Roy Alexander Mercon

Regardless of whether you've been living under the proverbial rock, if you find yourself in the 'civilized' world, you've been exposed to digital media, and the uppercuts they have had on traditional and cultural expectations. Everything, from the way we communicate, to the way we educate our children, and even how we think has been fundamentally altered in this new age of pixel-people. As is expected, the youth of today are not the youth of yesterday though the basics of human social interaction are still in place. Today, to be 'cool' is to have (and influence- see Klout) more 'followers' than everyone else. The more influence you have in the digital world, the more likely real-world changes will happen (Kony 2012 is a prime example of this). Though some critics argue that digital media does more harm than good on an individual level, the benefits of 21st century social media platforms like Facebook (and others, including twitter, foursquare, tumblr and the like) will continue to push grassroots activists (and their opposition) to utilize digital media to meet their various objectives.

Though we haven't talked about it in class, Fold@Home is a wonderful example of how the many can become one in order to end a crises, in this case Alzheimer's, Huntington's and many forms of cancer. Using “thousands of personal computers and playstation3s” Folding@Home uses a concept known as '*distributed computing*' to coordinate with these machines to “preform simulations of protein folding and other molecular dynamics” - in essence, help find a cure for these diseases. 

Once the program has been downloaded, it runs in the background, taking advantage of the time you are not on your computer (think screensaver) to preform these simulations. While not exactly the Cognitive Surplus that Shirky imagined in his book, He hit the nail on the head when he said that “Given the right opportunities, humans will start behaving in new ways” (Shirky, 100), which in this case means giving up your computer's memory whilst you are not using it and contributing to the greater good.

If you are going to be in the forefront of a major grassroots activism campaign, especially one in Egypt, expect your opposition to come after you. Governments are traditionally not 'in the know' when it comes to social norms (case in point, the average age of a members in both houses of Congress is 58.2 years), and people will always fear something they don't understand. During the time of Mubarak, the Egyptian Government took advantage of their inability to join their opposition online by attempting to behead the movement, kidnapping Wael Ghonim and imprisoning him. “Suddenly three men jumped me from behind. 'Shut up, you scoundrel!' came a harsh voice. 'don't you dare let out a sound.” One of the men reported through a radio transmitter, 'It's done, sir. We're ready.'”(Ghonim, 197) This would undoubtedly be a check in the 'perils' column for grassroots activism. However, depending on how your particular revolution/protest/other form of activism is doing, if your opposition isn't after you, your impact might not be as big as you had hoped. As Rachel Dawes so eloquently put it to Harvey Dent in the movie 'The Dark Knight' “Harvey, you're Gotham's D.A. If you aren't getting shot at, you aren't doing your job.”

It is assumed to be a common belief that if there is a group out there stealing kids from their homes and forcing them to kill their parents and whoever else they are told to, it's a bad thing. Stopping JosephKony, said to be the leader of such a group, has been Invisible Children's goal for a number of years. Most recently, they gave the world a new phenomenon to talk about, by way of a video released online, called KONY 2012. Billed the best example of how something on the Internet can go viral, this video received 89 Million views as of this writing. No matter how one feels about the politics and rumors surrounding this cultural moment, including funding issues and the mental status of Invisible Children's leader, the sheer number of views meant success for this organization.

What does 89 million views on an 'over-simplified' version of a complex issue contribute? Joseph Kony has yet to be found. The follow-up to the KONY 2012 video has received only two million views, giving rise to the idea that this video was a one-hit viral wonder. Their planned massive movement 'Cover The Night' had minimal success. It seems that the damage made to the organization's credibility was enough to stifle (i.e. kill) the growth of their influence. Unless they can preform a quick 180, I'll bet the next time we see KONY 2012 is in the end-of-the-year edition of Time.

When grassroots activists fight for likes, +1s, comments or follows, they are contributing to the permanent mental change of civilization, according to Nicholas Carr. With the Internet being a forum for those seeking change, and he who is loudest wins, “There is no Sleepy Hollow in the Internet, no peaceful spot where contemplativeness can work its restorative magic. There is only the endless, mesmerizing buss of the urban street. The stimulations of the Net, like those of the city, can be invigorating and inspiring. But they are, as well, exhausting and distracting.” (Carr, 220). This gives rise to the argument that, although there are millions of likes on Facebook for an activist organization, how many people are going to leave the confines of other homes and actually attend a rally? #Occupy is a great example. There is an outpouring of support for those encamped online, however the amount of actual Occupiers is dwindling by the day. Everyone is talking the talk, but very few are walking the walk.

The effects of Occupy are not lost due to the lack of physical bodies on the streets, however. Last year, when Bank of America imposed a $5fee debit fee, the company quickly changed its tune due to “*negative customer feedback*”. There are those that claim the 'customer feedback' was due to Occupy's 'Invest in Main Street, not Wall Street” campaign, telling those that would listen to move their money away from big banks that make record profits on the backs of those struggling to get by. This campaign was given serious strength by social media, namely Twitter, where the stream of tweets with #Occupy (or something similar) looked more like a waterfall. #Occupy at least had one real-world, tangible success.

