3 New thesis statements

Fix by professor :

Historically, activists for social changes and political movements have leveraged the dominant media of their times, print, radio, TV, and art. In the information age this trend has not changed. Social Networking sites have already shown their effectiveness as a tool for activism.  Unlike other media, games on social networking websites can engage their audience while disseminating information and can be a powerful new tool for activism.

Fixed 2:

Historically, activists for social changes and political movements have leveraged the dominant media of their times, print, radio, TV, and art, and this trend has not changed In the information age. Social Networking sites have already shown their effectiveness as a tool for activism. Unlike other media, games on social networking websites can engage their audience while disseminating information and can be a powerful new tool for activism.

1.       1. (historical background of social movement)

The early growth of social movement was associated with political changes and economic in 18^th century, and after 1945, the new social movement appeared which including peace, civil right, women’s right, gay’s right, anti-nuclear and environment movements. The media use for them has been changing along with time that including protest, sit quietly, movie, radio, advertising, website, and so on, and most of them are “Art.” Like most controversial artworks in the past, game as a new media in recent time has many features that emphasized the power of social networking connection and interactivity, so social networking websites game can become a new media for Activism.  

2.    2.  (social movement life cycle)

Social movement is eternal whose life cycle are created, grow, successes of failures, and dissolve and to cause to exist. Unlike other media for Activism, games are updateable which allows the participants to release and absorb new issues without re-organize new groups, so social networking website games is a suitable platform for Activism.

3.   3.   (Commons purposes of media use of social movement )

Social movement is important protest for people who have been ignored for their needs, and the common purposes of those media have been used for protest are dissemination of information, assembled crowd, and attract attention, and social networking website game has above characteristics at the same time which can be a new and powerful media for Activism.

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.)