Final Readings Response

In "Trust and Internet Activism: From Gmail to Social Networks" Laura Gurak examines three separate cases, each tied together by their relation to social internet media and each varying in degree to this relation. The first case, from 1992, focuses on the Lotus Marketplace, which was planning to release a product but was later cancelled due to internet protests. Gurak identifies that this protest took place in the very early stages of the internet, and therefore the internet community was a small, closely linked group of users. The next case, explored a Facebook page set up in response to a destructive tornado that touched down in Minneapolis in 2010. Gurak points out that this page bridged the gap between the community and the bureaucrats, and focused on the level of trust. Trust was high between the community and this page because the man who created it had been a resident of that area, and some of the people new him personally. However, not everyone new who he was, and yet there was a high trust level that exceeded governmental support, which Gurak explains was due to the personal connectedness that community members felt towards the page because of how they could relate to him/members on the page. Gurak identifies relatability as a key factor in building trust. The final case examines the fight against a constitutional bill in Minnesota from 2012, which was proposed to ban same-sex marriage. In this segment, Gurak again focuses on trust, but explains the different methods that the campaign against the bill used, such as personal letters.
"Being Together versus Working Together: Copresence in Participation" by Earl and Kimpert explores how copresence and collective identity factor into activism, especially in relation to online activism. Their goal is to show that meaningful collective action can be undertaken online. This claim is in response to many social movement theorists who argue that 'real' change can only happen through face to face communication/action. The basis of Earl and Kimpert's argument rests in claims such as on page 128, "Collective action can exist when people are engaged in the same expressive act", which they want to use in order to show that online petitions are a form of collective action, and also create a collective identity. They focus primarily on how different sites disclose participation statistics, and how this plays a role in maintaining or creating a group identity. They conclude by pointing in the direction for future research, claiming that 1. Future research must examine participation levels, and 2. Future research must examine how collective identity is affected by representation.
I actually agree with the conclusions of both articles, however the only real strong claim comes from Earl and Kimpert. I enjoyed Gurak's examination of how high trust can be maintained in different scenarios, and especially her focus on personal connectedness and how that factors into levels of trust, and she cites Sztompka(no idea who this is) "Trust is often established through social proximity", which I think is exactly spot on. I think trust is, at the very least, created through social proximity both physically and on a relational level. It can be maintained outside of social proximity, but I think it is grounded in such a condition. Translating this to digital activism, I think this works right into Earl and Kimpert's examination of collective identity. As pointed out in the tornado Facebook page example, trust can be created through an online medium. While we might argue that a full regress into the nature of the man's relationships was the real origin of the trust, I would respond that those who never knew the man maintained high levels of trust in the page. Building off of trust, Earl and Kimpert show how trust and collective identity can motivate a cause in meaningful ways. While it is not without its drawbacks, disclosing participation numbers and names can be prudential to a movement, particularly an online organization. This disclosure helps creates a "culture of trust", to quote Gurak, and encourages a sense of collective identity, by assuring potential participants that they are not alone, and that they are with others that they can relate to.

Source search report

The most useful search was definitely anything that involved 'The Sierra Club', but also adding in the terms 'rhetoric', 'strategies', and 'fundraising' all were useful. My question has a few angles, looking at both the history of the Club but also at how their site is structured, rhetorically, so using multiple terms in combination with 'The Sierra Club' offered a wide range of sources. A couple sources I found as byproducts of my initial search did give me some new angles to think about, especially a few that are research oriented, and based in scientific methodology. Also, gathering a few sources that negatively discuss the Club spark some curiosity, and will hopefully give me some greater insight into how the Club's methods are perceived, and how successful they are.
The four I have chosen so far I based off of diversity, as my question has a few different angles. I chose one that describes the history of the organization, as well as a book on the 'rebirth' of environmentalism, which has a chapter on the Club and John Muir specifically. These I would like to use for my historical analysis, and how it ties into contemporary focuses of the Club. The most exciting source I found was an article based on a research study conducted on how the Sierra Club uses a 'framing' strategy to increase awareness of important issues. My final source comes from the Club itself, and is actually a grouping of multiple webpages the site has dedicated to its multiple 'Move Beyond Fossil Fuels' campaigns, and I plan to use 3 of the 4 specific pages in my analysis, but may settle on less than that.