Rock or not, digital media has changed the world we all live in, whether we care to admit it or not. The youth of today are starting to seriously harness the power that social media can have on public policy, and it is safe to say that the future generations, with all of their techno-wizardry and such will be able to enact change faster and more efficiently, like a machine using the machine. It is an unfortunate truth that, for the foreseeable future, those with wealth have the saying power to weather the storm of peaceful digital revolution. This possibility will not stop those with a vision in attempting to try. As the saying goes, 'the power of the people is greater than the people in power.'

The 411 on the VNA, FYI

When the little creature that I occasionally call my daughter came home, I was made aware of the VNA, or Visiting Nurse's Association. In my experience, they're a pretty cool group. Making house calls (hence the 'visiting' part), they bring some old school medical care to the masses.

Being an old school crew, their internet presence isn't making a large impact on the internet, although they have a book face, which you can view here. With only 211 likes and only one person 'talking about them', they aren't going up against KONY anytime soon. they also have a website, which you can also check out here. their Facebook is not updated as frequently as I'd like (their latest post being made on the 23rd, and the post before that was made on the 5th). Their posts are self-promoting, directing users (viewers?) to either their site or other places, giving the sense that their knowledge of social media is limited at best. 

To justify picking the VNA for this project, they should have a Twitter or another form of social media in order to better communicate with the people they serve. I have attempted to establish contact with the one responsible for their Facebook page, thinking that this person (or persons) would be able to enlighten me with the VNA's plans for future social media endeavors. I am still waiting for a response.

So, to conclude,  the Visiting Nurse's association seems to be more focused on their work than their exposure to the masses. Speaking from experience, I'd say that they are doing just fine in that regard, and they should work a little harder in connecting with the connected world.

R U 1 2? O-I-C-U-R-M-T

RU12? (Are you one, too?) is a small non-profit based in Winooski that "celebrates, educates and advocates with and for lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, queer or questioning individuals." I had the chance to sit down with Sheila O'Donnell, a volunteer for the organization on her role within the organization, which has a focus on the non-profit's social media entities. Check out the nuggets below. If you wish, you can listen to the entire interview (about 10 minutes) here.

S: My name’s Sheila.

R: And why am I talking to you today?

S: Because you asked to interview me… because I work or volunteer rather at the RU12? Community Center.

R: What is that?

S: It’s a resource center for adult members of the LGBT community in both Burlington and Winooski. It’s stationed in Winooski, but it services the broader Chittenden County area.

R: What is LGBT for those who don’t know?

S: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning.

R: Can you give me some examples of the resources that they offer?

S: Yup. They offer everything from free, anonymous HIV testing every week if anyone wants that, there are social support groups that meet different nights of the week, one of them is for coming out support, one of them is a transgender support group, there is a newly instituted military support group now that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed. They also house Safespace which is domestic violence prevention, that victims of domestic violence, specifically people in same sex relationships, can call if they are experiencing domestic violence and have a safe person to talk to anonymously and figure out what their options are.

R: So what do you do at RU12? that specifically relates to social media?

S: I write some blog posts for them. They have a blog on their site that is typically focused more on community events and RU12? activities, but they like to incorporate some more policy-based posts, and that’s where I come in. I find news stories, write about them, and try to encourage involvement and activism. And I put my own spin on them, explaining how people can get involved and such.

R: Is the blog the only social media tool that they use, or do they also have a Facebook?

S: They do have a Facebook. I don’t believe that there’s a Twitter yet. I think that it’s just the Facebook and the blog on the website.

R: How does the work you do at RU12? connect with your personal social media experiences?

S: Well, I follow quite a few LGBT groups and individuals on Facebook. By individuals, I don’t just mean I have gay friends, I mean people like Lt. Dan Choi.

R: George Takei?

S: I do follow George Takei, but he’s more entertainment. Much less policy-driven than Dan Choi. But, these people I follow will post links to articles which I will then read and incorporate into my blog posts, so, it’s sort of a cyclical process.

R: What do you hope social media will do for RU12? and groups like RU12? in the near future?

S: Well, with RU12?, I think it would be nice to see them embrace the social media tools a little bit more. Like I said, really only got the Facebook page and the blog isn’t even a blog on a separate site, it’s just on the RU12?community site. I think it would be cool to see them have, maybe a Tumblr or Blogspot and get more involved with Twitter and maybe even branch out into Google+ and all that new stuff. Youtube, it would be cool too if they could involve some visual public service announcements or something.

R: Where do you see social media going? We’re in Web 2.0 now, what’s Web 3.0 gonna look like?

S: Honestly, I’m not sure what Web 3.0’s gonna look like, but I think very soon everything’s just going to be connected to one- like, you’re already seeing it. You log into Youtube, Gmail, and a bunch of others with one password and you can log into a bunch of other sites via your Facebook and I think that soon it’s just going to be one username, one password and you have everything that you need at your fingertips.

