Observatorio (OBS*)

Media practices and the challenge of political asymmetries

Digital resources in popular media practices in Brazil: strategies to reduce asymmetries in the public debate

This article discusses issues related to the development of popular media in the context of an asymmetric democracy, such as Brazil. It is mostly based in an empirical study which included 55 media experiences all over the country. The objective is to observe the use of digital resources in media practices developed by social movements and community associations, analyzing how it can contribute to the emergence of a plurality of voices in the public debate. The findings suggest a concrete improvement in the media production process and also in the capacity of reaching audiences, especially those outside their niches. But as long as this enlargement of diffusion range can be read as a progress, it also reveals paradoxes while grassroots communities stand far from a stable connected world. The answer could come from a stronger articulation between digital and analogical media strategies.

Between opportunities and threats - an analysis of Brazilian Landless Workers' movement experiences with new media technologies

Recent discussions and research about the uses of digital social media platforms by social movements and protest organizations have raised questions about threats and challenges represented by these technologies. There is also a debate on whether digital social media platforms can contribute to establish and strengthen long-standing oppositional groups and structural change. In this context, this article analyses how the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST) experiences and views the use of digital social media platforms in its communicative processes. Based on interviews and observations, the article shows how MST militants present ambivalent views towards platforms such as Facebook and Twitter and towards the dynamics of digital communication. Conclusions point that the main concern is threat to the organic collective character of the movement posed by individualistic digital social media platforms. Different from contemporary protest organisations, MST sees a clear separation between the movement and its media. The goal is to appropriate of and control media technologies, which brings many difficulties when dealing with digital social media platforms.

Espacio público, desacuerdos y desigualdades: la expresión pública de los activistas en internet

Este artículo presenta algunos resultados de investigación sobre la expresión pública de los activistas en internet, en contextos locales. El objetivo del texto es explorar algunos desafíos de las prácticas de comunicación en línea al concepto de espacio público. Se incluye una breve descripción del contexto mediático-tecnológico en diferentes niveles: global, latinoamericano, nacional y local. El marco teórico se sitúa en la comunicación, desde una perspectiva sociocultural, y dialoga con la sociología de movimientos sociales y la filosofía política. El enfoque metodológico fue etnográfico, con dos grupos activistas en Aguascalientes, México, en tres espacios de comunicación: la red, la calle y los medios. Los datos fueron recabados mediante etnografía virtual, entrevistas semi-estructuradas, observación participante y monitoreo de medios. En este texto, presento tres hallazgos principales: 1) la visibilidad de la expresión pública de los activistas en internet tiene diferentes lógicas, se relaciona con coyunturas específicas y con las lógicas de las comunidades activistas; 2) la comunicación puede ser entendida como espacio de desacuerdos, los activistas tienen sus propias visiones del mundo, que generalmente se oponen a las visiones dominantes del mundo; 3) la comunicación puede ser también entendida como espacio de desigualdades, los activistas acceden a la expresión pública en condiciones de desigualdades y asimetrías. Estos resultados contribuyen a discutir sobre el espacio público en la era global.

This article reports some findings of a study about the online public expression by activists in a local context. The objective of this paper is to explore some challenges of online communication practices to the concept of public space. There are a short description of media and ICT's context in different levels: global, Latin American, national, and local. The theoretical framework in communication, from a sociocultural perspective, dialogues with sociology of social movements and political philosophy. The methodological approach was ethnography, with two activist groups in Aguascalientes, Mexico, in three spaces of communication: internet, the streets, and the media. The data collection methods included virtual ethnography, semi-structured interviews, participative observation, and media monitoring. In this text, I present three main findings: 1) visibility of online public expression by activists has different logics, it is related with specific social situations and with the logics of the activist communities; 2) communication could be understood as a space of differences, activists have their very own worldviews and those are generally opposed to the dominant worldviews; 3) communication could be understood too as a space of inequalities, activist access to public expression in conditions of inequalities and asymmetries. These findings contribute to the discussion about public space in the global age.

Violence expressive, e-participation et mouvements sociaux: le caractère identitaire des revendications politiques

Alors que la violence expressive en tant qu'événement perturbateur est un outil des mouvements sociaux, l'évolution du paysage médiatique a renouvelé les modalités de cette forme d'action ainsi que les possibilités d'investigation de ses ressorts sociologiques. Cette évolution est ici saisie : l'article examine comment les médias participatifs co-déterminent les messages à caractère politique au travers des e-participations, puis il considère les ressorts sociologiques du développement de cette forme d'action grâce aux e-participations des acteurs. Le phénomène des school shootings sert d'étude de cas. La démonstration s'appuie sur le suivi ethnographique, réalisé sur une période de trois ans sur YouTube, des e-participations des auteurs des fusillades scolaires et de leurs fans. L'article démontre alors que le caractère individuant de ces usages médiatiques prévaut sur leurs dimensions politiques. La violence expressive, employée par certains acteurs contemporains au sein des mouvements sociaux, n'est pas tant employée pour promouvoir des idéaux ou des aspirations politiques mais plutôt en vue de glorifier l'individualité, parfois à titre posthume, et d'adresser un message de revanche identitaire à un ennemi imaginaire. Cet exercice doit est indissociable des dernières avancées technologiques.

