Persistent Activist Communication in Occupy Gezi

We revisit the notion of activist persistence against the backdrop of protest communication on Twitter. We take an event-based approach and examine Occupy Gezi, a series of protests that occurred in Turkey in the early summer of 2013. By cross-referencing survey data with longitudinal Twitter data and in-depth interviews, we investigate the relationship between biographical availability, relational and organisational ties, social and personal costs to persistent activism online and on-location. Contrary to expectations, we find no clear-cut relationship between those factors and sustained commitment to participation in the occupation. We show that persistent activist communication did not feed into enduring organisational structures despite the continuous online activity observed during and beyond the peak of the Gezi occupation. The article concludes with reflections on the organisational ramifications of persistent communication and its significance in a political context posing high risks to participation in dissident politics

Internet’s only as Good as Its Users

The ‘democratizing’ influence of the Internet is only as effective as the political culture and the people's readiness to actively use the medium for meaningful engagement, as well as a mainstream media that is capable of being a watchdog on those in power. To achieve the democratic potential of the Internet, (a) we need to develop best practices in socio-political blogging; (b) the basic principles of ethical journalism - transparency, accuracy, accountability, fairness, verifiability - should apply to blogs that claim to provide readers a space to engage in free and honest intellectual exchanges; and (c) the Internet as a tool to instigate fundamental reforms is only as effective as its users, and the environment that allows users to generate new knowledge and critically engage in the political process

The Effects of Selective and Indiscriminate Repression on the 2013 Gezi Park Nonviolent Resistance Campaign

We investigate the differential effects of selective and indiscriminate repression on the rate of protest actions during the nonviolent resistance campaign in Gezi Park, Turkey, in 2013. After deriving theoretical expectations about how and why these forms of repression will influence protest actions, we test them with protest event data that were collected from a major local newspaper and subsequently validated through a comparison with two other independent Twitter datasets. Utilizing a Poisson autoregressive estimation model, we find that selective repression, as measured by the number of arrested activists who were detained while they were not demonstrating, decreased the rate of protest actions. Meanwhile, indiscriminate repression, as measured by the frequency of the government’s use of lethal and nonlethal violence against protesters during demonstrations, increased the rate of protest actions. Our findings support prior research on the influence of indiscriminate repression on backfire outcomes. They also provide evidence for the impact of selective repression on movement demobilization through the removal of opposition activists. Finally, the targeted arrest strategy of selective repression that was employed in the Gezi campaign has implications for the feasibility of the strategic incapacitation model of protest policing

Influence of Smartphone Diabetic Messaging on HbA1c

Associated personal, financial, and societal costs of a diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus impacted over 22 million Americans at a cost of over $245 billion in 2012. The project provided evidence-based outcomes that demonstrated improved HbA1c levels in the intervention group and positive feedback on diabetes related text messages. Ongoing opportunities are available to expand text messaging within the physician network; the potential for replication studies; and the feasibility and effectiveness of text messaging for improving engagement in managing people with T2DM health are also findings within the study

Digital Feminist Placemaking: The Case of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” Movement

Throughout Iran and various countries, the recent calls of the “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi” (in Persian), “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” (in Kurdish), or “Woman, Life, Freedom” (in English) movement call for change to acknowledge the importance of women. While these feminist protests and demonstrations have been met with brutality, systematic oppression, and internet blackouts within Iran, they have captured significant social media attention and coverage outside the country, especially among the Iranian diaspora and various international organizations. This article, grounded in feminist urban theories of the Global South, analyzes the digital feminist placemaking movement in Iran. As the first counter‐revolution led by women, the movement utilizes digital art, graffiti, and protest movements to embody women’s solidarity groups and sympathy rallies. Our analysis employs various digital research methods, including social media scrutiny and the study of protest illustrations. Analyzing the digital feminist placemaking in Iran will enable us to compare the commonalities, differences, challenges, and opportunities between the minorities and majorities in the world’s countries. The outcomes of this research can help international organizations such as Amnesty International and the United Nations Agency for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (UN Women), as well as policymakers, institutions, academics, and NGOs, to highlight the various ways in which broader public participation could be encouraged in the process of digital feminist insurgent placemaking

Social Movements in Iran and the Trends of Political Expressionism.

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2018

From Tahrir to Independence Square: The Evolution of Digitally Mediated Protest Movements 2009 – 2013

The surge in mass protest movements against authoritarian regimes around the world is raising questions about the reasons, motives and timing of such risky political activity. The hailing of social media as an enabler for contentious political action raises questions regarding the political impact of these new technologies, and how they may play a role in fomenting mass protests. A process-tracing analysis of four major protest movements will serve to examine the structural qualities of social media, and whether their particular use by activists and disgruntled publics is helping to spur mass disobedience and protest activity. The movements in Egypt in 2011, Iran in 2009, Turkey in 2013 and Ukraine in 2013 will serve to infer a broadly generalizable theory about social media’s role in contentious political activity and mass movements

Social Media Use for Decision Making Process in Educational Settings: The Greek Case for Leadership’s Views and Attitude in Secondary and Tertiary Education

The emergence of social media and their wide usage have brought changes in almost all fields of public sphere. Nowadays governmental organizations, agencies and politicians use social media in order to ensure major civil participation, enhance e-dialogue and e-democracy consequently, emphasizing thus in participatory processes through which opinions are co-shaped and decisions are jointly made. On the other hand, in another field of public sphere, that of education, social media are mostly used for teaching support, promotion and publicity. Taking into account education’s key role in the cultivation of active citizenship as well as the fact that educational structures are self-governed, the aim of this study was to identify leadership’s views of Greek Secondary and Tertiary Education on the potential use of social media in educational environments for the purpose of a participatory decision-making process which broadens stakeholder involvement in educational policy-making

The Aesthetics of Global Protest

Protestors across the world use aesthetics in order to communicate their ideas and ensure their voices are heard. This book looks at protest aesthetics, which we consider to be the visual and performative elements of protest, such as images, symbols, graffiti, art, as well as the choreography of protest actions in public spaces. Through the use of social media, protestors have been able to create an alternative space for people to engage with politics that is more inclusive and participatory than traditional politics. This volume focuses on the role of visual culture in a highly mediated environment and draws on case studies from Europe, Thailand, South Africa, USA, Argentina, and the Middle East in order to demonstrate how protestors use aesthetics to communicate their demands and ideas. It examines how digital media is harnessed by protestors and argues that all protest aesthetics are performative and communicative