Can Internet technology still revolutionize activism? 

One of the biggest promises of the Internet was the transformation of political activism. No longer would change come about solely through the actions of large organizations, claimed the Web's early enthusiasts. Now, they claimed, individuals could rouse the concern of their fellow citizens for a particular cause through Web sites, e-mail, and online petitions. Those who normally shunned demonstrations and limited their participation in the public sphere could be contacted personally in their e-mail box, and all that would be necessary for them to do to show their support would be to click a button or fill in a field. Soon, pundits predicted, there would be a revolution in grassroots participation in the political process.

• electronic disturbance,
• borders

The DEF of Tactical Media 

Campaigns and Movements Although a global conference, the first Next 5 Minutes, held six years ago(1993), was dominated by the first large scale encounter between two distinctive cultural communities. On the one hand, Western European and North American campaigning media artists and activists and on the other hand their equivalent from the former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, dissident artists and samizdat activists, still basking in the after glow of the role they played in bringing down the communist dictatorships. In the excitement of discovering each other, these two communities tended to gloss over their ideological differences,understandably emphasising only the shared practice of exploiting consumer electronics (in those days mostly the video camcorder) as a means of organisation and social mobilisation. We referred to these practices, and the distinctive aesthetic to which it gave rise, tactical media.

• tactical media,
• diy media,
• media theory,
• media criticism

Dr. Shahidul Alam Detained and Released on Bail - Demand to Drop all Charges: #FreeShahidulAlam 

Dr. Shahidul Alam, internationally renowned photographer, activist, founder and Managing Director of the Bangladesh multimedia company, Drik, founder of Chobi Mela International Photography Festival and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, was forcibly abducted from his home on the night of 5 August.

Shahidul Alam was granted bail on November 15, 2018 and released from jail, but still faces a maximum of 14 years in prison if convicted.

News and updates #freeshahidulalam

• art,
• activism,
• majority world,
• photography,
• Bangladesh

Chobi Mela VI International Festival of Photography, Bangladesh 

PRESS RELEASE

Chobi Mela VI to Open a Portal to a Restive World of Dreams

"All that we value, that we strive to uphold, all that gives us strength, has been made of dreams"

• photography,
• Bangladesh

Conference Report ‘The Society of Post-Control’
 

Summary of the extended conversation on the emergence, consequences, and activist responses to the concept of "post-control"
Report of the conference 'The Society of Post-Control', organised by Eric Kluitenberg and David Garcia, tying into the opening of the exhibition As If.

• art,
• infopolitics,
• info-activism,
• culture jamming,
• meme wars,
• visual culture

Civil Networking in a Hostile Environment: Experiences in the Former Yugoslavia 

Methods of media resistance - the example of Radio B2-92

Veran Matic, editor-in-chief of the famous Radio B92, Belgrade, and chairman of the ANEM federation of independent broadcasters in Serbia and Montenegro, discusses some of the methods employed by his organisation in the tumultuous environment of the former Yugolslavia.

Utopian Promises-Net Realities 

The need for net criticism certainly is a matter of overwhelming urgency. While a number of critics have approached the new world of computerized communications with a healthy amount of skepticism, their message has been lost in the noise and spectacle of corporate hype-the unstoppable tidal wave of seduction has enveloped so many in its dynamic utopian beauty that little time for careful reflection is left. Indeed, a glimpse of a possibility for a better future may be contained in the new techno-apparatus, and perhaps it is best to acknowledge these possibilities here in the beginning, since Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) has no desire to take the position of the neoluddites who believe that the techno-apparatus should be rejected outright, if not destroyed. To be sure, computerized communications offer the possibility for the enhanced storage, retrieval, and exchange of information for those who have access to the necessary hardware, software, and technical skills. In turn, this increases the possibility for greater access to vital information, faster exchange of information, enhanced distribution of information, and cross cultural artistic and critical collaborations. The potential humanitarian benefits of electronic systems are undeniable; however, CAE questions whether the electronic apparatus is being used for these purposes in the representative case, much as we question the political policies which guide the net's development and accessibility.

