CeDEM Day 1, afternoon, Track: Bottom-­Up Movements, Main Hall, Chair: Rosanna De Rosa

1. Net Technologies, Net Gain:
An Institutional and Micro-Structural
Approach to Understanding Technology
Use for Collective Action
Carol Soon
Institute of Policy Studies
National University of Singapore
Email: carol.soon@nus.edu.sg

2. Study of collective action
§ Contentious politics
§ “Episodic, public, collective interaction among makers of claims
and their objects when (a) at least one government is a claimant,
an object of claims, or a party to the claims and (b) the claims
would, if realized, affect the interests of at least one of the
claimants” (McAdam, Tarrow & Tilly, 2001)
§ Political economy – institutional opportunities and
constraints (Coston, 1998; Della Porta, 1995)
§ Micro-structural analyses – roles of collective and selective
incentives (Klandermans, 1984, 1993; Klandermans & Oegema, 1987;
McAdam & Paulsen, 1993; Snow, Zurcher & Ekland-Olson, 1980)
§ Political participation and Internet studies –
democratization potential of ICTs (Bosch, 2010; Langlois, Elmer,
McKelvey & Devereaux, 2009; Stein, 2007)

3. The Singapore context
Liberalization of spaces
Impact on collective incentives, structural proximity and structural availability
Authoritarian governance
(Institutional constraints and opportunities – Societies Act and Public Order Act)
Adopters of user-generated platforms and social media (e.g. blogs and Facebook)

4. Offline space: The Speakers Corner (2000)

5. Liberalization of the online space
§ Economy underwent a major shift in the 1990s
§ Among top 10 economies in the world for active-mobile
broadband subscriptions (International Telecommunication
Union, The World in 2011)
§ Control through legislation: Internet Code of Practice
and the Class License Scheme
§ Government s attempt to strike a balance between
illiberal political interventions with market-oriented
strategies for economic growth + the architecture of the
Internet soon created loopholes (George, 2003).

6. Research Objective
§ How have digital technologies enabled activists to overcome
constraints posed by the institutional context?
§ Specifically, how have the digital technologies enable activists to
overcome barriers to collective incentives, structural availability and
structural proximity?
Use of
digital
technologies
Collective
incentives
Structural
availability
Structural
proximity
Institutional
constraints

7. Interviews
§ Population list identified through
commercial search engines and
blog aggregators
§ Snowballing leading to 224 political
blogs
§ In-depth interviews (22 males and
4 females)
- What does
activism mean
to you
- Can you
describe your
involvement?
- What roles do
Internet
technologies
play in your
activism work?
- How do you use
Internet
technologies in
your activism
work?

8. Digital bottom-up movements
Alternative
Redemptive
Change opinions pertaining to a specific issue among a target group
Pink Dot.sg
To eradicate prejudice targeted at the LGBT and promote an accepting
and harmonious society
Slut Walk
Raise awareness for the problem of sexual harassment of women and
bring about opinion change on victim-blaming
Bring about a dramatic change in the lives of individuals belonging to
a specific group
Lehmann Brothers and Minibonds
Seek compensation for investors who lost money in Lehmann-linked
structured products
Internal Security Act (ISA) campaign
To raise awareness for ISA detainees and their experiences; and call
for the abolition of the Internal Security Act
Reformative
Revolutionary
Change an entire community or society in a specific way
“No to 6.9 million people”
Petition for the government to reconsider its population policy
roadmap, specifically on curbing immigration flow
No to Rape
Advocate the total abolition of marital rape immunity
in Sections 375(4) and 376(5).
Repeal 377A
Petition the government to repeal Section 377A of the Penal Code
which criminalizes sex between mutually consenting adult men
Anti-Mandatory Death Penalty campaign
To seek legislative changes to the death penalty for drug-related
offenses and repeal sentences of those on death row (prominently
Yong Vui Kong)
Eradicate an old social order and replace it with a new one
Nil

