A Digital Revolution?

The events in the wake of the disputed Iranian elections have the world all a “Twitter.”  Literally.  News coming out of Tehran has returned the message based service from the passé of yesterday’s killer app to the forefront of the political sublime.  And of course, the debate begins: what role has Twitter played in the political unrest in Iran?  Various news agencies have speculated over the role of Twitter and other technologies in the unfolding Iranian drama.  This blurb from the LA Times offers an example of the word from media on the technological aspects of the uprising:

The Middle East is witnessing Iran slip into a guerrilla-style Internet and Twitter game of strategies and slogans pecked out by protesters attempting to outflank a government that has largely shut down communication outlets, leaving the nation breathless on snippets of text and stealthily uploaded pictures.

It is a battle on the streets and across the airways, a realm where technology is both churning out and smothering polarizing messages and images. Iranian authorities have blocked opposition websites, jammed satellite TV channels and cut off text messaging. But still, word is trickling beyond the censors, linking, however sparsely, protesters from Tehran to those elsewhere in the country.

However, the debate over the real role of social media in the uprising has come alive in the blogosphere.  While the presence of technology in the opposition movement is undeniable, observers continue to speculate as to whether it is actually fostering activism, organizing the existing unrest, or simply conveying news from within to observers outside of Iran.  Tip of the hat to Monkey Cage for offering a great summary of the debate.

The not-so-twittered revolution  |  The Duck of Minerva

Some comments from a friend of Iranian extraction… Twitter and Facebook and blogs are primarily for the protestors to reach outside Iran, not in the country itself. Furthermore, internet speed has apparently slowed to a crawl and mobile phone networks (and SMS capability) has been severely circumscribed. So, I’d be cautious about accepting at face value the accounts celebrating this as a blogged or twittered revolution!

Technology and Political Change  |  Matthew Yglesias

But, again, what’s going on here is the same old thing happening in a new medium, not the new medium actually allowing new things to happen. Insofar as Twitter becomes a more popular communications tool, popular protests will increasingly have a Twitter component. But that’s not the same as saying that Twitter is actually driving the political

Whither Twitter?  |  Daniel W. Drezner :: Foreign Policy

Twitter is serving two different purposes in Iran right now. Its first role is as a coordination device for Iranian supporters of Mousavi — much like events in Moldova from a couple of months ago. On this dimension, to be sure, it would seem that Twitter has facilitated coordination.

More on Twitter and protests in Tehran  |  net.effect :: Foreign Policy

Overall, I am skeptical about the claims that Twitter has been instrumental in organizing the protests. I grant that it may have been very influential in publicizing them. But I’d like to see tangible evidence that 10 random Iranians found each other via Twitter and – communicating in Farsi –actually planned a rally. I think we are still short of this – most of the reports I’ve seen about the use of Twitter have focused mostly on the role it played in publicizing the violence or the already planned protests and rallies.

Given the lack of consensus in the debate and the absence of any formal research, it’s tough to make a call as to how technology may have influenced the political opposition.  However, it’s apparent that the State Department saw it playing an important role.  Reports have surfaced indicating that the U.S. government encouraged Twitter to delay a planned outage for maintenance in order to facilitate the electronic discourse in Iran.

US confirms it asked Twitter to stay open to help Iran protesters  |  guardian.co.uk

The New York Times last night identified the author of the request as Jared Cohen, a 27-year-old state department official. Twitter complied with the request, delaying its overhaul until last night.

PJ Crowley, the assistant secretary of state for public affairs, told the New York Times: “This was just a call to say: ‘It appears Twitter is playing an important role at a crucial time in Iran. Could you keep it going?’”

The power of the tweet  |  Democracy in America :: Economist.com

THIS must be the nerdiest example of soft power in recent human history: the State Department “contacted the social networking service Twitter to urge it to delay a planned upgrade that would have cut daytime service to Iranians who are disputing their election.”

The Weekly Standard wants credit to be paid to the ad hoc campaign (if that isn’t redundant on a service that relies on 140-character messages and “hashtags”) to delay the service upgrade. But if the State Department was pushing for this over the weekend, it says two things. One, that the United States government is looking for genteel ways to keep the unrest in Iran going. And two, that this wasn’t enough to dissuade Twitter at first—it took a public campaign by Twitter users. A possible third theory: Twitter deviously announced the service upgrade to churn up even more activism about Iran. Who can say? Nothing like this has ever happened before.

Being a semi-closeted technophile hidden in the ranks of the clergy, I’ve found the coverage of the technology of political dissent to be interesting and even exciting.  Although I’m not convinced that the use of social media in any way attributed to the opposition we’ve been watching on our televisions, I don’t think it is a stretch to assume that it was a helpful tool in facilitating an outlet for frustrations that have been simmering in Iran for quite some time.  Given what appears to be the organic nature of the protests, tools like Twitter and Facebook were readily available, so the movement adapted them. Unfortunately, even as powerful as these applications are when it comes to networking people, their potential for activism seems more suited to the virtual realm than to actual boots on the ground situations.  This is especially true when it comes to a potentially violent venue such as the streets of Tehran.

Regardless, technology is changing the socio-political landscape, and it should not come as a surprise that the Obama State Department would recognize this in their efforts to delay the Twitter maintenance shutdown.  (Even if this is somewhat disturbing when considered in the neo-imperial light of our government potentially meddling in the affairs of another…)  However, those of us truly excited about the prospects for technology creating social change can look to some of the new initiatives out there at the forefront.  The Social Citizens blog highlights the results of a recent competition hosted by Net² (translated: “net squared”), a nonprofit working to enhance social innovation through the use of internet and technology.  The top three awards in handed out in this competition begin to demonstrate the potential for technology in social movements:

This year’s $25,000 cash prize went to FrontlineSMS:Medic which utilizes FrontlineSMS software to empower community health workers in developing countries.

Securing $15,000 and second place was on-demand crowd-sourced volunteerism platform, our friends, the Extraordinaries. This new platform allows volunteers from all over the world to dip in and volunteer spare moments in time to help solve a myriad of social problems.

$10,000 and third place went to VozMob which enables those who don’t typically have access to digital technology to still take part in open source discussion and sharing, utilizing low-cost mobile devices.

I’m also excited about a new open-source project called Ushaidi.  Literally meaning “testimony” in Swahili, this project began as a way to map reports of the violence in Kenya following the 2008 elections.  Now it’s being developed as a web-based service to collect information from cell phones, pda’s, email, and websites, and plot incidents visually on a map so that organizers and protestors can keep abreast of the government response.  In my own understanding, I see it as a tool to counter balance the communication networks of military or police forces.  By creating an online network, it allows organic opposition movements to organize and track the government crackdowns without the need for expensive communications and support equipment.  While this democratization of the power of technology is exciting, I think it’s equally exciting when you consider the trans-national nature of the project.  Ushaidi boasts programmers from not only the U.S., but the Netherlands, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi, and Ghana.

A tweeter from Iran under the alias StopAhmadi was quoted as broadcasting the following:

“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. Over n’ out.”

It is my hope that someday our ever growing arsenal of personal technology will equip us all to become revolutionary truth tellers.

• Related link: News for June 17