• art,
• network cultures,
• net.activism,
• net criticism

The Role of the Engineer in the Information Age 

When looking at technology, we barely see machinery, let alone the people who made it. We seem to take technology and its development for a given, neglecting the process of its creation. We live off the fruits of the tree, without examining its roots.

1 in 32 

The Speculative Archive for Historical Clarification is a long-term project that produces documents that investigate the political and cultural implications of state self-documentation. Its work focuses on the processes through which covert government activities are documented, classified for reasons of national security, and, at times, selectively declassified. Founded in 1999 by Julia Meltzer and David Thorne, SAHC has recently completed a series of interviews with government officials involved in the regulation and release of secret government information. Below are excerpts from three of these interviews.

A context for collecting the new media 

At the turning of the year 1992 I received the program and manifesto for the Next 5 Minutes Conference in Paradiso. As professional collector of documents by and about social movements for the International Institute of Social History, the list of videos to be shown caught my attention immediately. This was an excellent opportunity to realize something for which I had been trying already for some time, to make an international sample collection of products from the movement of new independent video makers.

• media,
• archive,
• next 5 minutes

How Do I Prepare My Phone for a Protest? 

Simple steps to take before hitting the streets

Mass protests have broken out across the United States after a Minneapolis police officer killed black Minnesotan George Floyd while he was in police custody.

One thing demonstrators should be aware of before they head out is that their cellphones may subject them to surveillance tactics by law enforcement. If your cellphone is on and unsecured, not only can your location be tracked, but your messages and the content of your phone may also be retrieved by police either if they take custody of your phone or later by warrant or subpoena.

• infopolitics,
• info-activism,
• tactical technology,
• street protest

Help B92 Campaign 

International support campaign for independent media in Yugoslavia, including the famous Radio B92 media center, in operation between March and July 1999.

• radio,
• tactical media,
• independent media,
• yugoslavia

The Occupied Times of London Editorial, Issue #23, "Technology", November 2013. 

The latest issue of The Occupied Times of London is devoted to the question of technology in contemporary forms of political contestation. The main question thrown up by  the editors is to ask: "What is technology for?" (TMF editors)

• politics,
• activism,
• tactical technology,
• occupy

Migrants / Media / Metropolis 

Migration and media-activists gather with theorists and labour organizers to discuss and share best practices in the fight against precarity and insecure labour conditions. Sharing inspiring examples of social justice unionism and creative campaigning like Justice for Janitors in the U.S. and Cleaners For a Better Future in the Netherlands.

• campaign

Indymedia: It's time to move on 

Indymedia is the name given to a particular network with a rather uneven global reach, to which many hundreds of local independent media projects, mostly web-based, have been affiliated at one time or another. It is also the name for a particular approach to news media - one that attempts to avoid hierarchal production and hence promote grassroots reports on events.

• grassroot journalism,
• diy media,
• independent media,
• media criticism,
• participatory media,
• news

Culture and Technologies of Control 

Introduction to the cultural intelligence manual "Tactical Reality Dictionary"

• tactical reality,
• control

The Zapatista Tactical FloodNet 

A collaborative, activist and conceptual art work of the net

• electronic disturbance,
• zapatista

Strategies for Tactical Media 

Conscious of the growing involvement of artists in political protest through their art and the utilisation of conventional and digital media technologies, RealTime's editors approached media theorist McKenzie Wark to comment on where he sees Tactical Media fitting in the bigger picture of power and media.

• politics,
• tactical media,
• theory,
• virilio

It Is Not The Changes That Might Take Place, But The Changes That Are Already Occurring And How To Make The Most Out Of It 

More than talking about changes that can be expected in the media landscape because of the developments and the influence of on-line streaming media, it is more consequent and important to consider (and act up on) the influence that these facilities already have in this particular area and the way in which information and communications as a whole have changed and will continue to change because on-line streaming media.

The Undisciplined and Punishment 

In the past several years a lively list serve has evolved that addresses issue of incarceration and justice in the United States. Each night I log on to messages that range from desperate pleadings for someone life to cautious discussions of what the slogans should be on the posters for the next Mumia march. There are technical descriptions of prison architecture and quests for herbal cures to cell block bronchitis epidemics. It is the underside of what is one of our leading industries: locking people up.

• mumia,
• prison,
• death row