Mobilizing Youth

New Establishment Rising? The End Of the Flat Blogosphere

What: article on blogs becoming establishment
When: July, 2007
Link: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=13

Reading Notes:
In reference to leftist political blogs:
* blogs used to be solitary productions
* now have co-writers, guest writers, diarists
* used to follow five characteristics
    - individual
    - independent
    - hobbies
    - limited communities
    - less varied and original content

* 1% of progressive political blogs receive 95% of traffic

* every blog in the shorthead has shed one of the above file characteristics
* b/c of higher entry and maintenance costs
* there is now an establishment in the blogosphere
* has become an indispensable part of the left ecosphere

today:
* group blogging is the norm = lots and lots of content
* institutional blogs on the rise = salaried employees
* professional bloggers emerge
* self-reinforcing communities = you start blogging by blogging on someone else's blog
* blogs are more than blogs now = boutique media and activist outlets
* joining the A-list is all but impossible for a new blogger. Last one to join was started before nov2005.

* these barriers to entry could choke the power of blogs by making it elitist

"The progressive blogosphere has done all of the following: played a key exposed a number of Republican scandals; kept the activist base engaged and informed on a daily basis; expanded progressive political activism over the past five years; reinvigorated moribund Democratic campaigns and local parties; made the fifty state strategy both a reality and a success; challenged a lapdog, corporatist press on a daily basis; and catalyzed every single progressive improvement in the American political scene over the last four years. We have come a long way from exposing Trent Lott."

THE POWER AND POLITICS OF BLOGS

What: academic paper
When: july 2004
Link: http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/%7Efarrell/blogpaperfinal.pdf

Reading Notes:
* gives example of trent lott resigning as senate majority leader as a result of inflamatory comments that were brought to public's attention by bloggers. converted gaff into scandal

* why are blogs so influential when the #of readers is relatively small compared with other forms of media?

* blogging has no central organization, no ideological consensus, not great policy expertise as a whole.

* most blogs are not read by many people.

* elite blogs act as information aggregator and 'summary statistic' for the blogosphere

* have comparative advantage of speedy publication - first move advantage of constructing intrepretive frames for understanding current events

= as a result, political commentators rely on blogs as sources of intrepretive frames for political events

= the blog sets the agenda. by focusing their attn. on breaking  or underreported stories. 

* most important diff between blogs and trad media is that they are networked. rely on links.

* mediasphere relies on bloggers for their: material incentives, network, expertise, and speed

* the editorial process takes place transparently, among bloggers, in real time

* blogosphere constructs focal points through which the media operates. the media is affected by consensus the same way the mass public is affected by the media

Emergence of the Progressive Blogosphere

What: paper on influence of blogosphere
When: Aug 2005
Link: http://www.newpolitics.net/files/The-Emergence-of-the-Progressive-Blogosphere.pdf

Reading Notes:
* conservatives use blogs same as mainstream politics: attack media and progressives
* right tends not to build online communities. relies on offline communities to generate web sites that reinforce ideology
* right successes are: john thune & dan rather
* left wing builds communities of activists = forums = introducing new actors
* progessive blogosphere has outgrown conservative
* conservatives have an advantage on local blogs

Engaging Bloggers in a Local Campaign:
* power of an individual blog is small
* interlinking is where power is
* must invest in organizing this constituency
* create a blogosphere
* remember that bloggers are campaign activists and journalists
tips:
* hire a netroots coordinator
* get contact info from bloggers
* add bloggers to press releases - call them
* read blogs of those who sign up - add comments
* hold conference calls - invite bloggers
* do a blog roundup - email blog posts on your issues to all bloggers on your list
* link to blogs from your web site - including those whom disagree to add credibility
* listen and respond to criticism

