Strategic Use New Media Peaceful Social Change

Strategic Use of New Media for Peaceful Social Change 1
Introduction
INTRODUCTION
Why this guidebook and what to
expect
The role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and especially
social media, in exchanging and disseminating information and enhancing
public awareness as well as enabling collective action, collaborative
initiatives and rapid mobilization, has now become a non-contested matter
of fact. Some have gone as far as calling them “liberation technologies” that
have helped herald a “fourth wave of democracy” in parts of the Middle East
and North Africa in recent years. 1
Those technologies were mostly embraced by non-organized citizens in
closed societies where the physical space for discussion was not available
and where thousands of people were moving to virtual spaces online to
allow the free expression of opinions, the building of complex networks,
the creation of social capital and finally political/social organization and
mobilization. 2
Digital technology has therefore revolutionized the way citizens and interest
groups communicate and share information as well as the ease, scope and
reach of activities due to the speed, reliability, scale, relative security and low
cost of digital networks. 3
To capitalize on these “liberation technologies,” this guide is written with the
intention of targeting the Sudanese civil society in its most diverse sense,
including journalists, pro-democracy activists, youth movement members
and those working in the humanitarian sector, as well as non-organized
citizens seeking to increase their civic participation in the public domain
and online. It is a “how to” guide that stirs users toward good practices in
using social media and ICTs more strategically for advocacy, campaigning,
mobilization, dissemination of information and crowdsourcing. Our
discussion will shed light on how digital activism is being used; when it is
successful; and what impact it has on social movement processes and on
the scale of change.
1 Philip N. Howard and Muzammil M. Hussain. Democracy’s Fourth Wave? Digital
Media and the Arab Spring. Oxford University Press. 2013.
2 Ibid., pp. 17-18.
3 Mary Joyce. Digital Activism Decoded: The New Mechanics of Change.
International Debate Education Association, New York and Amsterdam. 2010.
P. viii.