Frequently Asked Questions
Who is paying for the project?
Why are we doing this research?
What does ‘internet activism’ mean?
What does the project intend to study?
What are the intended outcomes of the project?
Why should this sort of study be publicly funded?
Why should peace/anti-war activists agree to help with this study?
Question not answered? Please feel free to get in touch via the contact form found on the About Us page.
What is the project title?
The title of this project is Internet Activism: Anti-War Movements in the Information Age. This project runs from January 2006 to December 2007 and will involve a team of three researchers, one of whom is working full-time on it.
What is the project about?
The project’s core interest is in ways in which many political issues and mobilisations appear to be shifting away from organised parties towards looser social movements such as environmental and human rights campaigns on which often quite diverse people come together around shared or even single issues. Think, for example, of the Make Poverty History campaign during 2005-6 that brought many different people together on a shared concern for reducing world poverty. Make Poverty History also expressed something that interests us very much in this project: it engaged a massive symbolic campaign in which a huge range of new (and old) media were put to use. Thus it involved text message exhortations, music concerts simultaneously distributed round the world, large sales of wrist bands, all tied in with large demonstrations, lobbying and the involvement of celebrities. It is this combination of novel forms of engagement and a heightened use of new technologies that especially interests us in this project.
We focus on the anti-war movement (or, if one prefers, the peace movement) because it has been especially prominent in recent years, notably with regard to the Iraq invasion and subsequent conflict. It has also managed to mobilise enormous numbers of protesters as well as bringing together widely different types of people.
We use the term Internet Activism to signal as a special concern ways in which information and communications technologies are integrated into these ‘new politics’, whether it be e-mail used for protesting, web sites to increase the effectiveness of information to supporters, or hacking with a political bent. We want to look more closely at how these new technologies are integrated into – and possibly shape – today’s forms of political engagement.
Another reason we are especially interested in anti-war groups is because of the changing information environment that surrounds war today. Not so long ago, when a nation such as Britain engaged in war, then the information to ordinary citizens through media would have been severely limited. Nowadays, however, while what has been called perception management is evident from politicians and military forces, there is also much more pervasive and burgeoning information available about wars. This comes from all sorts of places, from reporters in the field as well as from protest groups around the world. It comes in the ‘old’ media of course (though it adopts new technologies such as satellite and video phones), but also through internet sources and e-mail communications. Together this makes for a much more complicated information environment than before, one that is much more intensive and extensive for audiences who are practically more removed from the effects of war then ever, yet able to see and learn about it on TV and computer screens in very vivid ways. At the same time public opinion – whether it supports the military or not - is of huge significance in war, so ‘symbolic struggles’ between those who support war and those who oppose it are of major consequence.
Together these factors explain what this project is about: new forms of political activity, the anti-war movement, the harnessing of new media, and a changing information environment.
Who is doing the research?
The project is led by Frank Webster ( City University) and Jenny Pickerill ( Leicester University) with Kevin Gillan working full-time as a Research Assistant.
Frank Webster is a Professor of Sociology at City University London where he has worked since 2003. Before that he was at the University of Birmingham and Oxford Brookes University. He has written a lot about the character of the Information Society over the last twenty years or so. More recently he has researched journalists reporting war with Howard Tumber, another Professor of Sociology at City. Their book, Journalists under Fire: Information War and Journalistic Practices is published by Sage in spring 2006. The present project develops from this interest in media and Information War, as well as Frank’s long-term concern for the darker sides of Information Societies.
Jenny Pickerill is interested in understandings of collective action, participation, spaces of dialogue, autonomy and anarchism as possibilities and contested pathways towards environmental and social justice. She explores these themes as a researcher, teacher and through daily practices. She has been involved in a variety of different campaigns in Britain and Australia. She is currently a lecturer in human geography at the University of Leicester and has published a book and a number of journal articles on internet activism, alter-globalisation movements and environmental politics.
Kevin Gillan is research assistant for the project at City University. His PhD thesis, Meaning in Movement examines the variety of beliefs that motivate protesters, and inform the particular methods they use to create social change. Participation in, and observation of, the social forum and anti-war movements over the past few years have given him a particular interest in the workings of coalitions that cut across more traditional ideological boundaries, wherein it appears possible for Trotskyists, anarchists, christian socialists and liberals all to work together.
Who’s paying for the project?
