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16 Aug 2010 04:01 PM
Just one day removed from the G8 and G20 meetings of June 2010, affords some fresh perspectives on Canada’s three-day whirl-wind summit. For one, the much-talked-about “fake lake” and one-billion dollar security tab now seem irrelevant. While many of the weekend’s more popular headlines tell tales of “Black Bloc” rioters and Toronto’s tarnished global image, inside the International Media Centre and, more importantly, in the boardrooms of G20 meetings, the tumultuous streets were grossly insignificant.
Well before the world’s most powerful leaders arrived on Canadian soil, the agenda for discussion seemed displaced with concerns of over-run costs and security. However, in retrospect, any attempt to amass an all-encompassing picture must focus on the content and outcomes of the meetings that took place, rather than the widely publicized images of protestors and riot police or the lakeside scenery in the International Media Centre.
Contrary to popular belief, as G8 member countries...
29 Apr 2010 10:50 AM
If Canadians were not already aware of the Internet’s capacity for evil, a report released this week served as a long overdue wake-up call.
On April 6, a team of Canadian experts based out of the University of Toronto divulged the findings of an extensive inquiry into the murkiest stretches of the digital realm.
One year in the making, what their investigation uncovered was a complex crime fit only for cyberspace.
The inquiry commenced as the Canadian team began tracking the online activities of the suspected espionage ring. After extensive tracing, the researchers named the Chinese province of Sichuan as the launchpad for the illegal operation. Eventually, success was realized as the group cracked one of the largest cyber spy rings ever unearthed.
The team’s subsequent report outlined that the cyber spies utilized a combination of digital resources to “pilfer documents from personal computers in several countries.” The hacker’s digital...
31 Mar 2010 03:01 AM
It was a tale of two superpowers and a simmering hostility that spanned the course of years. While China emerged the victor, the failed challenger is not who you may have thought.
On Monday, March 22, the sun set on Google’s China operation for the last time. The move marked the closing scene of a drama that has been unfolding since the company entered Chinese territory in late 2006. It was somber drama that ended in Google admitting defeat.
As flowers were left on the Google corporate logo outside the corporation’s Chinese headquarters, the small gesture spoke volumes. It was a mixture of feelings of sadness, for a lost opportunity for freedom, and respect, for an honourable attempt at cracking the infamous “Great Firewall of China”.
In China, companies are forced to abide by strict government regulations of the Internet. However, in the early days of Google’s introduction into the...
31 Mar 2010 02:59 AM
Picture this: like-minded individuals coming together and working toward a common goal via the Internet.
In the past, such a scenario would have seemed a little far-fetched. Today, however, the concept of digital activism is very real. Further, as the popularity of this trend surges, it appears that a new face of digital activism is also coming to light.
Interestingly, this emerging activism is not rooted solely in rebellion. Unlike the Twitter revolutions before it, this movement is pushing a different, yet equally commendable, agenda.
On March 25, 2010, the second annual Twestival kicks off in countless schools and in more than 175 cities around the world.
Twestival, or Twitter Festival, is a unique initiative that attempts to unite digital life with that of the real. On this day, thousands of individuals from online Twitter communities unite offline to raise money and awareness for a choice cause.
Last year, the...
31 Mar 2010 02:57 AM
Today, the opportunity for like-minded individuals to connect has never been more achievable.
According to Clay Shirky, “the moment our historical generation is living through is the largest increase in expressive capability in human history.”
While Shirky admits the grandiosity of such a statement, it is still important to peruse what a potential increase in expressive capability means for mankind.
Quite simply, expressive capability is the ability to communicate a particular meaning.
In the past, the birth of the printing press, rise of coffeehouse culture, and the emergence of film, all served to improve the expressive capability of greater society. In recent years, however, we have witnessed the onslaught of corporatized top-down news, the exploitation of our air waves by dictators, and the rise of global media conglomerates.
In light of this historical trajectory, many believe that the rise of new social media technologies – Facebook, Twitter, blogs – have...
23 Mar 2010 02:43 PM
I have always had enormous respect for the power of media. Media’s ability to perpetuate myth and propaganda, sway the emotions of the masses, instigate activism for a chosen cause, and all the while shape a choice worldview, is undeniably impressive.
Further, I have always wholeheartedly believed in Jurgen Habermas’s notion that a well functioning public sphere is a necessary prerequisite of modern democracy in any civil society. While I acknowledge that media’s awesome power has not always been a positive service to society – as in the past it has been subject to obvious governmental manipulation and more recently corporate exploitation, surely the absence of a free press has worse repercussions.
For proof of this, one does not have to look farther than modern day states that curtail freedom of speech and freedom of assembly to see the harm that the absence of a healthy public sphere has on...
23 Mar 2010 02:42 PM
As of late, the term “iPod liberalism” has caught my attention.
But, what exactly does this term mean?
Upon unpacking such a concept, an interesting narrative comes to light. We already know that liberalism is a political orientation that favours social change through legislative means, rather than via revolution. In turn, one can assume that “iPod liberalism” must advocate the dropping of iPods, as opposed to bombs, as the solution to a brewing rebellion.
STRATFOR’s George Friedman puts it this way, iPod liberalism is “the idea that anyone who listens to rock ‘n’ roll on an iPod, writes blogs and knows what it means to Twitter must be an enthusiastic supporter of Western liberalism.”
Essentially, “iPod liberalism” is the view that an individual, who embraces even certain superficial aspects of Western culture, must also harbour amicable feelings toward the Western world en masse. This assumption is construed to even that...
23 Mar 2010 02:41 PM
During the June 2009 uprising in Iran, following the re-election victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, I came across an article in the Washington Post which detailed the situation at hand in an interesting fashion.
The article explained that while the use of new media to stir up activism may appear groundbreaking, in actuality, throughout history “Protesters have often used new technologies to evade government attempts to stifle dissent.”
Further, the Washington Post noted that even when the Soviet Union appeared on the verge of collapse, “Dissenters used underground fax services to spread information.” Therefore, it is clear that new media technologies provide vital communication links. Clearly, exploiting such communication avenues, while evading governmental interference, is the key to raising awareness for a political cause. Undeniably, this is the reality of modern revolution.
Today, just as citizen journalism is hailed the rejuvenator of the digital public sphere, digital activism is championed...
23 Mar 2010 02:40 PM
A newfound consciousness and sense of community is emerging via the Internet. In countries where newspapers, magazines, and independent television stations are not permitted to exist freely, it seems that an especially active and engaged online population often emerges.
In recent years, we have witnessed the rise of social media and citizen journalism. From this, we have come to see a surge in activism as like-minded individuals harness the power of social media and networking sites to broadcast views often suppressed or ignored by the mainstream media. This is known as digital activism.
By definition, digital activism is grassroots activists using networked technologies – Twitter, Facebook, blogs, SMS text messaging – for social and political change campaigns. As activists take advantage of their digital tool belts, it is revolutionizing how activists organize. Today, via digital means, socially aware people can connect, and create change in a space that is free...
