Presentation at the Tech4Freedom: Democracy and Human Rights in the Digital Age conference (Beirut 14-15 Dec. 2017) in the Tech 4 Political Change panel
1. From Smart Mobs
to Smart Govs
The New Shift in Power
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2. Smart Mobs
• Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution (Howard
Rheingold, 2002)
• Social, economic and political changes implicated by
developing technology
• Collective Intelligence
• Crowd Dynamics
• Shift in Power: Communities Dominate Brands
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3. Govs Dominate Crowds
Smart Mobs
(2002)
Arab Spring
(2010)
“Smart Govs”
(2011)
"thumb tribes" in Tokyo
and Helsinki use text
messaging to organize
impromptu raves or to
stalk celebrities
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4. Network Interventions
• Network Engineering:
Alteration
• Physically Eliminating Hubs
and Bridges
• Infiltrating the Social
Networks
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5. Psychometrics
• Post-Truth Era: Emotions not Facts
• “in this era of post-truth politics, it's easy to cherry-pick data and come to whatever conclusion you
desire” (Oxford Dictionary)
• Our smartphone is a vast psychological questionnaire that we are constantly filling out, both consciously
and unconsciously (Michal Kosinksi, Cambridge Psychometrics Center)
• Weaponized online rumors and fake news have the upper hand over activist idealism (The Economist,
2017)
• Hijacked Democracy
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6. Majority Illusion Paradox
• Social Bots:
Automation of
manipulation
• Niche Influencers,
Bridges and High
PageRank
• Easily Influenced
People vs Influencers
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7. PolarizationofDiscussions
Twitter discussion about the garbage crisis
Sep. 8, 2015
Civil society groups
Community Clusters
Twitter discussion about the garbage crisis
Feb. 2, 2016
Two major groups: IranianAffairs and KSA24
Polarized crowds
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8. The next big threat
0% Traceability
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9. If you have to pick one fight
• The right to know the source / Right to know the origin:
• Who posted it first?
• Creator vs Sender
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10. Tech4Journalism
• Hire Big Data Analysts
• Own your Data
• Choice of channels
• Business Model
• Learn the Processes
• Fight Back
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Notas del editor
Tech4Freedom: Democracy and Human Rights in the Digital Age
Wajih Ajouz Award for Online Activism
Beirut, 14-15 December 2017
The 2011 Khuzestan protests, known among protesters as the Ahvaz Day of Rage, relates to violent protests, which erupted on 15 April 2011 in Iranian Khuzestan, to mark an anniversary of the 2005 Ahvaz unrest, and as a response to the regional Arab Spring. The protests lasted for 4 days and resulted in 12 to 15 protesters killed and many wounded and arrested. 1 security officer was killed as well, and another wounded.[2] Crackdown on Arab political opposition in the area continued since with arrests and executions.[3]