Conviviality of Internet social networks: An exploratory study of Internet campaigns in Iran

1. 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

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

3. 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)

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

5. 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?

6. 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.

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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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)

12. Case 1: Feminist One Million Signature Campaign

13. Case 2: Stop Stoning Forever

14. 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.

15. Sample of Few Blogs:

19. 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

20. 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

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

22. Authorities passed a bill to the parliament to permit death penalty for online activities that offend Islam.

23. June: Iranian presidential election and its aftermath.

24. June: Iranian presidential election and its aftermath.

25. June: Iranian presidential election and its aftermath.

26. 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

27. 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

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

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

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

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

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