Social Media & the Arab Spring: First Looks

16 new research articles about the roles of social media and the Arab Spring have been published in the International Journal of Communication.  All of the articles can be viewed for free online and are linked to  below.

Of particular note is “The Revolutions Were Tweeted,” which is presented here in a very cool graphic.

Also, my paper co-authored with Sahar El Zahed, ” “I’ll Be Waiting for You Guys”: A YouTube Call to Action in the Egyptian Revolution,” which focuses on the videos created by youth activist Asmaa Mahfouz and argues that a new political media logic has formed in Egypt, is part of the collection. (See original video below.)

The Arab Spring & the Role of ICTs| Introduction	PDF
Ilhem Allagui, Johanne Kuebler	8 pgs.

The Arab Spring| Nextopia? Beyond Revolution 2.0	Abstract PDF
Albrecht Hofheinz	18 pgs.

The Arab Spring| Analyzing the Role of ICTs in the Tunisian and Egyptian Unrest from an Information Warfare Perspective	Abstract PDF
Brett van Niekerk, Kiru Pillay, Manoj Maharaj	11 pgs.

The Arab Spring| The Revolutions Were Tweeted: Information Flows during the 2011 Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions	Abstract PDF
Gilad Lotan, Erhardt Graeff, Mike Ananny, Devin Gaffney, Ian Pearce, danah boyd	31 pgs.

The Arab Spring| Overthrowing the Protest Paradigm? How The New York Times, Global Voices and Twitter Covered the Egyptian Revolution	Abstract PDF
Summer Harlow, Thomas J. Johnson	16 pgs.

The Arab Spring| The Egyptian Experience: Sense and Nonsense of the Internet Revolution	Abstract PDF
Miriyam Aouragh, Anne Alexander	15 pgs.

The Arab Spring| WikiRevolutions: Wikipedia as a Lens for Studying the Real-Time Formation of Collective Memories of Revolutions	Abstract PDF
Michela Ferron, Paolo Massa	20 pgs.

The Arab Spring| “I’ll Be Waiting for You Guys”: A YouTube Call to Action in the Egyptian Revolution	Abstract PDF
Melissa Wall, Sahar El Zahed	11 pgs.

The Arab Spring| Local Knowledge and the Revolutions: A Framework for Social Media Information Flow	Abstract PDF
Victoria Ann Newsom, Lara Lengel, Catherine Cassara	10 pgs.

The Arab Spring| “I Have Understood You”: The Co-evolution of Expression and Control on the Internet, Television and Mobile Phones During the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia	Abstract PDF
Ben Wagner	8 pgs.

The Arab Spring| Politics through Social Networks and Politics by Government Blocking: Do We Need New Rules?	Abstract PDF
Rolf H. Weber	9 pgs.

The Arab Spring| Media Ecologies, Communication Culture, and Temporal-spatial Unfolding: Three Components in a Communication Model of the Egyptian Regime Change	Abstract PDF
Eike M. Rinke, Maria Röder	13 pgs.

The Arab Spring| Digital Media in the Egyptian Revolution: Descriptive Analysis from the Tahrir Data Set	Abstract PDF
Christopher Wilson, Alexandra Dunn	25 pgs.

The Arab Spring| Extra-National Information Flows, Social Media and the 2011 Egyptian Uprising	Abstract PDF
Adrienne Russell	10 pgs.

The Arab Spring| Connecting the National and the Virtual: Can Social Media Have a Role in Institution-building After Egypt’s January 25 Uprising?	Abstract PDF
Elizabeth Iskander	13 pgs.

The Arab Spring| Social Media in the Egyptian Revolution: Reconsidering Resource Mobilization Theory	Abstract PDF
Nahed Eltantawy, Julie B. Wiest	18 pgs.

The Arab Spring| A Revolution of the Imagination	Abstract PDF
Tarik Ahmed Elseewi	10 pgs.

“Window on a Wider World”: Guardian’s US Edition Launches

Image via Wikipedia

The US version of the UK’s Guardian has arrived.

In their explanation for why they are attempting to crack the insular American market, they mention the popularity of their Middle East and other international coverage with US audiences.

Why might they succeed?

My research with Douglas Bicket suggests: “Cultural familiarity” for US readers along with “shared vales of Anglo-American journalism.”  Different but not too different.  British news overall is more aggressive and cheekier (and some claim sloppier) than American.  They thrive on reporting from around the world.  They talk back to politicians.  They’re not afraid of Rupert Murdoch.

Where might they have trouble?

Consider The Guardian’s attempt to insert itself into the US Presidential election in 2004 when it launched a letter writing campaign in a county in Ohio. They  asked their global audience to contact residents in Clark County (the Guardian would supply addresses of registered voters)  and explain to them how their vote affected people all over the world due to US foreign policy.  While newspaper “campaigns” are common in Britain, this one at least didn’t take with American audiences.

A huge backlash ensued.  Their site was hacked and the American media (don’t like competition do we?) piled on.

Good luck to the Guardian.  You may need it.

Geotagging Muslims in Thailand

Image via Wikipedia

My paper co-authored with Treepon Kirdnark about geotagging Flickr photographs of Muslims will appear in a forthcoming issue of new Media &  Society.

We argue that geotags  - markers designating longitude and latitude on an online map – associated with photographs of Thailand’s Muslims might be replicating common stereotypes of that minority group.  LIke in the US, most Thais are part of a majority religion (for them, Buddhism) but there is in fact a diverse range of Muslims in Thailand (ethnically Malay Muslims, Chinese Muslims, South Asian and Middle Eastern Muslims, etc.)

Our findings are interesting in part because the arguments about participatory media are that they open up new spaces and news ways of representing previously ignored groups.  Yet our research suggests that isn’t necessarily so.   One reason may be the lack of Thai participation on Flickr and similar sites.

Can it be a British invasion if they’re already here?

Over at Nieman Lab, Ken Doctor outlines the various efforts by British news media to gain more of an American foothold online in order to shore up eroding balance sheets.  But is this new?

Photo by Ell Brown, Creative Commons License

In two studies — “Window on a Wider World“ and “BBC News in the U.S.: A ‘Super-Alternative’ News Medium Emerges” – Dougie Bicket and I argued that elite British news media such as the BBC, The Economist and the Guardian experienced large increases in US audiences not long after 911.  We suggested that the British news media were filling a void created by shrinking US international news coverage as well as providing a broader range of liberal political views.

The BBC in particular carries an aura of credibility and independence from US forces that sets it apart from US mainstream news media.  Yet its rise is not without problems. The conservative triad of blogs, print media and think tanks try to keep even foreign media such as the BBC in line once they show up on our shores. (See The “Baghdad Broadcasting Corporation”: US conservatives take aim at the BBC).

Participatory Media & Thai Politics: Roles of YouTube and Blogs

Photo by Satsueisha Wiki (Creative Commons)

With Thailand’s elections coming up in a few days, I thought it was worth mentioning that I’ve got a couple of book chapters (co-authored with Bangkok University’s Treepon Kirdnark) on the intersections of participatory media and Thai politics coming out later this year.

“Digitizing Discontent: YouTube and Thailand’s Red Shirt Uprising” will appear in Ralph Berenger’s edited volume, Social Media Go to War: Rage, Rebellion and Revolution in the Age of Twitter.   

“The Blogosphere in the ‘Land of Smiles’: Citizen Media and Political Conflict in Thailand” will be part of Tatyana Dumova and Richard Fiordo’s  Blogging in the Global Society: Cultural, Political and Geographical Aspects.

With all the attention on the Middle East, it’s worth considering how other parts of the world are using networked communication forms amidst political turmoil.