Conviviality of Internet social networks: An exploratory study of Internet campaigns in Iran

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Conviviality of Internet social networks An
exploratory study of Internet campaigns in Iran

• Aghil Ameripour
• Brian Nicholson
• Michael Newman
• Centre for Development Informatics
• Manchester Business School

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Agenda

• Introduction
• Theory conviviality of tools
• Methodology
• Case of blogging in Iran
• Discussion

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Introduction

• The nature of the impact of the Internet will
  depend on how economic actors, government
  regulation and users collectively organise the
  evolving Internet technology (DiMaggio et al
  2001)

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Introduction

• Societal impact of Internet social networks
• Utopian and dystopian
  perspectives

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Conviviality relates to the extent to which
technology (tools) supports democratization and
constrains particular groups ability to control
culture the form, flow, content of information
and ideological or symbolic representations.
How does the Internet contribute to the
accomplishment of conviviality in Iran?
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Criteria for conviviality

• 1. Users, rather than the designers of the
  technology, must have the power to shape it
  according to their tastes, desires and needs
• 2. Convivial tools must promote communities and
  encourage and maximise communication amongst the
  members of the society
• 3. Convivial tools must make the most of the
  energy of individuals maximise and encourage
  creativity and imagination of users
• 4. Users of convivial tools must not be mere
  consumers, but also producers and contributors to
  the technology.

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Research Methodology

• Approach
• Exploratory
• Strategy
• Interpretive
• Data Collection Method
• Review and Synthesis of Literature
• Virtual Ethnography
• Email and telephone interviews

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Traditional Ethnography

• Co-located
• Face-to-face communication
• Body language visual and audio cues
• Local setting - context
• Document gathering
• Observation
• In general Researcher is immersed in physical,
  political, cultural settings

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Virtual Ethnography

• Researcher and subjects physically distributed
  -sometimes in different countries
• Communication mediated by technology (E-mail,
  weblogging, telephone)
• Textual, audio and pictorial cues
• Used for economic and technology reasons
• Also used in researching oppressive regimes (e.g.
  Iran, China, Saudi.), where secrecy and
  confidentiality may be vital to engage subjects
  for whom the consequences of revelation can be
  severe

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Virtual Ethnography problems and opportunities

• Different behaviours can emerge such as
  flaming, shouting, lurking and whispering
  (Garcia et al. 2009)
• Validity issues and the journal review process
• Language issues
• However
• VE can reveal subjects opinions
• Email gives time for reflection c.f. interviews
  (Hunt and McHale 2007)

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Case 1 Feminist One Million Signature Campaign
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Case 2 Stop Stoning Forever
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The Stoning Case

• Background The Iranian law is mainly based on
  the Islamic Sharia law. In the Sharia law the
  punishment for a married man or woman who has
  committed adultery is death by stoning.
• Cause of the Campaign The Stop Stoning Forever
  Campaign started its work in August 2006, to
  alter the Iranian penal system and to abolish
  stoning.

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Sample of Few Blogs
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Conviviality Users, rather than the designers of the technology, must have the power to shape it according to their tastes, desires and needs Iran Stop Stoning Case Spread news and stories Provide legal education Spread petitions Provide citizens with officials contact details time and place of stoning and solicit campaigners attendance.
Convivial tools must promote communities and encourage and maximise communication amongst the members of the society involved a community across the world news agencies, foreign embassies, human right campaigners, journalists and public.
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Conviviality criteria Convivial tools must make the most of the energy of individuals, and maximise and encourage creativity and imagination of users Iran Stop Stoning Case Internet facilitated dissemination to mass media distribution of petitions, involving the international community fundraising via Paypal.
Users of convivial tools must not be mere consumers, but also producers and contributors to the technology. Internet users were not mere consumers of information, circulated the information, added feedback, and arranged meetings using the Internet.
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Discussion

• Outcome stoning is still taking place in Iran,
  6 deaths since 2006, 15 commuted (Amnesty
  International)
• our findings do not provide evidence that
  Internet availability will guarantee any
  significant changes towards the accomplishment of
  a convivial society
• our findings show that Internet conviviality
  cannot be treated as an independent variable with
  deterministic outcomes on society

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• The Iranian Internet social networks are not
  universally accessible
• frequently induce fragmented, nonsensical, and
  enraged discussion
• potential as a tool of liberation is tempered by
  the Iranian governments adoption of systems of
  surveillance and censorship

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• Internet campaigns we examined were intermeshed
  with other forms of activism
• access to the campaign sites in our study was
  selective

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• Authorities passed a bill to the parliament to
  permit death penalty for online activities that
  offend Islam.

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• June Iranian presidential election and its
  aftermath.

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• June Iranian presidential election and its
  aftermath.

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• June Iranian presidential election and its
  aftermath.

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Final word

• The director of student affairs at the Iranian
  Education Ministry announced on March 8 2011 that
  those studying abroad -- both students on
  government scholarships and those paying their
  own way -- are forbidden to submit a thesis
  related to Iran. http//www.rferl.org/content/ira
  n_students_abroad_decry_restriction/2334218.html

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• Ameripour, Nicholson and Newman (2010)
  Conviviality of Internet social networks Journal
  of Information Technology 25 p244-257
• CDI working papers
• http//www.cdi.manchester.ac.uk/
• brian.nicholson_at_mbs.ac.uk
• mike.newman_at_mbs.ac.uk

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Internet Blackouts (1)

• Libyan government cuts of internet access on 4th
  March 2011

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Internet Blackouts (2)

• Egyptian government cuts MOST citizens of the
  internet on 27th January 2011

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Communicating in the Dark

• When countries block, we evolve
• People use other methods to stay in touch

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Differences between Libya and Egypt

• Libya stopped all internet services.
• Egypt cut off 91-92 of its citizens from the
  internet.

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Balance?

• In summer 2010 countries started banning
  Blackberries.
• Governments can view citizens internet history,
  but not censor.