#NMN Reflections

The #NMN course was challenging, funny, and practical. It made me think more critically, put my creative mind to the test, and expanded my knowledge about how to use digital technology to tell my stories.

I can surely say that all the readings and other resources (such as videos) impressed me. However, one of the materials that changed my way of thinking was @inanimatealice. This made me think about the idea of immersive learning. How powerful is the technology today, if it allows the viewer to directly participate in the story! Literally. It's true: @inanimatealice  convinced me to look online for more information about immersive learning as I wondered myself how easy would be to learn a new language, for example, if, just like Alice, we start travel around the world (she already shared with us bit of geography).

Perhaps I am a bit eccentric, but I imagine the future of learning depending 100% on New Media. Just like that:you go to your class, meet your teacher and classmates (their avatars, or their holograms, maybe) and the next minute you are with your class in Egypt, learning about the pyramids.

Did I change my thinking about new media?  Maybe a bit too much…

Finally, I was impressed about the power of new media in terms of protests and online activism. Although my petition Remove The Cyanide and Other Toxic Ingredients from Our Table Salt! didn’t benefit from traditional media endorsement as it was just a personal concern of mine, I still have gotten ten supporters. Yeeey! So, I can say that learning in this course how to create an online petition, helped reach my goal: “if some people will check the ingredients on the salt packages, and make the right choice when buying salt, this petition will make a difference”.

ac·tiv·ism

ac·tiv·ism

noun: activism

1 the policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change.

Activism is such a big word, it implies commitment, energy, motion.  Yet online activism gets downgraded into slacktivism, something Morozov (2009) refers to as ‘political activities that have no impact on real–life political outcomes, but only serve to increase the feel–good factor of the participants’. Christensen  (2011) too believes that online activism is less effective and leads to lower overall levels of participation. Yet, I’m not so sure I agree with them. Yes, people may not be going down to the town square to protest or throw their support behind a movement such as the search for equality but there is the power to share, to make aware, to connect. Raine et al. (2012) argue that people who use social media are more politically active and civically engaged.  Why should using your computer or smart phone be less valid than marching in the street? 

Creating a petition for this assignment was empowering and informative. I sign  petitions online but never really thought about creating one, yet it is such an effective way to get a dialogue going on an issue and make people aware. And interestingly Mitchel & Hitlin (2013) note that the dialogue online can be very different than the one playing out in mainstream media.

Which brings me to my petition for the assignment. 

Deciding on a topic was very difficult because lets face it there’s a lot of issues out there. Having worked in the political world for the last six years and then in the oil industry, for a Norwegian company, Statoil, I’ve had some insights into how the industry is run and how government and industry work with or against one another.  The province of Newfoundland and Labrador, once the poor cousin to the rest of Canada, has been leading the country in growth for several years now, mainly due in large part, to our oil industry.  But part of me believes that we are not managing the resources well and its time  for government, whether its Liberal, PC or NDP, to be more accountable and responsible to the people who live in this province today and to the ones who will be here when the oil runs out.

While working for the Norwegian company, I came to admire their management style and their countries long-term vision for their resource. If I can bring attention to the issue of mismanagement here and get a few people on side with me, then who knows what could happen? Maybe the government in Newfoundland and Labrador will pause and think about how the revenues and structure of oil management is working for this province and look to Norway for guidance and inspiration. And that is what Cadwalladr (2013) is talking about. With effort, we can change the world, have our voice heard and maybe make a difference. And if it is to start with a Facebook post or a Tweet, then what’s wrong with that?

References

Cadwalladr, C. (2013). “Inside Avaaz – Can Online Activism Really Change the World?” The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/17/avaaz-online-activism-can-it-change-the-world

Christensen, H. (2011). “Political Activities on the Internet: Slacktivism or Political Participation by Other Means?” First Monday. Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3336/2767,

Mitchell, A., & Hitlin, P. (2013). “Twitter Reaction to Events Often at Odds with Overall Public Opinion,” Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://journalistsresource.org/studies/politics/elections/pew-research-twitter-reaction-events-odds-overall-public-opinion

Morozov,E. (2009). “The brave new world of slacktivism,” Foreign Policy (19 May). Retrieved from http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/19/the_brave_new_world_of_slacktivism

Rainie, L., Smith, A., Lehman Schlozman, K.,Brady, H & Verba, S. (2012). “Social Media and Political Engagement,” Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/10/19/social-media-and-political-engagement/ 

Remove The Cyanide and Other Toxic Ingredients from Our Table Salt!

