Informatics Review

About elephants
Elephants
Marc Belanger uses the term ‘technology organiser’ in the trade union context (Belanger, 2001). He links the term closely to the N. American ‘community organiser’. Normative discussion of what a technology organiser should do (expressed as a syllabus for a course) including an introduction to process of technological change; technologies affecting a community; technology forecasting; participatory design; basic organising strategies (e.g. pick low hanging fruit to build confidence); how to manage a computer project (inc. evaluation).
In the social movement literature Earl & Schussman (2003) draw on a case study ‘strategic voting’ websites during the 2000 presidential campaign to identify ‘movement entrepreneurs’ (ME) playing an increasingly prominent role in online campaigning. E&S argue that theirs is a rare case study of a social movement that emerged on the net, rather than (as most case studies) of a pre-existing SM which makes of the net. These ME bring together technical skills to build and run a web site, with the ‘grievance’ (cause) – 8/15 ME respondents had a degree in computers science, were professional programmers or had significant prior amateur experience of web design. 9/15 reported no previous online political experience, suggesting they bring ‘computer-based models of action instead of more political and activist models’ . E&S note also most of the web sites’ emphasis on ‘private activism’ (e.g. personal details being kept confidential) in contrast to conventional SMs. Relationship of technical skills to conventional SM organising: where technical skills not immediately available to the ME, then methods that look more like conventional SM methods are needed   (p. 172). P.180 summarises key elements of e-protest as low start-up & maintenance costs, biographies, skill sets and logics.
Myles (2004) refers to cultural intermediaries in the context of community networks, especially in setting (aesthetic) norms for the...