Some protests are taken to the streets, others through petition or boycotts. Today, an issue a half a world away is gaining momentum online through social networks and new media platforms.
The New Zealand Internet Blackout – which I first read about on Read Write Web (@rww) – is an online social media movement that asks Kiwi’s and non-Kiwi’s alike to protest against the Guilt Upon Accusation law ‘Section 92A‘ :
…that calls for internet disconnection based on accusations of copyright infringement without a trial and without any evidence held up to court scrutiny. This is due to come into effect on February 28th unless immediate action is taken by the National Party.
Find out how exactly to update your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and Web site profiles at the Creative Freedom Blackout page.
Here are some images you can use for your profiles. Just right-click to save to your desktop and upload to your profile pictures:
I’ve blacked out Twitter, Facebook and this blog.
Read more
In conjunction with our central communications office and the MacArthur Foundation, Mizuko Ito (a faculty member in the area which I serve as Communications Director for) has released the following:
Read moreUCI researcher show time spent online is important for young people’s development
Teens who are into texting, gaming and “geeking out” are not wasting their time, according to results from the most extensive U.S. study on young people and their use of digital media. Instead, the study shows that when America’s youth go online, they are developing important life skills that adults often are hard-pressed to appreciate.
“There are myths about kids spending time online – that it is dangerous or making them lazy,” said Mizuko Ito, UC Irvine researcher with joint appointments in information and computer science and humanities and lead author on the study. “But we found that spending time online is essential for young people to pick up the social and technical skills they need to be competent citizens in the digital age.”
Released Thursday, Nov. 20, the study suggests that parents should help facilitate their teens’ online participation and that educators could benefit from creative classroom experimentation with digital media.