SOCIAL MOVEMENTS/DIGITAL REVOLUTIONS

As Occupy Boston has taken hold at Dewey Square over the last three weeks, an ad hoc group of digital and new media producers, public relations professionals, off-duty journalists, students, and volunteers planned and staffed an around-the-clock media facility. We will discuss the Media Working-Group timeline to date, challenges of working as a volunteer ad hoc group, experiential learning practices, and surprising wins in local media coverage. We will also cover ongoing Media Working-Group challenges, including documentation and representation of the large, evolving Occupy Boston movement.

What is a “tweet”? Need more “friends”? Want to use social media, but don’t know where to begin? Or do you already have accounts and want to learn some new tips and tools? If so, participate in our introductory workshop to get you going from start-up to effectiveness in 90 minutes.

We will cover:

• Creating accounts
• Using applications effectively
• Time saving posting methods
• Ways to reach out to new networks
• Getting more people to your actions/events

The old concept of the commons is being rediscovered and redefined in our period in the context of the new social and political struggles now sweeping the globe. In this workshop, we examine this concept, focusing on the role played by electronic media in contributing to the generation of the new commons. Topics include struggles over "intellectual property" and the electronic commons, the production of new forms of collaborative art in virtual worlds, and the use of electronic media in creating a political commons in India and other "third world" countries.

A debate has been raging about which came first- the media or the movement. Pundits and Professors have been pondering what role social media has played in movements from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street. At Press Pass TV though, we've always recognized that our media is only as powerful as the actions it provokes. This session will explore the way we've used media online and in community spaces to bring people together for transformational social change.

Presenter: Joanna Marinova & Cara Lisa Powers

Bios coming soon

Location: Wolfard 201

While social media like Twitter, Facebook, and blogs can provide invaluable information about current events, these media can also contribute to the dissemination of rumors and inaccurate stories. As many news organizations pressure their reporters to get the story first, this may lead to relying on unverified reports taken from social media sites. But how do we know when something someone tweeted or posted to their blog is accurate?

The food co-op movement in Boston has lost its direction in important ways, and need to be renewed and refreshed. Join veteran food co-op organizers in brainstorming how to use modern computers and other communication and office tools to create food co-ops that shine with democracy, creativity, and food that is healthy for people and the planet.

Presenter: Adam Frost

Equipment failure, Identity theft, embezzlement, fines for non-compliance, external hacking, burglary, fire, natural disasters-- all of these threaten your organization's mission. Join Computer Care and Learning's staff as they lead you through the steps to help make your computer systems stronger, safer, and compliant and compliant with the latest data safety laws.

Presenters: Adam Frost & Ellen Siegel

This workshop looks at successful national advocacy organizations and considers four areas of work:

Messaging tactics
Issues of generational shifts
Membership: Cultivating leaders
Membership: Technology utilization

Its recommendations are:

This participatory workshop considers the relevance of the Wikileaks model to local action. Participants are led through a series of questions to surface ideas and tacit knowledge about the strengths and weaknesses of the Wikileaks experience, the challenges of local government and transparency, how to protect individual whistleblowers, and how to distinguish private and public matters. The results of the conversation will published on this website.

Presenter: Suren Moodliar

As Occupy Wall Street spread to camps across the country, a network of researchers and mediamakers has developed a shared space for co-research into OWS media tools and practices. This workshop shares early insights from the co-research process, pools knowledge, observations, and practice from multiple camp sites, and presents media and ICT tools and practices - from f2f to p2p - from inside this widespread experiment in direct democracy.

Presenter: Sasha Costanza-Chock