[Air-L] A good way to respond to a query from a student about activism?

Sun Jun 7 12:45:33 PDT 2020

Hi, all,

*Thank you, Sarah, for sharing your question with the listserv. Apologies
in advance if this email violates any of the listserv’s rules. Feel free to
ping me if it does. As a Ph.D. candidate, I come to the table with more
questions than answers but did want to weigh in with a few orgs and
initiatives that come to mind: *

As a student myself, I am reluctant to prescribe approaches or suggest
answers in this space to a question that is so daunting and big in scope.
That said, a few years ago, there was a conference called the National
Forum on Ethics and Archiving the Web <https://eaw.rhizome.org/>, which
brought together activists, librarians, journalists, archivists, scholars,
developers, and designers to talk about how to create richer,
non-oppressive web archives. A lot of the presenters there were working on
initiatives that grew out of conflict and crisis and that engaged with
Internet studies; some of them might interest your student.

In my opinion, one of the pressing issues right now is that as
students/researchers collect social media content about protests for George
Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, they may wish to consider how
their work *could* protect protestors from further surveillance or put
protestors at risk.  One org that is reflecting on the power of
archives is Documenting
the Now
<https://mellon.org/shared-experiences-blog/capturing-history-280-characters-time/?ref=twitter032619b>,
and I should stress I am no way formally affiliated with them.  Full
disclosure: In my own research, I examine digital traces of military
policy; as an undergrad, years ago, I really didn’t know much about how to
incorporate an ethic of care into my own archival work, and now, as a Ph.D.
candidate, I am still learning.

I’m remiss to suggest reading in this time, but in 2018, Bergis Jules, Ed
Summers, Dr. Vernon Mitchell, Jr. put out a white paper
<https://www.docnow.io/docs/docnow-whitepaper-2018.pdf> that might be of
interest to your student called “Ethical Considerations for Archiving
Social Media Content Generated by Contemporary Social Movements:
Challenges, Opportunities, and Recommendations.” The impetus for the white
paper was an effort to collect social media content related to the
aftermath of the killing of Michael Brown on August 9th, 2014 by Ferguson,
Missouri police officer Darren Wilson. I am deeply inspired by the work
that they are doing (as well as the work other Internet historians on this
listserv). As an aside, Documenting the Now is currently looking
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5EDqQg45NB2ZrUk42_GOghUPhcyqMJor8BSXj-p1Q4FK7ng/viewform>
for
archivists and other memory workers, who are willing to share their time,
resources, and expertise to help activists document police violence. Though
your student may not have the energy or interest in archiving social media,
she might be interested in knowing that there are folks out there, who are
committed to advocating for the documentation of contemporary social
movements, including social media.

As a fellow student, I’d be happy to chat with your student over Skype or
her preferred medium about certain archiving tools (i.e. Webrecorder) that
I’ve used over the years, if she’s interested in exploring some of the
ethical considerations that go into social media archiving.  Other
organizations like Witness come to mind; they have a page of resources
<https://www.witness.org/resources/> here that I also turn to frequently
and am especially inspired by now. Some other folks on the listserv may
also have more insights on archives and activism and what initiatives are
growing out of this moment.

Sarah, as I draft this email, I am also aware that your student said, “Looking
at social media I am further saddened to see images of Black men being
murdered and their deaths reposted and reposted for all to see.” So, I
recognize that my advice to check out Documenting the Now may not be ideal,
because much of the organization is concerned with archiving social media.
I do not seek to further her pain or sadness; archival activism is but one
path. It is not the only answer.

I’ll add that the Internet Freedom Festival runs a very active listserv
(sorry, I don’t mean to turn people away from this one); a recent email I
received from them included a link to a Github manual that Lebanese
activists had made for protestors around the world, who are supporting
Black Lives Matters. The guide
<https://github.com/frombeirutwithlove/ProtestTips> included specific
digital tips for activists. I am not sure if that is the type of material
she is seeking, but I call attention to the listserv and org as examples of
ongoing efforts in the digital rights sphere that might interest her and
provide an outlet, if not a community, that is not linked to Twitter or
Facebook per se.

Sorry for contributing to everyone’s Sunday email spam. Happy to connect
off list with anyone here, and I’m also painfully aware that not knowing
your student personally, it’s possible that these initiatives might only
add to her tire and/or trauma, so I speak only in regards to my own
experiences and outlook.

Muira
***
*Muira McCammon*
*Ph.D. candidate, Annenberg School for Communication, University of
Pennsylvania *
*M.L., University of Pennsylvania Law School (2020)*
*M.A. in Translation Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2016)*
*A bit about my teaching philosophy here
<https://www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/news/mccammon-receives-penn-teaching-prize>
*
*A bit about my research here
<https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/Penn-grad-student-studies-information-flow-Guantanamo-Bay-Gitmo-detention-center>*

*Twitter: @muira_mccammon*

On Thu, Jun 4, 2020 at 6:04 PM Sarah Ann Oates <soates at umd.edu> wrote:

> Dear AOIRers,
>
> I wanted to ask this great list a question for our times. See the message
> below from a student I taught in an online social media and society course,
> in which we had a module on #BlackLivesMatter. Can you think of a better
> way to respond than just with a list of campus groups and a note that I was
> impressed that she wanted to commit to activism for her beliefs? That's
> what I did, but I'd like to help a bit more because it's heartening both to
> see students wanting to put their scholarship into action. Thanks in
> advance. BTW, I asked her if I could ask the list and she said that was
> great.
>
> Here is her message:
>
> As a young black woman, I am struggling to cope with all that is happening
> in our country right now. Looking at social media I am further saddened to
> see images of Black men being murdered and their deaths reposted and
> reposted for all to see. I fear people will become desensitized to these
> images and names like George Floyd will just become another hashtag and
> forgotten victim of a corrupt system.
>
> *... I was wondering if you had any advice or resources for action beyond
> social media. I know the Black Lives Matter module discussed the sort of
> "wind tunnels" we create where like-minded people swirl ideas among mutual
> followers, but little action is taken beyond likes and retweets. I want to
> do something that goes beyond liking a post or ranting about it on Twitter.
> If you have any ideas or resources regarding the potential to leverage
> social media for positive social change I'd love to learn more about them!*
>
> Sarah Oates
> Professor and Senior Scholar
> Philip Merrill College of Journalism
> University of Maryland
> College Park, MD 20457
> Email: soates at umd.edu
> Phone: 301 455 2332
> www.media-politics.com
> Twitter: @media_politics
>
> *Support the UMD Student Crisis Fund
> <https://giving.umd.edu/giving/showPage.php?name=crisis-funding> today. *
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>

-- 
*Muira McCammon*
*@muira_mccammon <https://twitter.com/muira_mccammon>*

Recently out: "Persisting in Dark Times: Lessons from a War Crimes
Researcher
<http://howwegettonext.com/persisting-in-dark-times-lessons-from-a-war-crimes-researcher-8b3504f4b169>"
in *How We Get to Next *