[Air-L] Social Media and the UK Riots: ?Twitter Mobs?, ?Facebook Mobs?, ?Blackberry Mobs? and the Structural Violence of Neoliberalism (Christopher J. Richter)

[Alejandro Tortolini]

Very interesting conversation, as most of this list.
If you allow my modest opinion, coming from somebody who lives in a
country that touched the bottom of the sea in 2001, this kind of
things can´t be explained only as a matter of delinquency.
I liked this article writen by Laurie Penny, in Opendemocracy.net:

http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/laurie-penny/panic-on-streets-of-london?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_content=201210&utm_campaign=Nightly_%272011-08-11%2005%3a30%3a00%27

Greetings,

Alejandro Tortolini
Scitech journalist - Teacher
Buenos Aires, Argentina

2011/8/11, Amy Sample Ward <amyrsward at gmail.com>:
> Matthew, Christian (and all)-
>
> I am completely aligned with you around the misplaced attention on social
> technologies as the "cause" or even core facilitator to the violence across
> the UK. As conversations around the policing of technology build momentum in
> light of the UK, I couldn't help be frustrated by news here in NYC
> yesterday:
>
> http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/08/10/2011-08-10_nypd_forms_new_social_media_unit_to_mine_facebook_and_<http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/08/10/2011-08-10_nypd_forms_new_social_media_unit_to_mine_facebook_and_twitter_for_mayhem.html>
> twitter_for_mayhem.html<http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/08/10/2011-08-10_nypd_forms_new_social_media_unit_to_mine_facebook_and_twitter_for_mayhem.html>
>
> I'm conflicted: In principle, I agree that preventive methods (whether it's
> health or education or crime, etc.) are worth investing in. On the other
> hand, is a police unit focused on "patrolling" the internet for indications
> of criminal activity really "worth" it? I'd like to see the projected ROI of
> that unit in a city like New York that could always use more feet on the
> street.
>
> Perhaps a morning ramble, but it's where my mind has gone on the subject.
>
> Cheers,
> Amy
>
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 8:57 AM, Mattie Palmer <mfp210 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I worry that critical approaches might be a knee-jerk reaction to
>> analyzing
>> the impact of technology on the riots in the UK.  While that might be
>> warranted in situations more akin to the Arab Spring, where men and women
>> took to the streets for the purpose of political demonstration, the riots
>> in
>> the UK are not in protest.  It is not class warfare nor a plea for social
>> justice.  There is not an archaic caste system that needs toppled.  It is
>> looting and mob mentality.
>>
>> Thinking of this is important when looking at the role of social media and
>> technology and the subsequent criticism of it.  It's my opinion that many
>> of
>> the news outlets have focused on social media because it's still fairly
>> recent that such open source technology has been used for macro-level
>> social
>> coordination.  Compared to the chronology of social and political
>> conflict,
>> social media is in its neonatal period!  It's the new toy...  I haven't
>> heard calls for Orwellian surveillance, but I'm also in the United States
>> where such commentary might not make it into the headlines.  I know with
>> the
>> 'flash mobs' here there have not been calls for the policing of social
>> media
>> and technology.  I feel as though the media and policy makers have done
>> well
>> in identifying social media not as a catalyst or cause but rather a
>> facilitator.
>>
>> Nevertheless, continually pinning the causes of social delinquency on
>> structural oppression can be misguided.  Unemployment has not caused nine
>> and ten year olds to take to the streets - what jobs would they have had
>> anyway?  Sometimes it's entirely appropriate to call a duck a duck.
>>
>> Matthew Palmer
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> Matthew Palmer
>> Lehigh University
>>
>> @TotallyRadGrad
>> www.lehigh.edu/~mfp210/
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> *Amy Sample Ward*
> http://amysampleward.org |  @amyrsward
> http://socialbysocial.com   |   @socialbysocial
>
> *Membership Director
> * NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network
> http://nten.org | @NTENorg
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