Social Media and the Occupy Movement

In Upcoming Events, by , on February 7th, 2014

Faculty Research Colloquium coming up next Tuesday, Feb. 11, in Dunleavy 220, from 5:15 to 5:30 p.m. As usual, all faculty are invited. Questions may be directed to Dr. Brian Bennett at ext. 8454, Dr. Peter Butera at ext. 8523, or Dr. Tim Ireland at ext. 8059.

Dr. Doug Tewksbury, assistant professor of communication studies, will discuss his current research looking at the social and mobile media uses of social movements, particularly the way that online participatory technologies create new possibilities for direct democratic action, community building, and citizenship. Tewksbury is presently the 2013-14 Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Globalization and Cultural Studies at McMaster University’s Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition.

In Dr. Tewksbury’s FRC talk, he will discuss his current Fulbright research, a qualitative ethnographic study of participants’ social and mobile media uses in the ‘Maple Spring’ Quebec Student Protests of 2012-13 and the Canadian Occupy movement of 2011-12. His conversation will focus specifically on the concept of online-offline sharing, the role that sharing plays in direct democratic action, and the need for new social and mobile tools for global citizens to better understand one another’s democratic, cultural, and community needs.