no activists persuaded them, they just decided. I once organised a counter-BNP demo from abroad using football forums, that was easier than persuading people here to take part in an action as most people here are already committed to their own stuff.
As to the 'how many wars have you stopped lately' comment, neither Natalie, STWC or anyone here stopped Afghanistan or Iraq or Lebanon or Palestine, but that is no reason to abuse someone who has tried. A lot of anarchists think theres too much of an SWP influence on the STWC, and a lot of the peacemovement are bewildered that few of the local STWCs do anything but march and give speeches. The STWC, even the SWP, are attractive options for people who are just getting turned on to the nature of things. A better anarchist than I'll ever be said they joined the SWP as a youth because 'they were there, they were welcoming, they had a newspaper' or words to that effect. Now they've websites and mailing lists too, a lot of people will pass on from them to us and should be welcomed, so here is my answer:
I like the internets influence of the way of thinking of new activists - more and more people expect everything that they contribute to to be non-hierarchical because they are used to the net and see the net as non-hierarchical.
Most of us work in groups that range from large families to small tribes of potential helpers, limited amounts of people in other words, so perhaps the best thing about the net is that if someone links a company in Hove to an issue, then someone in Warwick would know to relate it to the same corporation on their street. They can hit their local company rather than travelling. Its a slight redress against the power of globalisation in that regard. Plus techniques, tactics and strategies that have recently worked for one campaign often can be employed in other campaigns - in this way multi-issue sites like IM are better than single issue sites. Plus information is more useful when it's instant, there is no use reading in print a call to save some wood that was chopped down last month. Plus more information is easily retrievable and so it is easier to investigate. I surprised myself how many positives I thought of.
The recent arrests of Chinese activists grassed up by ISPs highlights the dangers we all face using any technology, never mind the sort of obvious smear the Met pulled today with the Forestgate porn allegation. Most great activists I've met aren't great with IT security and if you so much as type up and print something about an action on a computer that is connected to the net then assume the authorities have access to it. They are currently overwhelmed with information but they are getting better at dealing with this. I guess most of the things I've listed apply to pre-internet activim too, the main difference is the impact of the increased speed. The ruling elite has the best technology and although technology speeds us up, it speeds them more.
The only sort of genuine online activism in my opinion - actual acts - is hactivism, hacking into computers, everything else is simply publicity and socialising. Saying that those are essential things too and I don't regard leafletting or marches as activism either. Don't feel bad that people are suspicious and negative, most people don't investigate much beyond googling and your google-results aren't flattering. Assume a non de plume for your own safety in future though, Wendy would worry about you.
Danny
Not Fussy