#informationactivism

[emilytesdale-me-blog]

Information activism really revolves around anonymous group and as well as wikileaks, hacking and listening in on to the information people are looking at around political views. This involves interface as well as networking and information. 

[paigeypaigerrrs-blog]

'Twitter. An online social networking service that enables users to send and read short messages called "tweets"...Registered users can post tweets, but unregistered users can easily read them.'

It should go more like this.. 

'Twitter. An online social networking service that enables users to identify as whoever they chose to portray or be - whether for professional, recreational, or political use - in an array that they will find other twitter users who either think as they do or have a similar thought on the tweet.'

Social networking sites (such as Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus) allow you to create whatever online identities you want. Whether or not you choose to take on your physical identity or create an entirely new identity that represents your virtual self is completely up to you. People use these networking sites for a variety of reasons. Whether it is a way of self expression or confession or even for the mere purpose of contacting with friends that exist in the real world as well. But have you ever thought about the users that use these as a way to relay information? And no I'm not talking about the information that relates to your life personally, but the information that everyone deserves to know (information that some people want to hold confidential when in actuality, it is the people's information.) The kind of information that leaks through anonymous users on Twitter, viral YouTube videos or bloggers who don't leave their trace. These people often disguise their identities because they don't want to get in trouble by the major capitalist companies or the government for sharing this information. They just strongly believe that the people deserve to know this information. 

These type of social media users are activating their right to having a digital freedom. Similarly, this concept can go directly back to freedom or speech and the idea that we should have a freedom of being watched (kept under a close surveillance.) These users, and other types of anonymous users and groups as well, often start movements and "operations" this way. Sometimes in order for a change or a protest to take place in society today, people use their online identities as a shield in order to protect themselves from the dangers such that can occur, 

[internetsocietyclass-blog]

Anonymous (Information Activism)

         First off,an information activist is someone who makes information available to the public that otherwise would go unseen. An example of a large group that does this is Anonymous, known individually as an anon. Anons are labeled in the media as hackers, but define themselves as "average internet users". There original purpose was to protest scientology, which they continue to do today along with a number of other conquests. They are a leaderless organization fighting for the rights of the public: free speech, privacy, freedom from surveillance, and to share and innovate ideas.

          I used a French video message from anonymous (with the face of Guy Fawkes) to show that this is something international. Not just some extreme movement in one country like America, but an interactive organization that stretches across the globe.

          I think this entire group is incredibly intriguing. To be honest, before today I didn't even know that they existed. I must live under a rock. This video in particular that I chose to use seems a bit extreme and I do question if it is the real deal. All in all, Anonymous seems like it has certainly started in the right place, but I can't help but wonder when it will get out of control. Vengeance is a heavy calling and almost always runs out of control, especially when there are so many people involved in a group like Anonymous. 

[intandsoc2015-blog]

Anonymous is an information activist group run through the internet. They choose targets and leak information on sites like WikiLeaks. They do this because they feel like the people don't know enough of what they should so they look to expose it to the world

[21stcenturychildd-blog]

Information Activism is the release and freeing of information to the public. One group who practices Information Activism to the extreme is Anonymous, who’s mission is to raise awareness on social issues, such as their protests against the Church of Scientology and their support of Wiki Leaks. They claim they are not hackers going after credit card or social security numbers, but instead are average internet users fighting for freedom of speech, knowledge, and innovation. Because they are a faceless and nameless organization with no official leader, they feel like they represent the people of the internet as a whole and the rights we should have on the web as shown in the logo and quote above.

Hacking of any sort has to do with the interface of computer programing and networking between hackers for a similar purpose, or none of it would be possible. The purpose of these information activists is to use Web 2.0 to share very compressed information that they feel everyone should have access to. Thus the Internet is making society more knowledgeable through the ease of access to information, if we choose to pursue it. With increased knowledge comes increased problems like privacy, freedom of speech, and freedom from surveillance and the only way they can be combatted is through raising awareness and education on the power of the internet.

[pacuinternetnsociety]

Information activism is the process of making unknown information to the general public known.  A well know information activist is Anonymous, which is an internet gather for groups of information activists, also known as hacktivists, who have protested against government and religious bodies and corporate websites.  Another type of information activism site is WikiLeaks, which is an “international, online, non-profit, journalistic organization which publishes secret information, news leaks, and classified media from anonymous sources.”  Both of these “groups” have a common goal:  to provide the general public information that is being hidden and deprived from us. 

The artifact I chose is of Anonymous and their motto.  They believe knowledge is free to everyone and no one should be deprived of it from anyone and that includes government.  It relates to this concept because they are a group who works to bring us information so we are not in the dark about issues and things going on around the country and around the world. 

This concept is significant to the study of new media and society because ever since 9-11, the government has been very secretive about everything.  They kept us in the dark when it came to their surveillance operation, which is frightening because what else could they be keeping from us?  Concepts from day one that could be interfaced with this is information and Web 2.0.  Because of Web 2.0 we are able to have better and quicker access to breaking news stories that these information activists release to us.  Information is pretty self-explanatory; these groups are trying to bring us information about what is happening in our world.  They want things to be “transparent.”

[alliesimsblr-blog]

The anonymous was an internet gathering, not group, that protested and supported wikileaks in 2008. It is a leaderless organization that over 30,000 people are registered to use. Wikileaks was what they said in the  was to be extremely important because of the information that it generated. It has no state or corporate affiliation and seems to be effective because of the type of material it releases which is usually secret information. Information activists make sure that information is provided to the public and this shows that we do have digital freedom and it ensures our rights to speech, privacy, and surveillance.The anonymous face could be one individual or a gathering or people and that is why I chose this picture because you never know who is actually giving you the information and leaking it to the public.