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

Agenda Introduction Theory : conviviality of tools Methodology Case of blogging in Iran Discussion

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)

Introduction Societal impact of Internet social networks: Utopian and dystopian perspectives

“How does the Internet contribute to 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?

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.

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

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

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

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) Lurking – unobtrusive monitoring Whispering – chat room one to one conversation Flaming and shouting – agressive conversation

Case 1: Feminist One Million Signature Campaign Case 1 refers to a campaign which initiated in 2006 by feminist campaigners who say that Iranian law discriminates against women. It aims to collect one million signatures to support of changes to discriminatory law against women. One of the campaigners stated that “The Internet is the most important tool as the Internet allows us to share information about the campaign, educate and raise women’s awareness by providing legal education materials.” The same campaigner also stated that “the Internet is the easiest way to gain access to large audience, arrange meetings and seminars, promote dialogue and identify supports without harassment of the government.” Supporters can also sign the online petition and make donations using online payment facilities. Iranian bloggers also often publish the campaign logos, photos, videos and the news on the progress of the campaign which are excluded from the state controlled media and newspapers. They also often discuss the campaign and state their opinions.

Case 2: Stop Stoning Forever The Stop Stoning Forever refers a campaign started in 2006, by a group of human right supporters to abolish stoning. According to the Iranian law, the punishment for adultery is death by stoning. And using the Internet, the campaigners have been able to reach a significant audience to involve them in the campaign. Many websites and display their logo to promote this campaign and distribute the news, links and stories.

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.

Sample of Few Blogs:

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.

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.

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

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 government’s adoption of systems of surveillance and censorship

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

In 2008, a bill was passed to the parliament to permit death penalty for online activities that offend Islam. A well known cases of this, is the case of Saeed Malekpour, a website developer, who has been arrested and sentenced to death for running an Iranian porn website. Authorities passed a bill to the parliament to permit death penalty for online activities that offend Islam.

June: Iranian presidential election and its aftermath. In 2009, the Internet played an active role in the 10th presidential election in Iran. Candidates used social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter to outline their election promises.

June: Iranian presidential election and its aftermath. The Internet also had an influential role in aftermaths of the elections where there were accusations that the votes had been rigged by the officials. Voters started protesting and the government started cracking down on these. The Internet was used to broadcast the news of cracking downs as foreign reporters were forbidden to report and in some cases ordered to leave the country. One of the well known cases of using the Internet to broadcast news from Tehran was when the video of the dying moments of a young girl, named Neda, who was shot dead during the protests, was uploaded on YouTube and subsequently shown around the world by different news channels.

June: Iranian presidential election and its aftermath. Facebook and Twitter were also used by the protesters to gather and exchange information. And created scenes like these.

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/iran_students_abroad_decry_restriction/2334218.html

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@mbs.ac.uk mike.newman@mbs.ac.uk

Libyan government cuts of internet access on 4th March 2011 Internet Blackouts (1) Libyan government cuts of internet access on 4th March 2011

Internet Blackouts (2) Egyptian government cuts MOST citizens of the internet on 27th January 2011

Communicating in the Dark “When countries block, we evolve” People use other methods to stay in touch

Differences between Libya and Egypt Libya stopped all internet services. Egypt cut off 91%-92% of its citizens from the internet.

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