R: In your line of work, do you see any negative side effects in using social media?

Definitely, there was an event I think, last year, where a college student’s roommate set up his web cam and left it running while he left the room and caught this closeted college kid making out with his boyfriend on tape and then posted it to Youtube and Facebook and the gay student actually ended up committing suicide. There’s a lot of cyberbullying in high schools and it definitely doesn’t go away when you hit college. I think that, when everything is connected the way that it is, if someone is in the closet, and wants to stay in the closet, it just takes one post on one site to blow it all out of proportion and that individual has suddenly lost the power to self determination. He or she can no longer come out on his or her own terms.

R: What social media tools do you wish you were using, and what tools do you wish you could stop using?

S: Personally or at RU12?

R: Both.

S: Personally, I wish that I was a little bit more integrated into Google+, it looks like a really cool site, I just haven’t quite shifted over yet. And I am on my Facebook quite a bit… maybe a little too much. As for RU12?, like I said, I would like to see us having a separate blog on a separate link that could just be maybe dedicated to the policy stuff that we could link to from the main site. Instead of just having, you know, “Next week there’s a talk on safe sex,” then “we’ve got free HIV testing” and then “This politician is overtly against LGBT rights, this is what you can do.” I feel like that information should be in a different spot than the itinerary of what’s going on.

R: When did you first start using social media, and when did RU12? start using social media?

S: I think I probably started using social media in about 10^th grade. I was sort of late to game. I got a Myspace and as soon as I got a Myspace everyone else was like, “Facebook!” I didn’t get a Facebook until my senior year of high school and there were still a bunch of bitter college kids who were really mad that it was open to high school students all of the sudden. So, yeah, I’d say I’ve been using social media since about 10^th or 11^th grade. I’m honestly not sure when RU12? started using social media. They were already using it when I started there. I know that they’ve had the website for a while. I think the Facebook page is relatively new, maybe the year before I started there and they are really just now starting to branch out, I think. Like I said, they still don’t have a Twitter I don’t think.

R: Anything else you’d like to add, maybe how people can get involved with RU12? if they’d like to?

S: Yeah. They can go to the web site RU12.org and contact Brenda Pittmon. She coordinates all of the volunteer work.

R: Alright, well thank you very much, Sheila. I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me today.

S: Thank you! 

EPIC MOVE TIME

Wait, another blog? Yes, friends, you know what that means. Rob WIlliams has struck again with another one of his classes.
For those of you who happened upon this blog that aren't in Grassroots Toolbox, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Cheeto, and this is a video I've recently found on the boob YouTubes:

Now, I'm not sure if Rob let us watch the entirety of that, but even if he didn't, can anyone here deny the awesomeness of this? And even if you can, can you at least respect the time and effort made, and downright amazing talent the creator of this video has? Well, had SOPA or PIPA (I refuse to pronounce it 'pippa', like Pippy Longstocking. I call it 'piipa. Don't ask me why. It's something I've decided to put my foot down on. YOu gotta have those now and again) passed, guys like Fagottron (no joke, that's his YouTube name. You can check out his channel here.) would've been in the crosshairs of some people who can put you away for some serious time. That's not cool. That's something that I don't enjoy. Here's something I do enjoy!

From Bamyan Bash

I took this picture. And I'm really thankful that I have the skills, equipment and the opportunity to capture these moments in time. This guy's name is Pvt. Terrance Toohill from Christchurch, New Zealand. How did I end up taking a picture of Terrance playing with devilsticks whilst wearing full body armor? I went to this place called Bamyan Province in Afghanistan.


View Larger Map

It's pretty cool, if you ask me. Someday, the people that live there want to make their home a tourist attraction, and for some adventuristic souls, it already is. I mean, look at this place!

From Bamyan Bash

Razor-wire aside, this place was pretty chill. I mean, yeah, there was the constant threat of some serious gunfire and mortars and things, but at night, I never saw so many stars. It's awe-inspiring to see stars when there isn't a light within a 100-mile radius. And in the morning, just as the sun is about to come up, you can hear the Call to Prayer sung all around you as each village on the mountains gets hit with the early morning twilight. Sounds kinda cool, doesn't it? You know you wanna go.
 Enough with the ramble, and now for something completely different.
You wanna know about me? This is what's on every about me section of my various social media entities:
First off, why do it? Well, let's take a walk down to the tracks. We'll sit on the wall and watch a few trains go by. Let's see if the lonesome train whistle calls your name the way it calls mine. I get a strange feeling in my gut just to be near the big trains whooshing and banging and clanging and hissing and rumbling. It's wanderlust. I'm itching to catch the next train out. - Wes Modes

 "So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun." -Alex Supertramp Those two quotes seem to sum up my representation of myself.

 OH! Quiz time! Who is/was this guy?

Leave your answer in the comments below.

..... Stick around. This blog is going to get interesting.