Reading Summation 3 – Multiple Engagement and Network Bridging in Contentious Politics: Digital Media Use of Protest Participants by Jeroen Van Laer

There are two purposes of this paper which are to promote the use of digital media in the controversial events that extent to which engagement in multiple social movements and the degree of Activism in the cause of the overlapping network of linkages between social changes. Through three different types of protest surveys, this article including nation (keeping constant nation), issues (keeping constant issue), and time (keeping constant both nation and issue) for investigating how digital media have been used in sustaining multiple engagements in different protest events and different movement organizations. Activists can maintain multiple contacts and manage weak links with different community protests and movements through information and communication technology (ICT). The use of ICT is beneficial of multiple engagements and network bridging. Jeroen Van Laer mentions that the growing of digital media has huge effects the protest participation and social movement on research. Also, Laer point out that if social technology can be easier to build, maintain, and cross network, it may be changing the dynamic of protest networks. In recent day, students pay more attention on learning digital media for using on social movements than in the past.

Moreover, Laer whant to figure the extent of digital media use that allow the combination of multiple engagements with diverse causes. He analyzes two aspects of this question from individuals (micro-level) and movement organizations (meso-level.) Lear believes that digital media can embed in more diverse social network and makes individuals more “mobilizable” for different reasons. No matter individuals or organizations, ICT is the way for them to link to each other. The common problem for multiple activists is to link across different organization networks and issues, and ICT can fix this problem easily because activists believe in ICT for combining their multiple engagements and the different social changes was provided by these overlapping linkages.      

Additionally, Laer anticipates that in these different stages of the protest cycles, internet and it power of linkages have different effects. Laer separates three different form usage of internet in political purposes which are the changes of social and political, getting political information, and the use of email.

Through fourteen different demonstrations and 6,423 individual respondents of surveys, Laer analyzes the statistics into fourteen charts which including some point that he wants to prove, and age, gender, and education level become the standard. The result of the statistics shows that age is the strongest socio- demographic of organization and protest, and younger people cannot maintain long time of protest because they are less diversely active in the average.

For sort, the usage of digital media is through ICT, one can notify his or her political status and strive social changing which are to promote multiple engagements. Also, base on the large number of digital media, activists can get political information and engage in social change.  The result that found in this article brings social media the center of social movement research and contentious politics, and mark a new definition of ICT in GJM (Global Justice Movement.)