New digital advocacy organisations like ActionStation in this country and GetUp in Australia can rapidly mobilise thousands of members on-line and off-line and are shaping public opinion on many issues from climate change to refugees to indigenous rights.
Traditional NGOs like Greenpeace and Oxfam anchor their strength in the depth of their expertise and their long-term commitment to the issues they focus on.
But the new digital advocacy organisations are wired to respond to the salient issue of the day and can quickly switch campaign focus. They harness digitally networked power to reach wide memberships (over a million in the case of Getup) and their campaigns can rapidly put the heat on politicians.
Dr Nina Hall has been researching these organisations for over five years and Oxford University Press will publish her book early next year. She is an Assistant Professor in International Relations at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (Europe). This year, she is a Senior Fellow at the Weizenbaum Institute (the German Internet Institute) and a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University Wellington. Kassie Hartendorp, the Director of ActionStation, will respond to Nina's presentation.
Wellington,
New Zealand