When protests go virtual: How organizing social protest in virtual worlds changes the nature of organizing

Bridget M. Blodgett, Andrea Tapia

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce a case study of social protest that has occurred in the virtual world Second Life. This case is a labor strike that occurred against IBM by Italian employees and a large European labor union. We begin with identifying the four key elements in the protest organizing process: Identifying Supporters, Organizing and Establishing Hierarchy, Getting the Word Out, and Building Solidarity/Establishing Social Networks. Next, we briefly examine how non-virtual technologies have changed the protest organizing process. Finally, we present our case data and illustrate how moving a protest to a fully virtual environment changes the organizing process. We conclude by asserting that three aspects fundamentally change protest organizing: entertainment, costs, and culture.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication16th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2010, AMCIS 2010
Pages551-560
Number of pages10
StatePublished - 2010
Event16th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2010, AMCIS 2010 - Lima, Peru
Duration: Aug 12 2010Aug 15 2010

Publication series

Name16th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2010, AMCIS 2010
Volume1

Other

Other16th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2010, AMCIS 2010
Country/TerritoryPeru
CityLima
Period8/12/108/15/10

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Computer Science Applications
  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Information Systems
  • Library and Information Sciences

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