We bring together researchers and activists from inside and outside academia focussing on two broad perspectives on digital activism:

• Building digital movements and resilience pertains to small, independent projects that suggest counterpoints to society’s status quo.

• Building digital picket lines, i.e. activist groups fighting back against larger powers within society such as political parties and multinational corporations.

We aim to start a conversation across the different perspectives and foster cross-issue engagement to instigate networks in research and practice. The two discussion groups consist of individual guest speakers giving a 15-minute introduction to their individual perspective followed by a general discussion lead by a moderator.

Program

13:00 – 13:10 Arrival and Introduction

13:10 – 14:40 Panel #1 Building Digital Resilience

Panel members: Janet Gunter (The Restart Project), Vera Hoelscher (Royal Holloway), Kui Kihoro Mackay (Royal Holloway), Matthias Kispert (University of Westminster)

14:40 – 15:00 Break

15:00 – 16:30 Panel #2 Building Digital Picket Lines

Panel members: Mikko Laamanen (Royal Holloway), Adam Badger (Royal Holloway) and Robbie Warrin, Torsten Geelan (University of Leicester), James Sloam (Royal Holloway)

16:30 – 16:45 Concluding Remarks

Followed by drinks at a local pub.

Click here for speakers' bio and abstracts.

*This event is organised by Dr. Mikko Laamanen, Adam Badger & Dr. Vera Hoelscher, DOS Research Centre, RHUL

*Image credit: Tim Gouw on Unsplash

Digital Activism