With Dr. Joss Hands. Online social networking and mobile computing are now central to politics, and to calls for the reform of existing social structures. As we have recently seen in the so-called Arab Spring revolutions and the uprising in Ukraine, they also play a critical part in movements of political protest, rebellion and regime change. However, much controversy surrounds the question of whether or not this computer mediated communication (CMC) is successful in increasing the capacity of activists to hold state and corporate power to account, and construct less oppressive systems. Dr Joss Hands will discuss these questions with us. He is the Director of the Research Centre in Media and Culture at Anglia Ruskin University, and has written widely on the effects of CMC. His book, @ is for Activism: Dissent, Resistance and Rebellion in a Digital Culture, was published by Pluto Press in 2011.
6.45pm (doors open 6.30).