While expressive violence as a disruptive event is an instrument used in social movements, the changing media landscape has renewed the methods linked to this form of action and the investigation possibilities of its sociological origins. This double evolution is grasped here: the article observes how participatory media co-determine political messages when expressive violence serves as a vector for social movements and then considers the sociological roots from which this form of action stemmed and developed. The phenomenon of school shootings serves as a case study. A three-year ethnographic study of the e-participations published by authors of expressive violence and their public on YouTube serves to show how participatory media renew forms of adherence and social protest. It also unveils the reasons for this type of action. The author demonstrates how these media usages are exploited as a means of individuation, this use prevailing over their political dimensions. The expressive violence is actually used by some social movements not to promote ideals or political aspirations but rather to glorify individuality, sometimes posthumously, and to send a message of vengeance, demanding recognition as an individual from an imaginary enemy.

Quels médias pour se ré-approprier une voix? L'investissement d'internet par le mouvement dalit

Cette communication s'attache à exposer la stratégie médiatique du mouvement dalit, mouvement social indien porté par des militants appartenant aux populations considérées comme intouchables. La présente étude est particulièrement centrée sur la construction par ces militants d'espaces médiatiques à la fois libres et sécurisés, qui permettent la production d'un dialogue, puis d'un discours communautaire, à travers la mobilisation des dispositifs socio-techniques d'internet. Sera exposé dans un premier temps le rapport aux médias de masse de ce mouvement, marqué par un rejet qui accompagne un fort sentiment d'exclusion. Puis, nous examinerons leurs stratégies d'occupation et de mobilisation de l'espace web comme lieu de mémoire, bulle sécurisée, et champ de bataille idéologique.

This presentation is aiming at exposing the media strategy of the dalit movement, an Indian social movement lead by activists, who belong to the so-called « untouchable » populations. This study is especially centered on the way they build media spaces that are seen as both free and safe, allowing them to produce discourses within their community through the mobilisation of the socio-technical tools of the internet. We will expose to begin with the relationship of this movement with the Indian media, marked by a strong rejection fed by a feeling of exclusion. Then, we shall discuss their occupation and mobilisation strategies on the online space, perceived as a place of memory, a safe bubble, as well as an ideological battlefield.

Is There an App for Everything? Potentials and Limits of Civic Hacking

The present article analyzes potential and limits of crowdsourcing software (mobile and web applications) as tools for civic participation. Based on an empiric study of six Russian and French civic applications, developed in response to a particular public problem (corruption, electoral falsifications, police violence and urban problems), the article proposes to address the problem of digital asymmetry from the perspective of pragmatism, STS and software studies The author focuses on the phase of design, coding and testing, and analyzes the procedures of standardization and classification necessary for developing the interfaces. While standardization seems inevitable from the technical point of view, it produces a particular form of asymmetry between the lived experience of a “trouble” and the categorical grid. Developing a civic application, coders propose a certain definition of a public problem and rectify it in the interface. The article argues that an active participation of users in the improvement of the application may help to overcome the limits and asymmetries.

La red como cronotopo: Internet y prácticas políticas en el Movimiento Estudiantil Colombiano Mane y Occupy São Paulo

Este trabajo aborda dos movimientos que emergieron en el año 2011: La Mane en Colombia y Ocupa Sampa en Brasil. El primero es un movimiento estudiantil que comparte características en común con movimientos en España y Chile. El segundo es un movimiento urbano que integra factores locales con diversos elementos simbólicos del movimiento Occupy. La investigación se centra en los usos de internet analizando las disputas por la visibilidad en la calles y en la web. La noción de red como cronotopo se propone como herramienta de análisis para entender la integración de los órdenes espacio-temporales de realidad online y offline. A través del estudio de los grafos realizados basados en las dinámicas en Facebook de ambos movimientos se analiza la emergencia de realidades multi-centradas y multi-temporales: la yuxtaposición entre diversos centros y periferias y entre diversos referentes del tiempo crean un nuevo marco de interpretación de los movimientos contemporáneos que usan plataformas digitales como Facebook. La red como cronotopo se constituye en una herramienta para interrogar procesos socio-políticos actuales de continuidad y cambio.

This paper compares two movements that emerged during the same 2011 period: the Mane in Colombia and Ocupa Sampa in Brazil. The first is a student movement that has similarities with the cases of Spain and Chile. The second is an urban movement that mixes local factors with many of the symbolic elements of the Occupy movement. The study focuses on the political uses of the internet, analysing battles for visibility in the streets and on the net. The concept of the network as chronotope is used to understand the hybrid forms that integrate online and offline spatio-temporalities. Comparing activity graphs based on the Facebook sites of both movements, a multicentered and a multitemporal social reality emerges: a mixture between several centres and peripheries and between several past-present-future moments that creates a new interpretive framework for the contemporary movements that use digital platforms as Facebook. The network as chronotope is a way to question the current socio-political processes of continuity and change.

