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Special Issue on Youth, ICTs, and Civic Engagement in Asia

Weiyu Zhang, Emmanuel C. Lallana (eds.)

International Communication Gazette, volume 75, issue 3 (2013), pp. 249-337

"The articles collected in this special issue share a common focus: young adults’ use of new media for civic engagement in South and Southeast Asia. Youth engagement problems are evident when established democracies witness a decline in youth participation in traditional civic activities (e.g., vo ... ting) compared to the participation levels of older generations. MacKinnon et al. (2007) stated, ‘[y]outh are turned off by the game of partisan politics and increasingly refuse to learn or apply the rules. In large measure, they are reinventing civic and political engagement.’ We began our project with the observation that the youth in South and Southeast Asia demonstrate distinctive patterns of civic and political engagement, and we sought information about whether these patterns are a consequence of a generational shift or a result of contextual changes, such as those in political systems and media technologies. We examined two propositions that are often associated with youth engagement and new media. First, new media change the relationship between youth and existing political systems. Second, new media change the nature of civic engagement itself, especially for the youth. As we inquired further, we found that using established democracies as our reference point might have been incorrect. The difference between the so-called young or semi-democracies and established or mature democracies is not that the former is an inadequate version of the latter. Instead, the political systems found in South and Southeast Asia have their own characteristics, and these systems cannot be simply classified as a lack of democratic components. The same thing can be said about new media. The difference between the region in question and other regions, such as North America and Europe, is not that the former lacks access to technologies that are common in the latter. Instead, the type and use of technologies in the region show unique patterns that cannot be simply defined as less advanced. When we refer to the region, we make no attempt to generate a singular discourse for all the countries involved. Instead, we are highly sensitive to the diversity presented in the individual cases that belong to the region in this study. The end product, therefore, becomes a juxtaposition of multiple reference points that can be not only compared to established democracies but also compared to the other countries in Asia." (Page 249) more

Electronic Iran: The Cultural Politics of an Online Evolution

Niki Akhavan

New Brunswick, New Jers.: Rutgers University Press (2013), viii, 149 pp.

"Electronic Iran introduces the concept of the Iranian Internet, a framework that captures interlinked, transnational networks of virtual and offline spaces. Taking her cues from early Internet ethnographies that stress the importance of treating the Internet as both a site and product of cultural p ... more

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In Their Own Voice: Technologically mediated empowerment and transformation among young Arab women

Courtney C. Radsch, Sahar Khamis

Feminist Media Studies, volume 13, issue 5 (2013), pp. 881-890

"This feminist, qualitative study sheds light on how young Arab women used cyberactivism to participate in the wave of political and social transformations widely known as the Arab Spring. It argues that these activists leveraged social media to enact new forms of leadership, agency, and empowerment ... more

Mapping Digital Media: Egypt

Rasha A. Abdulla

London: Open Society Foundations, Open Society Media Program (2013), 78 pp.

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Egyptian Revolution 2.0: Political Blogging, Civic Engagement, and Citizen Journalism

Mohammed El-Nawawy, Sahar Khamis

New York: Palgrave Macmillan (2013), viii, 241 pp.

"This book sheds light on the growing phenomenon of cyberactivism in the Arab world, with a special focus on the Egyptian political blogosphere and its role in paving the way to democratization and socio-political change in Egypt, which culminated in Egypt's historical popular revolution." (Publishe ... more

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Cyberactivism in the Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions: Potentials, Limitations, Overlaps and Divergences

Sahar Khamis, Katherine Vaughn

Journal of African Media Studies, volume 5, issue 1 (2013), pp. 69-86

"This article discusses the role of ‘cyberactivism’ or the role played by new media in paving the way for political transformation, in both the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions of 2011. It starts with a discussion of the potentials of cyberactivism in both of these revolutions, especially how t ... more

Mapping Digital Media: Brazil

Pedro Mizukami, Jhessica Reia, Joana Varon

London: Open Society Foundations, Open Society Media Program (2013), 134 pp.

"Digitization has had profound effects in Brazil. In journalism, information flows faster than ever, and from a greater number of sources; journalists have to adapt to an environment that demands immediate coverage of events, sometimes privileging speed over content. The internet has become the seco ... more

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The Role of Social Media in the Arab Uprisings: Past and Present

Maha Taki, Lorenzo Coretti (eds.)

Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, volume 9, issue 2 (2013), pp. 1-122

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Internet Freedom and Political Space

Olesya Tkacheva, Lowell H. Schwartz, Martin C. Libicki, Julie E. Taylor, Jeffrey Martini, Caroline Baxter

Santa Monica, Calif. et al.: RAND Corporation; U.S. Department of State (2013), xxiv, 261 pp.

"This report examines whether and how furthering Internet freedom can empower civil society vis-à-vis public officials, make the government more accountable to its citizens, and integrate citizens into the policymaking process. Using case studies of events in 2011 in Egypt, Syria, China, and Russia ... more

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Many Clicks But Little Sticks: Social Media Activism in Indonesia

Merlyna Lim

Journal of Contemporary Asia, volume 43, issue 4 (2013), pp. 636-657

"Rather than viewing social media activism as the harbinger of social change or dismissing it as mere “slacktivism,” the article provides a more nuanced argument by identifying the conditions under which participation in social media might lead to successful political activism. In social media, ... more

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Gendering the "Arab Spring:" Arab Women Journalists/Activists, "Cyberfeminism," and the Socio-Political Revolution

Sahar Khamis

In: The Routledge Companion to Media & Gender

Cynthia Carter, Linda Steiner, Lisa McLaughlin (eds.)

London; New York: Routledge (2013), 11 pp.

"Any observer of the so-called Arab Spring, the massive wave of political revolt that has been sweeping the Arab region since 2011, could not help but notice the visible role that women have been playing in it. Hundreds of thousands of Arab women throughout the region, including in some of the most ... more

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Le cyberactivisme au Maghreb et dans le monde arabe

Sihem Najar (dir.)

Tunis; Paris: Institut de la Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain (IRMC); Karthala (2013), 269 pp.

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Mapping Digital Media: Hungary

Borbála Tóth

London: Open Society Foundations, Open Society Media Program (2012), 108 pp.

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Syria’s Cyber Wars

Amjad Baiazy

Open Society Foundation (2012), 25 pp.

"The government in Syria came to differentiate between political dissent and the civil society activism in which the new generation plays a vital role thanks to the use of social media. Unable to control the burst of online activity, Damascus was forced to focus on monitoring key dissenters and huma ... more

Mapping Digital Media: Colombia

Jimena Zuluaga, María Paula Martínez

London: Open Society Foundations, Open Society Media Program (2012), 99 pp.

"In Colombia, analog free-to-air television is still by far the most influential source of news. Digitization seems to be increasing both the quantity and range of news and the total public consumption of media as many traditional outlets now have online versions, while some new online only outlets ... more

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Mobile Activism and Social Media in Asia

Madanmohan Rao

In: Asian Communication Handbook

Sundeep R. Muppidi (eds.)

Singapore: Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC); Nanyang Technological University, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (2012), pp. 28-34

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Mapping Digital Media: Georgia

Ana Keshelashvili, Nino Danelia, Ninia Kakabadze

London: Open Society Foundations, Open Society Media Program (2012), 101 pp.

"This report finds that the momentous change in ownership transparency regulation and the dynamic and free online environment are the most notable success stories since 2005. Yet these achievements are overshadowed by the lack of independence of the broadcasting regulator and the public broadcaster, ... more

Mapping Digital Media: Slovenia

Marko Milosavljevic, Tanja Kerševan Smokvina

London: Open Society Foundations, Open Society Media Program (2012), 112 pp.

"With the second-highest penetration of IPTV in Europe, it appears that the Slovenian population has keenly embraced new media platforms at the expense of radio, newspapers, and satellite TV. But the changes and implications for media diversity and society more broadly have stopped short of anything ... more

Mapping Digital Media: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Amer Dzihana, Kristina Cendic, Meliha Tahmaz

London: Open Society Foundations, Open Society Media Program (2012), 94 pp.

"Both media organizations and the organization of media in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been profoundly affected by ethnocentrism, political clientelism, the withdrawal of international donors, and the financial crisis. As a result, the country’s march towards digitization has been protracted and u ... more