ACTIVIST ORGANIZATIONS AND STRATEGIC UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES: AN EXPLORATION OF CODEPINK: WOMEN FOR PEACE

dc.contributor.advisor Winter, Jenifer Sunrise
dc.contributor.author Reile, Wiebke
dc.contributor.department Communication and Information Science
dc.date.accessioned 2019-07-02T17:50:26Z
dc.date.available 2019-07-02T17:50:26Z
dc.date.issued 2019
dc.description.degree Ph.D.
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10125/63168
dc.subject Communication
dc.subject Activism
dc.subject Collective Action
dc.subject Multi-Modal Ethnography
dc.subject Online Activism
dc.subject Social Media
dc.subject Social Movement Organizations
dc.title ACTIVIST ORGANIZATIONS AND STRATEGIC UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES: AN EXPLORATION OF CODEPINK: WOMEN FOR PEACE
dc.type Thesis
dcterms.abstract Social networking sites have changed the nature of online social movements and decreased the role of formal organizations in facilitating collective action. Conceptualizing how social networking sites are relevant in organizations, and how they facilitate collective action through interaction and engagement, is the central question of my study. The theoretical frameworks used in this study include the concepts of collective action theory and social capital, which provide context for exploring CODEPINK, a women-led grassroots organization focused on ending U.S. wars and militarism, while supporting peace and human rights initiatives. Drawing on previous research about collective action and social networking sites, this study investigates the following questions: What type of civic information does CODEPINK use to facilitate followers (email and social networking sites) to take part in collective action? How does civic information shape a relationship between the followers and the organization? What are the strategies that CODEPINK enacts to facilitate activism concerning political and social issues on social networking sites? What factors build capacity to signal dissent to governments and what constitutes success? How does CODEPINK use social networking sites to build social capital to involve followers to participate in collective action? How do the staff of CODEPINK, if at all, view social networking sites as a tool to facilitate collective action? This research utilizes a multi-modal ethnographic approach to explore the online and offline communities of CODEPINK. Data resources include field observations, social media activities, and semi-structured interviews. Instead of focusing on the outcomes of a social movement, I focus my research on the practices of CODEPINK, whose work in the activist field has contributed a series of micro-mobilizations on a variety of different topics. This work highlights the strategic practices of activists using capacity builders, social networking site practices using social ambassadors to build social capital, the relationship between organizations and different types of civic information, and a multi-layered approach for successful social media campaigns. The organization’s role is as an educator of civic information that inspires individuals to participate in activism. With the use of customer relationship management systems, organizations are able to digitally organize followers using a feedback system that creates a social infrastructure. The combined use of traditional face-to-face practices and social networking sites facilitates collective action according to CODEPINK staff. Moreover, this work establishes that the current digital practices of activists have created a new type of activist organization: a digital grassroots organization.
dcterms.description Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2019
dcterms.extent 198 pages
dcterms.language eng
dcterms.publisher University of Hawai'i at Manoa
dcterms.rights All UHM dissertations and theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.
dcterms.type Text
local.identifier.alturi http://dissertations.umi.com/hawii:10261
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