Examples of blogs affecting politics:
"Recent progressive netroots successes include StopBolton, a
campaign directed over the Internet to defeat John Boltonʹs
nomination, and AfterDowningStreet, the campaign to put the
Downing Street Memo into mainstream American media. Josh
Marshall of TalkingPointsMemo.com played a crucial role in the
drive to defeat the President’s social security plan. In addition,
the Frist filibuster at Princeton, a little noticed affair that became
a New York Times story, suggests the tantalizing possibilities of
combining blogs and organizing. This August, the Paul Hackett
campaign nearly pulled off an extraordinary upset victory in
Ohio’s 2nd Congressional district. Blogs raised between three
and four hundred thousand dollars for that race, bypassing the
major party committees. Currently, blogs are playing a critical
role in messaging surrounding the Rove Affair, the war in Iraq,
and Tom Delay (see www.dumpmike.com, a blog aiming to use Tom Delay to
topple Rep. Mike Ferguson – NJ).

On the right, blogs created major messaging problems for Democratic Senator
Tom Daschle, chummed the Swift Boat for Veteran story, led to the firing Eason
Jordan at CNN, and of course, led the charge against Dan Rather.
2"

Can Blogs Revolutionize Progressive Politics?

What: article on blogging & progressive politics
When: Feb 2006
Link: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2485/

Reading Notes:
* evangelists believe that blogs are a populist revolution
* netroots is dems hope to win
* "Compared to traditional media, blogs are faster, cheaper, and most importantly, interactive, enabling a level of voter involvement impossible with television or newspapers."

"Web guru Craig Shirky links the rise of political blogs to the sharpening Red/Blue State divide. Both 9/11 and the Iraq war reminded people that “politics was vitally important,” and marked the “moment people were looking for some kind of expression outside the bounds of network television,” or, for that matter, cable news or the nation’s leading newspapers."

dems failure to counter bush led to rise in blog readership/writing.

blogs beginning to outlive usefulness of term. Kos says:
"“A blog is merely a publishing tool, and like a tool, it can be used in any number of ways,”

To their most ardent advocates, blogs are standard-bearers of a core set of democratic values: participation, egalitarianism and transparency.

bloggers hold mainstream press accountable.
has changed the way public knowledge is produced
can keep a story alive.
bloggers and MSM have a symbiotic relationship

Blogs instead exert an indirect form of power, amplifying and channeling the pressure of netroots opinion upwards to pressure politicians and journalists. “It’s really a rising up,” says Daou.

* homogenous community of bloggers - new old boys club
* barrier to entry is not gettting published - it's finding an audience
* low income people may be able to get online to blog, but dont have the "civic skill sets and mobitvation to go online to" blog

Foundations and Virtual Worlds

What: From Cairns Blog: Prompted by MacArthur's decision to fund philanthropic activities and discussions in virtual worlds, the author examines why virtual worlds merit this attention and why foundations have a reason to educate themselves about virtual worlds and visual technologies.
When: 05/02/07
Link: http://cairns.typepad.com/blog/2007/05/foundations_and.html

Reading Notes:

• According to the author there are five reasons why virtual worlds merit attention by foundations and why foundations have a reason to educate themselves about virtual worlds.
• Reason #1: "The Seriousness of Fun"
  • The problems the world faces demand creative and effective solutions. "Precisely because virtual worlds are fun and social, they offer a set of tools that can help to induce participation, sustain engagement and build the kind of conversational community across a distance that can work together to develop real-world solutions." Fun can help generate productivity.
• Reason #2: "Online Experts Not Offline Professionals"
  • Because the boundary between the real world and the virtual world is becoming increasingly porous, the ability to create a strong virtual world identity independent of real world identity is essential to fostering social action. Foundations can begin to fund effective experts who may not be professional or part of the traditional culture of philanthropy. "What matters is NOT who one is in the physical world but who one becomes in the virtual world."
• Reason #3: "Real World Impact from Virtual World Activity"
  • Communities outside of the virtual worlds can benefit as much from foundation work with virtual worlds as the virtual residents. Virtual worlds are most effectively seen as a set of tools that can enable nonprofits and foundations to mobilize action in the real world. "Philanthropies ought to give money to support experimentation with the use of these technologies to be effective and foster social justice across the virtual border."
• Reason #4: "Experimenting with Group Practices"
  • Virtual worlds offer the opportunity for group and community formation around the goals of social justice. The groups (rather than the foundations) can then take responsibility for galvanizing social change. "Typically, philanthropy supports thinking about issues or, in some cases, doing activist projects.  The opportunity here lies in the combination of the two: namely, doing first and then studying how these spaces function as social environments.  The goal is not only to understand them but also to catalyze real social action with meaningful consequences." 
• Reason #5: "Connecting Activists and Researchers"
  • Foundations often play an important role in long-term, large-scale projects, while virtual worlds are well suited to small-scale, informal and independent action. Yet foundations would be well served to recognize the usefulness of these short term projects. Foundations can play an important role in articulating public interest values and goals in an effort to bring together would be activists. They can make the small-scale more lasting by drawing together the connections between and among small-scale projects. As a trusted third party they can articulate why these small-scale projects are, and should be, connected with a larger goal.

