[Air-L] Subversive Twitter: Cuban Spring à la ZunZuneo

[Aziz Douai]

Dear AoIRists,



Some of you may have seen today's AP story in the *Washington Post* about
the US attempt to create a Twitter like messaging system, ZunZeneo, to
foment a "Cuban Spring" in Cuba (link below).



While this reminds us of how communication technologies have always been at
the forefront of serving "imperialist" projects, I am afraid this leaked
story bolsters fears and suspicions of conspiracy and fair-minded folks
alike about the "organic"/indigenous nature of the "Arab Spring."  What
does it say about our research into social media and activism in developing
nations AND those of us who engage in this type of research?



I would appreciate hearing some of your views on the ethics of such
project, its implications on new media activism, and scholars'/researchers'
analyses of "new" media enabled social change in developing nations.



The full WP story is available here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/us-secretly-created-cuban-twitter-to-stir-unrest/2014/04/03/8a2dc77c-bafa-11e3-80de-2ff8801f27af_story.html



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Aziz Douai, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Faculty of Social Science and Humanities
University of Ontario Institute of Technology
55 Bond Street East
Oshawa, ON   L1G 0A5, Canada

Tel: 905.721.8668, ext. 3790
Fax:    905.721.3372
E-mail: aziz.douai at uoit.ca
Web:
http://socialscienceandhumanities.uoit.ca/research/researcher-profiles/dr.-aziz-douai.php

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"A popular government without popular information, or the means of
acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both."
James Madison, 1822
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