Adapting, Adopting and Diffusing: Leveraging Web 2.0 Tools for Activism in Mexico

Authors

  • Summer Harlow University of Texas at Austin

Keywords:

computer-mediated technologies, social media, social networks, activism, digital divide, mobile technologies, Mexico

Abstract

This qualitative study examines how four activist organizations in Mexico have employed digital communication technologies like Facebook and Twitter, exploring how digital tactics are diffused among these organizations, which dimensions of activism are supported by technologies, what obstacles they face in using technologies, and how they see adoption of these tactics as impacting activism. Interviews suggest that some organizations are acting as “hothouses,” diffusing online tactics that are adapted and adopted according to an organization’s needs and resources. However, this study also suggests the digital divide limits the use of, and creates resistance to, these tools. Thus, while digital tactics slowly are being diffused, they are not necessarily being institutionalized as part of a new repertoire of digital activist tactics.

 

Keywords: computer-mediated technologies, social media, social networks, activism, digital divide, mobile technologies, Mexico

 

Submission date: 2012-12-14
Acceptance date: 2013-04-24

Author Biography

Summer Harlow, University of Texas at Austin

Summer Harlow is a Ph.D. Candidate in journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. A journalist with more than 10 years of experience, she has reported and blogged from the United States and Latin America, covering immigration, city government, transportation, and minority affairs. Her main research inquiries are related to the links between journalism and activism, with an emphasis on Latin America, digital media, alternative media, and international communication. Her recent research has been published in New Media & Society, Journalism, the International Journal of Communication, Journalism Practice, and Information, Communication & Society.

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Published

2013-08-25

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2013): Social Networking and Activism

Section

Articles