Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 8.1.
Correlations (Kendall's Tau B) between online and
offline forms of actions by ESF activists
Online forms of action
Offline forms of action
(dummy variables)
Petition
Netstrike
Taking part in past demonstration
0
.
05
∗
0
.
04
Squatting
0
.
04
0
.
16
∗∗
Taking part in elections
0
.
07
∗∗
−
0
.
14
∗∗
Taking part in sit-ins
0
.
06
∗
0
.
14
∗∗
Perpetrating violence against property
−
0
.
02
0
.
13
∗∗
Taking part in boycotts
0
.
15
∗∗
0
.
12
∗∗
Handing out leaflets
0
.
07
∗∗
0
.
11
∗∗
Taking part in strike action
0
.
02
0
.
08
∗∗
06
∗
06
∗
Attending political meetings
0
.
0
.
06
∗
Occupying school/university
−
0
.
03
0
.
Canvassing for a political party
0
.
05
−
0
.
05
18
∗∗
Signing petition/referendums
0
.
−
0
.
04
Party activism
0
.
03
0
.
02
∗
=
significant at 0.05 level;
∗∗
=
significant at 0.01 level.
Source:
From della Porte and Mosca, 2005: 178.
bombing.
11
Although it often has been claimed that online activism
replaces offline activism, della Porte and Mosca (
2005
) found rather
strong relations between online petitioning and netstriking and several
offline forms of protest (cf. Table
8.1
). With respect to cognitive infor-
mation dissemination, the Internet proved to be widely used among
protestors both for their own information as for spreading their ideas.
Although more open and easy accessible, the Internet also proved to
possess new hierarchies and gatekeepers, and knowledge of the rules
of search machines is essential for prevalence on the Internet. Most
protestors also were well aware of the lack of verification and the
highly temporary nature of information on the Web, compared to con-
ventional media. And, finally, the transfer “from desktop to televi-
sion screen” (Bennett,
2004
) proved to be a hard one, as the contents
of the Genoa and ESF protests were only marginally covered by the
11
Netstrikes consist of a large number of protestors connecting simultaneously to
the same domain at a prearranged time. This prevents regular users from
accessing the domain. Mail-bombing consists of sending an overload of e-mails
to a Web site until it gets jammed.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search