Works Cited:

Bevington, Douglas. The Rebirth of Environmentalism: Grassroots Activism from the Spotted Owl to the Polar Bear. Washington, DC: Island, 2009. Print.

"Moving Beyond Fossil Fuels." Sierra Club. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.

Parsons, Marion Randall. "The Sierra Club." JSTOR. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.

Reber, Bryan H., and Bruce K. Berger. "Framing Analysis of Activist Rhetoric: How The Sierra Club Succeeds or Fails at Creating Salient Messages."Science Direct. Public Relations Review, 1 Feb. 2005. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.

Week 8 Assignment

“How does the Sierra Club use its website to represent their traditional areas of focus, like environmental conservation, while also devoting focus to contemporary issues like fossil fuels and climate change?”

Analysis: 

The home page of the Sierra Club website is headed with a large picture of the Sierra Valley, with the phrase “Explore, Enjoy, and Protect the Planet” in large type next to the Sierra Club logo. This is a great representation of what the club's intentions and purposes are, which has been around for over a 100 years, and was founded on the principle of environmental conservation by its legendary figure head John Muir. Muir was inspired to save and maintain the Sierra Valley which he cherished so much, and so naturally, it makes sense to highlight this classic aspect of the club. But this non-profit organization is one of the largest in the United States, and so has moved beyond focusing on just environmental conservation, but turning focus also to contemporary issues such as climate change and fossil fuels. So, how does the club use the digital presence created by their website to not only communicate their traditional principles, but also to engage in contemporary issues?

While the Sierra Valley picture is a dominant figure upon initial arrival to the site, below the picture is a set of 5 tabs of links to main areas of the site. These are the main links for the site, and the first three tabs follow as such: Move Beyond Fossil Fuels, Preserve our Wild America, and Enjoy the Outdoors. These seem to exemplify the most significant focuses of the Club, and combine the traditional aspects with the modern. In 2011, the Sierra Club launched its 'move beyond coal' campaign, and upon clicking the Move Beyond Fossil Fuels link, the user is taken to a page with extensive information on the topic. This is the first tab, reading from left to right, and the following tab, Preserve our Wild America, focuses on the Club's traditional efforts, and how they are continuing this tradition. We could imagine that this order is intentional, as the fossil fuel campaign represents the contemporary focus, and the preservation tab represents that continued principle of conservation.

The Club has developed its efforts significantly since its conception, and this can be seen in the structure of their website. While it does give focus to traditional principles, the Club has developed into an organization that not only works to raise awareness, but also to create an identity and a lifestyle. To the left of the Sierra Valley picture, there is a roaming tool bar that has links to social media sites. Scrolling just below the picture and main toolbar there are sub-tool bars, such as Act Now, What's Happening, and Go Local. The Club puts extensive effort towards getting people informed, motivated, and engaged, and their site represents this.

Reflection:

Moving forward, my main goal is to gain more perspective into the Club's methods by conducting more extensive research, both explained by the Club's website but also through outside sources. I think a more advanced knowledge of the Club's historical efforts as well as what they are doing today will allow me to more successfully analyze their web page and how it is structured in such a way that relates to my research question.

  

Revised research question

"Is the Sierra Club too focused on oil?"
Overall, I am still favorable towards my intended aim of research. However, Hal responded to my question with a nice revision:
"Why would the Sierra Club choose rhetoric that focuses on fossil fuel consumption?"
This slightly strays away from my original intent, to research into how this focus affects the Club's overall message/appearance. But I like its more acute focus on the particular rhetoric of the Club, and I will most likely find a way to include both of these areas of research.
Anne brought up a reasonable concern: Where are you going to focus your research?
I plan on focusing on the Facebook page and the Club's website, probably both and not just one.
So as I move forward I want to first address the questions Anne brought up:
1. What is the purpose of the Club, and how is this represented online
2. How do they present other topics, such that oil is a main focus
3. How is this a detriment/advancement, and if the former, how does the web design portray this particular rhetoric

I feel that once I have found at least general answers to these questions, I will find myself in a comfortable place with research going forward.