Check your salt ingredients. Does this contain more than Sodium Chloride (salt) and iodine? Probably, yes. 

While iodine is a good agent, contributing toward optimum endocrine health, table salt may also contain harmful agents -- sugar, dextrose (glucose) -- known to increase the blood sugar levels in diabetics, and toxic chemicals -- cyanide, aluminium, bleach.

Although several studies have indicated that the continued use of refined salt will expose the consumer to aluminium, cyanide and/or bleach toxicity, this dangerous product is still on our tables because manufactures want to secure their profits, selling a long shelf life table salt with poisonous ingredients. This issue bothers me for a while, especially because I have noticed that people who usually are conscious about reading the ingredients on a food product, they omit to check what their salt box contains. This is because they expect the salt to be exactly what the name implies.

Reading about online activism throughout the course, I realised that social media is really capable of “rearticulating solidarity across the world” (Kennedy, 2011). For instance, according to Pew Research Center, “31% of social media users have used the tools to encourage other people to take action on a political or social issue that is important to them” (Rainie et al., para. 7).  Moreover, a report about #Occupy movement indicates that “77.3% [participants] posted about Occupy via Facebook”; and “62.1% signed a petition” (Constanza-Chock, 2012, fig. 3, p. 5). These numbers speak for themselves: They indicate the powerful influence the online activism has nowadays.

For that reason, I took this opportunity to write a petition to address the salt table issue. Ok. Maybe this subject is not so interesting as the #Occupy subject is, yet if you think that every one of us consumes salt with every meal, it is essential to be sure that this will not kill us.

https://www.change.org/p/the-public-health-agency-of-canada-stop-the-cyanide-aluminium-and-bleach-poisoning-with-table-salt

I am aware that this petition might not reach its 100 signatures target. Yet, if some people will check the ingredients on the salt packages, and make the right choice when buying salt, this petition will make a difference. And why not? Maybe, someday, because of our informed choice, all the salt brands will be safe for consumption. It is time to act! Sign this petition! “[The] ‘real’ change can only come from outside the representative democratic system” (Juris, 2012, p. 261). 

References

 (2015). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXeUIYyDE0g

Corriher, C. (2015). The Truth About Table Salt and The Chemical Industry.Healthwyze.org. Retrieved 15 March 2015, from http://healthwyze.org/index.php/component/content/article/115-the-truth-about-table-salt-and-the-chemical-industry.html

Costanza-Chock, S. (2013). Mic Check! Media Practices in the Occupy Movement: Social Movement Studies. Retrieved March 13 http://web.mit.edu/schock/www//docs/pubs/mic-check-2012-costanza-chock.pdf. 

Juris, J. (2012). “Reflections on #Occupy Everywhere: Social Media, Public Space, and Emerging Logics of Aggregation.” American Ethnologist, (2), 259. doi:10.1111/j.15481425.2012.01362.

Kennedy, M. (2011). Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and Historical Frames: 2011, 1989, 1968. Jadaliyya.com. Retrieved 2 April 2015, from http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/2853/arab-spring-occupy-wall-street-and-historical-fram

Louix Dor Dempriey Foundation,. (2011). The Difference Between Refined Salt and Unrefined Salt - Louix Dor Dempriey Foundation. Retrieved 15 March 2015, from http://www.louix.org/the-difference-between-refined-salt-and-unrefined-salt/

NaturalNews,. (2015). Confront Salt Confusion. Retrieved 15 March 2015, from http://www.naturalnews.com/026080_salt_sodium_health.html#ixzz3UIjunn4G

Rainie, L., Smith, A., Lehman Schlozman, K.,Brady, H & Verba, S. (2012). “Social Media and Political Engagement,” Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/10/19/social-media-and-political-engagement/

My homework assignment changed the world

March 15:
Scott speaks to McDougall congregation about his petition

Okay, so my blog title might be a tad optimistic at this point. But, I really do believe that this little homework assignment will have a lasting impact on Edmonton’s historical, artistic, and literal landscape. In 30 years I fully expect to drive down 101 Street and say to myself, “My #NMN homework assignment helped save McDougall Church.” I am thrilled by this thought.

I had been dreading this assignment because, to be brutally frank, I’ve always viewed online petitions with a jaded eye. I would have become actively involved in the fight to preserve McDougall Church regardless of this assignment—but an online petition would likely not even have been on my radar.

