From social media to social change?

Insights into digital development trends

Dr. Tobias Denskus Malmö högskola

#smwcph‘Communication for Development at a Crossroads –

The Challenge of Social Movements’, UN City, 20 February 2014

Introduction: A picture says more… Social media & advocacy Social media & humanitarian aid Social media & Rest of Development (RoD) Blogs & development Twitter & development TED talks & development Conclusion: The elephants in the room…

A CNN journalist’s tweet goes viral…

…and then the full picture emerges Power of and trust in traditional media Professional response from UNHCR However, millions of people still affected by crisis

‘Technology, without changing the social context of its implementation, merely reinforces existing inequalities.’(Mandiberg 2012)

‘More research is needed to determine to what degree political tweets influence the agenda of news media outlets and the public’(Parmelee & Bichard 2013)

‘By acknowledging complexity, using an empowerment rather than a savior model, and recognizing and respecting the limits of our role in such a crisis, we can work to avoid “badvocacy”’ (Seay in Taub 2012)

‘Volunteer engagement in Twitter analysis after the Baluchistan quake produced 0 relevant tweets, but: outsourcing this work allowed responders to focus on other things without committing scarce resources’ (Luege 2013)

’Big data’ and crowd-engagement are in their infancy

Micro impact under-researched Humanitarian industry is already constantly

engaging with operational, political and philosophical challenges

‘Fresia analyses how a consensus was imagined, negotiated and constructed in the executive committee of the UNHCR

until the subtleties of form disguise oppositions…She observed over a period of several months how a small group of diplomats & lawyers from UNHCR elaborated, through arduous discussions, a soft & uncommitted text’(Mueller 2013)

Research: Blogs & development

Qualitative research based on interviews with development bloggers

Blogging as reflective writing tool for students & aid workers

Little impact on formal structures, power relations & decision-making

Admittances of failure & insights into realities of the aid industry have introduced reflective writing

Blogging remains a bottom-up process that has only begun to trickle up into formal places & spaces

Research: Twitter & development

Qualitative & quantitative analysis of ~3,000 tweets & 108 blog posts on UN MDG Summit

World conferences are still a powerful, invited ritual space (and little has changed since the Earth Summit in 1992)

Virtual debate was dominated by global Northern experts

Celebrities (Clinton, Gates, Sachs) and celebrity content (TED presentations) were shared often

No communication between ‘blogosphere’ and official delegates

Research: TED talks & development

Qualitative & quantitative analysis of 38 TED talks on ‘international development’

TED’s complex, paradoxical franchising strategy: Enabling access for speakers from around the world, including the global South, but exporting a digitalized one-size-fits-all global model

Structural issues, from power to mediatization and ritual dynamics, are very present in emergent forms of digital media.

‘Not only because the humanitarian imaginary needs to balance a delicate act between judgment without over-rationalization, emotion without sentimentalism and an awareness of its paradoxes without surrendering the hope of representation.

But because we, too, have to balance an equally delicate act between being good to others whilst skeptical about any justification for such goodness that transcends ourselves.’ (Chouliaraki 2013)

Conclusion Social media & the elephants in the room:

Traditional discourses, rituals, organizations & power relations are still dominant

The governmentality of technology, big data & (social) media needs more critical attention (dual use, ‘ICT 4 Bad’)

From reactive ‘peaks’ to proactive routines

Development education & Communication for Development are transforming through social media

ComDev portal wpmu.mah.se/comdev

References Chouliaraki, L. 2013: The Ironic Spectator.

Solidarity in the age of post-humanitarianism, Oxford: Polity Press.

Denskus, T., Papan, A. 2013: Reflexive engagements: the international development blogging evolution and its challenges, Development in Practice 23: 435-447.

Denskus, T., Esser, D. 2013: Social Media and Global Development Rituals: a content analysis of blogs and tweets on the 2010 MDG Summit, Third World Quarterly 34: 409-424.

References Mandiberg, M. 2012: The Social Media

Reader, New York, NY: NYU Press. Mueller, B. 2013: The Gloss of Harmony. The

Politics of Policy-Making in Multilateral Organisations. London: Pluto Press.

Parmelee, J.H; Bichard, S.L 2013: Politics and the Twitter Revolution. How Tweets Influence the Relationship between Political Leaders and the Public, Plymouth: Lexington Books.

Taub, A. 2012:Beyond #Kony2012: Atrocity, Awareness + Activism in the Internet Age, Leanpub ebook.

Emailtobias.denskus@mah.se

Bloghttp://www.aidnography.de

Twitter @aidnography