Decoding Digital Activism at the New America Foundation

Update: you can watch a video of Thursday's event here.

This Thursday evening, the New America Foundation will hold an event looking at digital activism and the implication for political freedom. Here's their description:

We have been asking the same questions about digital activism for several years now, but do not seem any closer to the answers: Does digital technology give activists or repressive governments the advantage? What are the implications of the changing tools and technologies that underpin it? If cyber-utopians and cyber-pessimists are both overstating their cases, where does the truth lie? What don't we know about digital activism?

What do we need to do to better understand it and get beyond debates based on anecdote and messy comparisons across starkly different contexts? The web, the devices that we use to access it, and our practices change year on year. Though our understanding can be only partial, it seems we know less than we should. At this event we will dissect the current problems in the way digital activism is discussed and debated and suggest ways to frame the issue for policy makers and move the field forward.

They speakers they have lined up for this event are:

• Mary Joyce: Author and editor, Digital Activism Decoded
• Robin Lerner: Counsel, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
• Katharine Kendrick: Internet Freedom, Department of State

The conversation will be moderated by Tom Glaisyer, Knight Media Policy Fellow. Full details of the event can be found here.