[See the petition here.]

Almost as soon as I created the petition, however, my attitude changed. I felt encouraged by readings like Rainie et al, which talk about people’s political engagement on social media, and by my own independent readings—including this article from the Guardian—that discuss the power of online petitions in spreading awareness and generating publicity.

My petition passed 500 signatures in the first two days, and today (March 15) stands just a few shy of 1,500. Along with the list of names—from across Canada and around the world—the petition has already generated hundreds of eloquent and passionate user comments (read them here).

I have been particularly moved to see the petition spread through social media—and far beyond my own social network. I have seen Facebook posts by complete strangers and tweets by prominent Edmontonians, including this one from renowned choral director Leonard Ratzlaff (U of A professor, director of U of A Madrigal Singers and Richard Eaton Singers, and member of Order of Canada):

City of Edmonton and Government of Alberta: Save McDougall Church http://t.co/fwwuEdY6sf via @CdnChange
— Leonard Ratzlaff (@lratzlaf) March 7, 2015

In my MACT program so far, I have been lucky enough to have several opportunities to apply my schoolwork directly to real-world projects. This unexpected fringe benefit has enriched my learning experience immeasurably.

References:

Rainie, L., Smith, A., Schlozman, K., Brady, H., & Verba, S. (2012, October 18). Social Media and Political Engagement. Retrieved March 15, 2015, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/10/19/social-media-and-political-engagement/

Lowery, B. (2013, April 12). Small online petitions can effect change. Retrieved March 15, 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2013/apr/12/small-online-petition-change

Ban the K-Cup

Recycling as a concept is not new, however, the importance and effectiveness of it in relation to the long-term sustainability of the planet has become a more frequent point of discussion in a business environment and on a personal level. While I would not consider myself to be an environmental activist, I do care about doing my part to reduce the environmental footprint produced through lifestyle choices.

Bypassing the trend towards the single-serving coffee system is something I have consciously chosen to do based on the unnecessary waste and cost. This inspired my petition to educate K-Cup users and encourage a choice of sustainability rather than added convenience. The following you tube video also prompted my motivation to head in this direction.

Based on the course readings and newsworthy events, I was aware of the power of online activism. However, I was surprised to learn that change.org has more than 85 million members and realized I did not understand the extent to which digital media has accelerated this uptake. 

While the sheer volume of members is impressive, this could support the theory of clictavism as outlined by Cadwalladr (2013). 

With the rise of online protest in the networked age, it is so easy to be part of a movement and the commitment can be so negligible that you might not even remember doing it. This is true both from the people signing the petitions and, to some extent, those who are creating then. The impermanent nature of the online format certainly lessens commitment. Unless we commit more than the ability to "click" and "share", we will struggle to gain ground in building and maintaining communities of people with real world desire for that extends beyond a computer screen.

In order to create my online petition in an impactful way I included facts and data to expose the truth behind the concept. In this case, the tactic of “exploring the truth” was used in order to take an evidence-based approach and demand accountability. Simply narrating the ideologies behind why recycling is important would not have had the same impact as the startling data that was used to support the case. 

Keep the K-Cup out of the landfill - Change.org

The creation of the video above and the petition, are examples of a more intensive form of media-making. The act of signing the petition or posting to a social media site like the twitter feed below, are examples where a less intensive form of media-making sees a higher rate of engagement as identified by Costanza-Chock (2012, Figure 3). A combination of mediums creates momentum by which to share messages, however, it seems to have the most robust result when paired with face-to-face engagement and real-world activities. 

#killthekcup Tweets

References

Cadwalladr, C. (2013). Inside Avaaz – Can Online Activism Really Change the World? Retrieved March 13 http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/17/avaaz-online-activism-can-it-change -the-world

Can action on the web lead change in the world? [digital image]. (2012). Retrieved from http://kalw.org/post/technology-and-social-causes-activism-or-clicktivism

Costanza-Chock, S. (2013). Mic Check! Media Practices in the Occupy Movement: Social Movement Studies. Retrieved March 13 http://web.mit.edu/schock/www//docs/pubs/mic-check-2012-costanza-chock.pdf. 

Kill the K-Cup. (2015, January 7). Kill the K-Cup [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRGiGbX9lIo&sns=em

Tactical Tech, (2009, 2014). 10 Tactics for Turning Information into Action. Retrieved March 8 from http://informationactivism.org.