Non Profit Commons in Second Life

What: Second Life introduces the nonprofit commons.
When: 03/24/07
Link: http://secondlife.techsoup.org/node/13

Reading Notes:

• With the help of TechSoup, Second Life opened the nonprofit commons, which contains an amphitheater for meetings and events. TechSoup (who donated its time and resources to the project) also built nonprofit office space in the virtual world.

Virtual community, Real Engagement

What: A report by USC-Annenberg researchers finds that online communities have a "direct impact on civic activism."
When: 12/04/06
Link: http://netfamilynews.blogspot.com/2006/12/virtual-community-real-engagement.html

Reading Notes:

• The USC-Annenberg researchers found that "just over one-fifth of online community members - 20.3 % - take action offline for a cause related to their online communities at least once a year.
• Nearly 65% of online community members say they now engage in civic causes that were new to them when they started going online, while an additional 43.7% say they participate in social activism more since they’ve joined their online communities.
• 43% of online community members feel as strongly about their virtual life as they do about their real-world life.
• The World Development Movement (an anti-poverty organization) is trying to encourage real-world activism by placing a counter in Second Life that provides a real-time tally of "the number of preventable child deaths since [Second Life] was first opened in 2003. A child's life is lost every three seconds."

Examining the Complexities of Activism in Second Life

What: A look at the questions and complexities surrounding activism in Second Life.
When: 05/24/07
Link: http://www.epolitics.com/2007/05/24/examining-the-complexities-of-activism-in-second-life/

Reading Notes:

• A look a a documentary about how real-world activists are using Second Life as a platform for social and political activism.
• The film poses the questions of whether spending time in a virtual space necessarily moves participants toward action, or merely gives them a false sense of action and catharsis.
• Is Second Life a way to escape from the real world or an innovative way of affecting change?
• Political and social activity takes place in Second Life at the "Virtual Capitol Hill" - which hosted an anti-war protest - and "Better World Island."
• 1 to 1 contact connects Iraqi civilians and Americans in the virtual world in order to bring news and information about daily life in Iraq since the invasion..
• Camp Darfur - built by a group called Stop Genocide Now - has garnered much attention in Second Life and in the real world and has brought many Second Life residents to Better World Island, where many see real life and Second Life fusing as one.
• Some activists have been critical of virtual world installations such as Camp Darfur (a virtual experience of a Sudanese refugee camp), saying that those interested in participating in social change are better off using a website than a 3-D space.
• Some also say that Camp Darfur is taking attention and resources away from the actual genocide, while others say it provides vital information about an issue too few people know about and can spur them to action in the real world.
• Part of the impetus for building Camp Darfur - according to the creator - was that it's hard to get people to go out and learn about these issue on their own. It's a difficult subject and not one that people often want to seek out.
• About a dozen nonprofits are active in Camp Darfur in the form of RSS feeds, news clips, and updates from the field.
• According to the filmmaker, the real boon of virtual places like Camp Darfur is the ability to create the feeling of humanity and warmth online - as opposed to static and cold web pages.
• While the experience of standing next to a refugee (as an avatar) is moving and jarring, the filmmaker wonders if it provides a false sense of experience or effectiveness.
• The hope is that people will not feel sated by merely visiting these places, but will feel energized by these displays and will donate money, connect with other concerned individuals and/or be moved to action in the real world in a way they may not have before visiting these virtual world places.
• Many avatars feel that getting together in the virtual world for meetings on political and progressive issues (for example) is the closest thing to meeting in person in the real world and can serve as an effective way to discuss and collaborate on social issues.
• Virtual worlds are still emerging as places for activism. Less people come to virtual worlds like Second Life, but more people get involved long term than at sites like MySpace, for example.

