Eirini Voutskoglou 1

www.divcast.gr
Analyzing the power of web [points of view]

….

I’m an educator, a student still and a new media user who generates content for web. I
blog , I’m on facebook, twitter, linkedin , dozens of other social networks and I
produce vidcasts about web issues.
So naturally I think of web like an Academy. An academy with courses filled with
interactive universes.

Web is also a marketing tool , as media and as a product. Everyone can pay or get
paid..
Since I first worked for a politician, I understood clearly that beyond the freedom of
publishing my opinion as a common blogger, web is primarily a political region. And
that’s the critical segment of web.

That means even if a web user desires to be left out, excluded, that is unlikely to
happen.

Does all of these things on web happen with a plan?

Actions tend to have a goal. We may not realize what that goal is, we may not be able
to define it but it is there. Attracting the echoes…
That’s how web universe is being understood by the mass. The public. The crowd that
will follow echoes..

Let’s try now and picture a situation. We surely have more than hundreds of
examples.
Rebellions, activists, human rights. Life on this planet is not fair. We all can admit
that without feeling guilty.
So, how does web connect us beyond the obvious universality of web space.
I think of it like a puzzle of many different drawings trying to combine each other.

2011 PEASEbag Euromed Training Seminar

Hellenic Association of Informatics
 Eirini Voutskoglou 2
www.divcast.gr
And as I said above, I really think that there can be a picture that makes sense ‘cause
once u step in at web, u echo puzzle pieces.

When I was asked to speak to u about web, after a long discussion about the main
theme, there were some questions running around my mind.
How can my echo match into your puzzle?
If your life is different than mine, Can I help u? Can u use me? Is there a pattern?
Methods? Will be any scientific conclusions to be used further more?
What is that extraordinary fact or sense that make ppl think that web can be a force of
ultimate power?
Is web really that innocent?
You know.. in a vidcast of mine I had an intro stating “web is innocent. Users r
guilty”.

I had written a post on one of my sites about Egypt when things begun going out of
control. I gave links to posts, videos. It took me two hours to structure that post which
was ending with a phrase like “I’m here. I’m your voice. And hey audience. What u
see is not a cinema movie. It is life. And someone tried to keep me away from
discovering that life”

That was my first reaction.

U understand that if u want to make a web user furious, u can just cut off the
connection. That’s primarily a reason to kill.
In a second level, any web user , even the Farmville user will never tolerate
governments keeping ppl out of web.
So, the first thing that attracts massively attention to any cause is when users realize
that someone is not allowed to speak.
They may not understand fully what freedom of speech is.
They may not understand the need of credibility in web stigmas.
But they *feel* when someone is not allowed to speak.

2011 PEASEbag Euromed Training Seminar

Hellenic Association of Informatics
 Eirini Voutskoglou 3
www.divcast.gr
And that’s the second reason for echoes to get revolutionized..but also that’s the
primal reason for someone to disbelieve , because massive attraction can also be
created and I as a 14 years old web user know that very well.
This note goes not for the crowd, for the mass. That goes for experienced users.

Either way there r main paths on which, your problem becomes not quite my problem,
but surely my strong consideration.

On web we have groups and we have persons.

Groups and teams can spread faster and stronger your echo.
Yet, there’s a catch.
Persons do not like very much strong echoes for a long time.
They think of them like a spamming noise bringing up many objections out of them.
It may be the way of mind trying to keep us believing that we r safe.
It may be that we have already experienced the paid opinions on web.

I will share with u a personal example of that fact.

When everyone started posting that web was the huge power for Egyptians , I my self
was may be the only one that objected on that, saying that “well dudes, Egyptians did
know internet/ they were not some Flintstones communicating with smoke signs/ they
knew web and they used it/ egyptians used web but it was not web that won those
fights for them”
I think u got the picture.
It’s very easy for a person receiving an overload of messages to react. It’s like
someone yells “hey the king is nude”

Persons can also spread your echoes. It will take longer but it will be more stable.
That’s why Social Media needs trust. U need me as a person to be trusted.
The only catch is the credibility factor that rarely preoccupies individual actions.
Further more, groups tend to become violence generators.
I as a person have absolute control of anything written on my web sites or facebook
pages.

2011 PEASEbag Euromed Training Seminar

Hellenic Association of Informatics
 Eirini Voutskoglou 4
www.divcast.gr
If someone shows strange behaviours he will be left out.
That’s not very easy to happen in a group.

As u may realize I object to the statement that web is a non-violent way of life.
Violence factors do exist on web. They are called cyber-bulllying, flaming , trolling,
pseudo-blogging.
That’s why political online communication is the next huge wave in the upcoming
future. That and the acknowledgement of cyberculture as a personality element.

And here come some other questions.

How do we attract attention from persons? How do we point to them, what we need
them to do? Can we sketch a plan?
Beyond the cut off of internet, there r various problematic situations rising around the
world. Situations that carry the potential of violence since once someone is pushed to
accept something against his beliefs or ethics or traditions, violence in action is the
first thing that comes up to our heads.
When someone tries to force a change, reaction always comes strong.
Yet, if that change is forced upon u, can u make me stand beside u?

Well, u can do either of the following.

Pay me.
Wish that web will spread the word and hope that solidarity will play its role.
Or structure a media plan that reaches groups and individuals asking not to stand
beside u but just post an opinion.

Opinions r ideas with or without arguments.

Now. There’s a good thing and bad thing about that.
The good thing is once a word is written on web, echoes flood in minds immediately.
Once u become a receiver u continue being a vehicle of that idea.
The bad thing is that u r going to re-post or spread that idea whenever u decide [here
comes the parameter of time] and u may transform it to something quite different than
the original.

2011 PEASEbag Euromed Training Seminar

Hellenic Association of Informatics
 Eirini Voutskoglou 5
www.divcast.gr
I watched recently a video on TED with Wadah Khanfar General Director of Al
Jazzera and I posted some notes.
The most revealing truths I got was 1st that governments like many people think of
web users like children that should just be pulled out of the streets and that’s because
strong reactions when expressed primarily on web do not carry the violence factor and
governments were used to fear only that and 2nd that governments were not ready for
that apocalypse of web dynamics; that the absence of violence factor could join so
many ppl in the formal life.

That second one rung a bell since we had the wikileaks paradigm that caught
politicians unprepared.

By the time I ended the post I was almost sure that as time passes by, users will use
web more strategically but also governments will engage more drastically.
I think we have reached a point where web truly proves his potential in the forcoming
history and crisis management on web will become a scientific course.

Internet is turning to be much more than a media pipe .

I read many posts, status or tweets every day.

Many of them r quite boring even if there’s a problematic situation described in it.
Some other times I just don’t have the time to respond or even spread.
Yet, I do read them and that’s the way your problem steps into my head and that’s a
pretty good way to start u know.
So I say, speak. Speak ideas, opinions. Not only facts. Speak in a few lines. Use easy
words. Ask for a response. Don’t force it. Just ask for it.
Make a list of influencers.
Ask for observations.
Focus on persons. Not groups.
Persons will always lead. Groups will follow. Not the other way around.
Use arguments. Try to see me watching u.
Show me your problem as a potentially hard situation for me.
Web is here and will respond.

2011 PEASEbag Euromed Training Seminar

Hellenic Association of Informatics
 Eirini Voutskoglou 6
www.divcast.gr
Even though echoes can be created and users can always be guilty, web is here to host
facts , wishes and strategies; the main ingredients of a goal.

So,
Web has the dynamics ,but
Users r the power.
Ppl will always invent ways. They invented web after all…

2011 PEASEbag Euromed Training Seminar

Hellenic Association of Informatics