The funding for this project comes from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). You can check out information on the ESRC at its web site, http://www.esrc.ac.uk This is the main body in the UK that funds social science research. Its money comes from general taxation and it has a charter that guarantees its independence from government. Projects are supported after being judged mainly by academic peers in a competitive process. The total award is about £140,000 over two years. The bulk of this goes on wages (and overheads like pension and national insurance) and a large chunk is taken by City and Leicester University to cover overheads. The remainder goes on things like travel costs during research, conference attendance costs, and transcription charges. Part of the award will fund a conference of interested parties towards the end of the project that you may be interested in attending (if so, note the contact addresses below).
Why are we doing this research?
We each have our different reasons for doing this research. We all have an intrinsic interest in the ways in which new communications technologies are altering and facilitating new forms of protest. In addition, there is a political edge to this interest – primarily that some of us are advocates for anti-war and social justice campaigns. This, of course, informs and shapes our research. However, we see strength in the diversity of opinions between us – in other words this is not an explicitly pro-antiwar campaigning project and neither is it uncritical of activism. We are primarily researchers who see value in understanding better the changing forms of activism.
What does ‘internet activism’ mean?
We are using this term as a catch all to encompass contemporary campaigns that try – with greater or less success – to adopt new information and communications technologies. We are not much interested in the ‘techie’ side of this, and we are not aiming to interview exclusively technical experts. We want to avoid a narrow focus on technology, instead always putting it in the context of changing ways of campaigning. Therefore, what interests us more are things like web site content – who is it aimed at? why is it designed in that way rather than another? how do members relate to it? Or the use of e-mail to connect with supporters, friends or even opponents. Or the use of the Internet to persuade others of a particular case, perhaps by including pictures or alternative information in an especially appealing or persuasive way. Or ways in which computerised technologies change the ways in which organisations operate, perhaps by increasing the ability of supporters to get involved in decision making even if they live far from the centre of the group. Or how new media is involved when a mobilisation is arranged – whether in terms of a demonstration or in e-mail protests.
What does the project intend to study?
We have decided in this project to use a case study method to examine the anti-war movement. Clearly this is a wide-ranging movement, with many different expressions, so we want to select a range of case appropriate to our concerns. For instance, we would like to cover the spectrum from well-established organisations to more fluid ones. We would also like to have case studies that range across the spectrum of the peace movement.
What are the intended outcomes of the project?
At the end of the two years we intend to produce an accessible book that offers a better understanding of groups that may get considerable media attention at various times, but are actually rather poorly understood. These are important participants and we intend to cast more light on their operations, hopes and aspirations by devoting a sustained period to study them.
We are also establishing a web site (of which this will be a part) on which we will place our research findings. Our intention is that this site will also allow people we have interviewed (as well as other interested parties) to offer their own comments and observations of the work in progress. In this way we see the project as at once providing a better understanding of contemporary social movements and allowing the subjects to play an active part in what gets written about them.
Why should this sort of study be publicly funded?
This is a reasonable question, asked by the subjects themselves as well as by their opponents. Why bother to study the anti-war movement? First of all, we would stress that there is a good deal written about the peace movement, but much of this is ephemeral and slight. There is need for more than a one minute slot on television news or a report in the Daily Mail. Second, the anti-war movement is especially important right now, with serious conflict continuing in Iraq, with Iran at risk, and the Middle East a continuous source of tension. Third, there is a widespread awareness that politics – its meaning, its organisation, its effectiveness – is changing with the emergence of social movements, new coalitions, global connectivity and heightened concern for ‘identity’ issues. But there is a lack of clarity about substantive expressions of these, of how movements relate to one another, how significant they are, how they operate day to day… This project addresses these matters.
Why should peace/anti-war activists agree to help with this study?
A study such as this is enormously dependent on the good will and cooperation of people in the peace movement willing to be interviewed and to share knowledge of what they do. But why should they do this? One reason is that others may know more about them; another is that they themselves may read the results of research that presents a wider picture of the peace movement than any individual’s participation may reveal.
Some might think that fair enough, but what about issues of confidentiality? It is a significant concern of such activists that researchers may collect sensitive information that could fall into the wrong hands. Also important is the view that researchers may highlight features of those they study that provide ammunition for those who want to criticise. In response to these fears we stress that we are committed to making the subjects of this study anonymous from the outset. In addition, we will provide written assurance to all subjects that their words will be used only with their agreement. Finally, all our materials will be kept in a secure location.
How can I contact the researchers on this project?
Please check out the contact area for a range of ways to get in touch.