Response to Castells

Castells first details the brief social movement of multiple Arab states, from 2010 called the 'Arab Spring'. He focuses on how digitality played a role in the uprisings, specifically mediating alienation from the respective states, consensus among the population in protest, and the defense of the movement by the international public opinion. Castells uses this example to show how media can play a very important communicative role in social movements. However, he also uses this example to point out that there is a very fine line that movements need to be wary of, and that is of counter violence as a response to military violence. Castells argues that once a movement becomes engaged in a counter-militant agenda, then the movement loses its democratic characteristic and any civil/peaceful weight.
He then transfers the themes of this section into a more abstract sense, focusing on the overall power of digital networks in a social movement. He claims that contemporary social networking engenders a "self communication" in the user, and this overall plays into the horizontal structure of networking and social movements. This is what Castells focuses on throughout this section, on how digital social networks factor into social movements. He claims they play a very important role, and argues that they are necessary, however they are not sufficient for creating/determining social movements. His argument is centered around autonomy of the movement, and how successful it is at occupying urban space; which Castells claims is the most important aim of a social movement.
For me, I instantly thought of Papacharissi's 'virtual sphere', and how that translates to this 'space of autonomy'. Papacharissi's 'public sphere' would seem to be exactly what Castells is going for when he talks of urban space. He may not be as articulate as to what specifications this urban space holds, but nonetheless, it is a public area that is required to inspire social/political change.
I did not find many similarities between Castells argument and Stewart, Smith, and Denton's, however they both argue that digitality and its prevailing social networks are crucial to social movements.

Shaping Research Questions: Part 3

"How does the Sierra Club represent their efforts/actions in an online forum, such as Facebook?"
This paper would involve research into both the organization's offline and online actions, and how the offline is translated into the online forum. It would require sources from inside the organization, and outside, such as scholarly work in the field of environmental activism, etc. This question interests me because it is somewhat broad, in that it asks how the organization shows what it is doing in the real world, and how they represent this action online. An addition to the question could be, do they do this successfully? Is it represented accurately?

"How do ecowatch.com and the Sierra Club website comparatively inform their audience and how do they differ?"
This paper would require research into both websites, analyzing them rhetorically, and thus evoking the similar messages they present and how they present it. It would involve a comparison, which means how they are similar, and how they are unique, which would make for an interesting paper in that they both are aimed at environmental sustainability and protection, presumably. I would need to cite both organizations, do some research into their respective programs, and probably some outside sources on environmental protection/action.

"Is the way the Sierra Club presents itself too narrowly focused on oil?"
This question seems a little too narrow, but it is actually my favorite of the three, because it is focused and yet it is focused enough where I can spend time both on the issue(oil) and how the rhetoric of the organization represents that problem. This paper would require research into both the organization and on the current oil crisis, as well as a rhetorical analysis of either the Facebook page(probably) or the webpage. Sources would need to vary, coming from the organization and outside, scholarly sources on oil and most likely on environmental protection.

Shaping Research Questions: Part Two

"What are the most effective online strategies for mobilizing individuals for social action?"

This is a very interesting question, but it is too broad to focus on for a 5-7 page research paper. However, if narrowed down, it could be shaped into a great question, because it is complex: It is multi-faceted, it requires extensive research, and it needs an argument. If it were to focus on, say, how a specific organization has been successful in relation to others, thus comparatively showing how some strategies are more effective than others, this would result in a great project. 

This is the question I think involves more research. 

"Are children smarter because of the internet?"

First of all, I cringed after reading the word 'smarter'. Secondly, it is a yes no question, which would result in a very short response and not much research needed. This is not a bad question in nature, if  a more specific focus were added it could turn into a very interesting paper. I would first change 'smarter' to 'affected', or 'educated', and focus on how a specific organization or webpage is structured to help educate children/or is detrimental to their learning(misinformed, bias, etc.). It needs to incorporate a research aspect, and thus needs to add an additional component to the question. An example could follow as such, "How certain webpages X, Y, and Z, are educating children, and how we should learn from them" Including the final consequence need not be necessary, but regardless, their should be some kind of additional, specific, information added to the question. 

This is the question I think involves much less research.