MATERIALIZING ACTIVISM

A workshop at ECSCW 2019, June 9 in Salzburg, Austria.

Net activism shows how easily available tools allow the organization of social movements to be scaled up and extended globally. These media ecologies enable new forms of power. This one-day workshop gathers researchers focusing on the collaborative efforts within social movements, looking into the socio-technical systems; the organization of activism; the relations between traditional and social media; and the complex network of systems, information, people, values, theories, histories, ideologies and aesthetics underlying various types of activism. The workshop consists of brainstorming sessions where we materialize the intangible and develop our theories and ideas further through a collaborative design process.

Suggested topics and inquiries for the workshop

In this workshop we are inviting  researchers in the area net activism and online participation, to discuss their epistemologies and methodologies. The purpose is to explore the large-scale collaborations that take place in social activism.

• How do we make sense of the complex network of systems, information, people, values, theories, histories, ideologies and aesthetics underlying various types of activism?
• What happens when social media becomes central for how a social movement operates? What are the unintended consequences?
• How do we conceptualize the mutual constitution of a movement or network of activists and their technological strategies?
• How can certain media ecologies hinder organizational developments?
• How can we understand coordination without formalized leadership when the participants are situated in different countries and time zones?
• How is scientizationtransforming the way social movements operate?
• How is participation constructed and enacted in bottom-up data practices?
• How is participation constrained, for example, by infrastructural arrangements, technological affordances and social norms?
• What are the tactics, structures and normative foundations necessary for supporting liquid organization and value-based leadership, while supporting a strong democracy?

We are especially interested in research that mixes qualitative and quantitative studies of activism and presentations focusing on research methodology.