Redes de confianza online y flash mobs: movilizados por la educación

El movimiento estudiantil chileno más masivo después del retorno a la democracia emerge durante el año 2011 con demandas estructurales al sistema educativo como ponerle “fin al lucro”, exigiendo calidad y gratuidad en la educación. Un elemento clave de su alcance fue el uso intensivo de plataformas online como medio de organización, difusión y debate. Por lo cual, el objetivo de este estudio es analizar las “redes de confianza online”, revisitando el concepto de Tilly atravesadas por procedimientos de la sociedad red y el uso de Internet, focalizándonos en una forma particular de expresión de acción colectiva como son los flash mobs. La metodología utilizada fue cualitativa mediante el análisis de entrevistas semiestructuradas y focus groups a líderes y organizadores de flash mobs, así como a líderes en general del movimiento estudiantil. Como resultados de esta investigación exploratoria, se observan “redes de confianza online” configuradas a partir de plataformas online que permiten vincular sujetos desconocidos entre sí en torno a un objetivo común. Estas “redes de confianza online” particulares de los flash mobs surgen de manera rápida, con lazos fuertes para su ejecución pero ligeras en su permanencia y disolución.

The largest Chilean student movement after the return of democracy emerged during 2011, with structural demands about the educational system, such as an end to profit in education, and free education of quality. A key element of the reach of the students was the intensive use of online platforms as a means of organization, dissemination, and debate. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analize the “online trust networks” Tilly's concept penetrated by procedures of the online society and the use of the internet, focusing on a particular form of collective action, that of flash mobs. The methodology used is qualitative analysis, using semi-structured interviews and focus groups with the leaders and organizers of the flash mobs, as well as leaders of the student movement in general. As a result of this exploratory research, ῝online trust networks῞ configured from online platforms that make it possible to link unknown individuals together around a common goal are observed. These specific ῝online trust networks῞ of the flash mobs arise quickly, with strong ties for their execution but weak in their permanence and dissolution.

¿Cómo contribuyen las redes sociales en el desarrollo de la subjetividad en sociedades autoritarias? El caso de #YoSoy132 en México

Este artículo pretende mostrar cómo las redes sociales están afectando a las estructuras tradicionales de poder en México, considerado como un país de gobierno predominantemente autoritario. Las conversaciones en línea aportan gran visibilidad a sus usuarios. Enunciaremos las características del porqué consideramos que México es un país autoritario. Posteriormente, con el #YoSoy132, demostraremos que las conversaciones en línea se han vuelto prácticas comunes que pueden fortalecer la ciudadanía. Éstas prácticas innovan la producción informativa y permiten la vigilancia ciudadana, por lo que vuelven visible a los actores. Antes de la existencia de ellas, el control gubernamental iba de la mano de prácticas opacas con la complicidad de los medios masivos. Examinamos el conflicto existente entre las prácticas autoritarias y la lógica de la visibilidad, la cual entendemos como un nuevo comportamiento ciudadano que emerge del discurso aficionado de las redes sociales y del mundo audiovisual. Gracias a la metodología construida y el marco conceptual de movimientos sociales, analizamos las conversaciones en línea como evidencia empírica de una nueva forma ciudadana encarnada en el movimiento nacido en las redes. Encontramos un nuevo imaginario simbólico cívico correspondiente al momento sociocultural de la primera década de 2000.

This paper seeks to address how social media is shaping the traditional structures of power in some countries known to have an authoritarian government, such being the case of Mexico. Online conversations give users tremendous visibility. We will enlist the characteristics of why Mexico is considered authoritarian. Then, with the example of #YoSoy132, we will argue how social media conversations are becoming a common practice that can strengthen citizenship. We will prove that these practices innovate information production and allow citizen surveillance, therefore they make users visible actors. Before social media, government control went hand in hand with opaque practices and collusion of mass media. We examine the conflict between authoritarian practices in Mexico and the logic of visibility, that we understand as a form of citizenship behavior emerging in amateur social media discourse that nourishes itself from the audiovisual world. Relying on a methodology based on a conceptual framework of social movements, we analyzed online conversations as empirical evidence of the social media movement. We find a civic symbolic imaginary that corresponds to the sociocultural moment of the first decade of 2000.

(Social) Media isn't the message, networked people are: calls for protest through social media

In recent years, protests took the streets of cities around the world. Among the mobilizing factors were the perceptions of injustice, democratization demands, and, in the case of liberal democracies, waves of discontentment characterized by a mix of demands for better public services and changes in the discredited democratic institutions. This paper discusses social media usage in mobilization for demonstrations around the world, and how such use configures a paradigmatic example of how communication occurs in network societies. In order to frame the discussion, social media appropriation for the purposes of political participation is examined through a survey applied online in 17 countries. The ways in which social media domestication by a myriad of social actors occurred and institutional responses to demonstrations developed, it is argued that, in the network society, networked people, and no longer the media, are the message.