Second Life losing lock on virtual-site marketing

What: AdAge analyzes Second Life's lock on virtual world marketing. Is Second Life beginning to seem outdated as users and brands head to startups?
When: 07/09/07
Link: http://adage.com/digital/article.php?article_id=119022

Reading Notes:

• Second Life, along with some other social-networking sites, is already starting to seem a little old-fashioned as users, brands, artists and products head elsewhere.
• At its peak companies were rushing to get their brands into Second Life and yet it seems they are no longer clamoring to get into the virtual world.
  
• The rate of newcomers to Second Life seems to have reached a plateau with the application averaging 132,000 downloads a month from November 2006 to May 2007, and an additional average of 364,000 unique visits to SecondLife.com per month in the same time period.
• Yet the appetite for virtual worlds is still very much present with sites such as Zwinky, Stardoll and Doppelganger seeing traffic spikes.
• Stardoll has hosted concerts and will continue to do so as these events have proved profitable for recording artists and record labels, hitting the desired market (the 8-14 year-olds) to boost record sales.
• Zwinky hosted its own ``Stage-Z'' at last weekend's Live Earth featuring Columbia Records artists Kelly Rowland and Teddy Geiger performing in prerecorded avatar form as well as appearing live at the New York event.
• The site closest to Second Life in appearance and scope, Doppelganger, has achieved several milestones in virtual-world brand integration. From its Pussycat Dolls Music Lounge to fashion partnerships with Rocawear and Kitson, the site is starting to make good on its plans to become a younger, safer Second Life for teens and early-20-somethings.

Virtual World Marketing: Lots of Companies, Few Visitors (So Far)

What: Results from marketing attempts by companies in Second Life are not so promising. Corporations still trying to figure out the learning curve for advertising in these metaverses.
When: 05/24/07
Link: http://gigaom.com/2007/05/24/virtual-world-marketing-lots-of-companies-few-visitors-so-far/

Reading Notes:

• The spread of weekly visitors to real world corporate sites in Second Life is anywhere from 6,454 to zero. Not tremendously impressive.
• While most Second Life users seem receptive to marketing efforts, thus far they are largely unimpressed.
• The highest weekly total belongs to Pontiac, which hosts a kind of virtual autobody island where residents can customize their cars (pictured), followed by a site for Showtime’s The L Word (4,687), where regular events are held on a recreation of the show’s main locations.
• On the low end are some of the world's leading companies and brands, companies like Sears, Sun Microsystems, Dell, Coca Cola, Reebok, Coldwell Banker, and Calvin Klein have so far failed to attract even 500 weekly visitors each.
• The most heavily trafficked place was not a casino or a sex hangout, but “Phat Cat’s Jazzy Blue Lounge”, a PG-rated ballroom for elegantly dressed avatars. With a highest weekly performance of 31,248 unique visitors, it vastly eclipses even the most popular corporate site.
• At this point most companies are still struggling to be noticed in Second Life.
• Some say the poor numbers are a result of companies not responding to the unique nature of Second Life.
• Companies can't just put up outposts in virtual worlds, they need to go in and interact with the residents of those worlds, something that many have not done thus far.
• There seems to be a learning curve, much like in the early stages of the web, that companies are still trying to figure out.