9. Blogging and collective incentives
§ Clear vision and purpose for Singapore and
for blogging
§ Similar motivations for blogging and part of
a larger collective working towards a
common goal
§ Tacit acknowledgment that on their own,
they did not have the answers or solutions
to political and social issues existing in
Singapore
I can identify with some
Singapore bloggers whose
blogs are mainly socio-
politically oriented.. These
bloggers have the same
concerns as I have about the
current state of politics in
Singapore and the future of
the country. (Daryl, male,
early 20s, student)
I see myself as part of a collective socio-political blogging
community that is collectively informing Singaporeans of
what’s going on. I’ve seen the level of discourse going up
since I’ve started. (George, male, early 30s, technology
consultant)

10. Increased structural proximity
§ Connecting to others whom they may not
have had a chance to meet offline
§ An activist s blog also served as an
effective vehicle to inform others about his
cause, encouraging fellow Internet users
involved in similar campaigns to come
forward and connect with him.
My blog used to be hosted on
Multiply. The Online Citizen (a
citizen journalism blog)
contacted me to ask me to
write for them. In the same
week, V5 messaged me on
Multiply telling me about an
event and said that I may be
interested to join. (Rachel,
female, late 20s)
I got involved in the death penalty cause through the Internet. Alan posted
that M Ravi needs help with the case on Facebook. I saw the post and sent
Alan a message which said if M Ravi needs help, ask him to call me . He
called me the next day. That was a connection made through the Internet. I
also didn t know people from Bloggers 13. We read one another s blogs
and then finally we meet one day. (Harry, male, early 20s, law student)

11. Increased structural availability
§ Enabling activists to circumvent real world
constraints posed by their individual
commitments.
§ The ease of connection and relatively low
cost increased the ease and speed with
which activists could converge, pool their
resources and work as a team to realize
their activist goals – lower barriers to
participation.
We just had one meeting
before we came up with our
paper, just that one face-to-
face meeting, and after that
everything after that was
done over emails. (George,
male, early 30s, technology
consultant)
A typical thing I might be asked to help with would be to take a look at press release on
how to write it better for any groups that need advice. Without the Internet, if someone
were to call me and say, I have this one-page document which I would like you to go
over, I would have to stand by a fax machine. If they don t trust the fax and you have
to have a physical meeting, there would be a very high chance that you would say
No because you are busy. Now the automatic response would be to say Yes. They
just email it to you and you can look at it at midnight after you have done everything
else. (Chong, male, mid 40s, academic)

12. Conclusion
§ Activist bloggers use Internet technologies such as blogs and social media to
overcome limitations and constraints present in the institutional environment
§ The experiences and outcomes of blogging affirm bloggers conviction
pertaining to its positive impact in contributing to civic discourse and pushing
for change
§ The World Wide Web becoming a proxy meeting place in a regime where
the regulation of offline discourse diminish individuals willingness to engage in
political talk and meetings
§ Activist bloggers also overcome limitations of structural availability as Internet
technologies provide time saving and cost-effective means for the coordination
of activism work
§ Importance of online-based groups in providing an alternative form of
organization
§ Although somewhat transient in nature, digital bottom-up movements induct
fledgling activists and connect them to the larger network of activists

13. Thank you.
Email:
carol.soon@nus.edu.sg

14. Bloggers and activism participation
Activities Freq(%)
Donated money to organization 32
Wrote a letter 50
Signed a petition 68
Attended a meeting 62
Attended a rally or protest demonstration 40
Participated in an information campaign for the public 52
Advertised in the mass media 8
Made a presentation to a public body 24
Gave a lecture to schools or organizations 20
Participated in press release or conference 32
Served as a representative on an advisory board 16
Purchased merchandize 32
Wrote or called the media 42
Displayed a banner or sign on
website or blog
52
Others 22
A wide spectrum
of activism –
alternative and
reformative
movements
(Locher, 2002)
e.g. SinQSA,
TWC2, Repeal
377A,
Singapore Anti-
Mandatory
Death Penalty