Our Digital Future, C'est Ici

On November 29 and 30, Studio 96 became home for about 30 young people, mostly in their late teens and early 20s, who took part in a 24-hour “Thinkathon.”

“Our Digital Future, C'est Ici” was organized by the Goethe-Institut Montreal, as well as the Goethe-Institut Toronto, Edmonton's NextGen, European Union in Canada, and the CJD NDG, a non-profit organization in Montreal that helps young people enter the job market.

The Edmonton event was the second in a series of Thinkathons in six Canadian and six European cities between now and the end of 2020. The project offers young citizens (18-30) an open, inclusive platform for a debate on our digital futures. During the 24 hours, participants co-created videos and social media campaigns, as well as recommendations, for Canadian and European politicians. The work took place both on-site and online, connecting with a Thinkathon happening at the same time in Milan, Italy.

The first Thinkathon took place in October in Montreal and Brussels, Belgium on the topic of Digital Citizenship 4.0.

I was especially excited to be asked to be one of the guest expert speakers at the Edmonton event. I was asked to speak because of my work in community and digital media, as well as community organizing. My topics were online hate, hate groups, and bullying in the digital age, particularly how to deal with it when encountered online and how to protect themselves (and each other) from such behaviours. I was also asked lots of questions about the current state of the media, and how the digital age has changed how we get our information and how we interact with social media and the Internet.

After introducing myself and explaining my work (focusing in particular on documenting social movements at RadicalCitizenMedia.com), I gave a very general overview on online hate and bullying. Some of my major talking points included:

The digital age can give anyone a public platform, which can be good - it means people who are marginalized but have access to electronics can have a voice - but there is a dark side.

People can feel emboldened behind a keyboard, and can even be anonymous, and say things they would never say in person.

Online media can also make recruiting people for hate groups easier, because people who are lonely, disenfranchised, vulnerable can be easier to reach.

Arguing with haters doesn't work. It just amplifies whatever was posted.

Block, delete, report, repeat. If reported enough, person/group may get banned from the service. They may come back with a different name, so be vigilant and keep reporting.

Same for bullying: report behaviour, and support the person being bullied. Send them public and private words of support.

Protect yourself: keep social media locked down to friends only, be particular about who you accept to friend/follow you, use a false name, don't use a photo of yourself as a profile picture.

Doxxing = posting a person's photo and personal information online with the intent of causing harassment. If you are doxxed report it to the online service, to authorities. Keep a record of all harassing calls, emails, posts.

The questions and comments that followed were excellent. Here is a summary of the outcomes of those questions and comments:

While "block, delete, report, repeat" might seem like a band-aid solution, it's the first step. The goal is to get the groups/individuals off the Internet. This has been achieved through continuous reporting, but also posting about the people/group and their behaviour on public platforms, including screenshots/quotes.

Emotions cannot be banned. But if someone is posting harmful, inappropriate things, they have to be stopped. It would be great to channel that energy into something positive, but that usually comes from a person's work on themself and the intervention of the people around them. They also may not see their actions/words/ideology as negative. They think they are standing up for their country, their culture, or whatever. It's very difficult to have a rational discussion with someone of that mindset.

There are no laws specifically against doxxing (that I am aware of), but there are laws against criminal harassment. Document everything.

Social media has changed the way people do community organizing and activism, in terms of organizing events but also how they participate, to capture very visual or vocal multimedia posts to use on social media.

Social media has grown in importance in terms of allowing people to become citizen journalists, especially now when traditional media is dwindling.

It's important to be positive, even when social media is very sad and dark. Post about people in your community doing things to make the world a better place. Don't engage with the negativity if it is hate speech or trolls - work to get rid of it as described above, and add posts that are more positive in nature to your social media.

What should be done about "cancel culture" and/or "call-out culture"? If a person has made a mistake or done something inappropriate and you have access to them, talk to them first. Calling out as a first step is generally reserved for people to whom one doesn't have access, such as celebrities being called out as part of the #MeToo movement. Every situation is different and you need to use your own judgement, but in general, calling out should be a last resort.

How has documenting local activism changed since I began in 2005? When I started, I was one of the few doing it, but now since so many people have smartphones, lots of people are taking photos and shooting video and posting on social media.

More information about the Thinkathons is here.

Alberta Street News' New Website

I used to always post about my new projects here, pretty much as soon as possible after the project was finished or went live. However, these past few months have been absolutely crushingly busy.

One project I definitely want to mention briefly is that I designed a new website for Alberta Street News. I had worked on a very scaled-down site for its previous incarnation, Edmonton Street News, since 2009.

However, when the paper expanded into Calgary last year, a change was in order. Hence, the birth of the new site. As well, I brought the paper further into the social media world with its own Facebook page. ASN has been on Twitter for some time now.

I am a huge fan of street newspapers. They are a way for the marginalized to earn a living while giving them an outlet for their thoughts and creativity. I was involved for a while with the now-defunct Our Voice, and made the transition to Edmonton Street News shortly thereafter.

Enjoy the new site, and be sure to buy a physical copy of Alberta Street News from a badged vendor.

Raise My Voice Becomes Radical Citizen Media

In September of 2005 I attended a peace march. I brought a camera and took pictures. I posted those pictures online. This behaviour became a habit.

People looked at the photos. They looked a lot. So much, in fact, that the server I posted them on, crashed.

As a result, I purchased a domain and hosting plan. The website was called RaiseMyVoice.com and became a portal to the photos and videos I shot at rallies and events concerning human rights, social justice, the environment, women's issues, poverty, and a host of other topics, mostly from progressive and left of centre viewpoints.

After a while, the website became one of the largest historical archives of citizen engagement in Edmonton at such events. RaiseMyVoice.com needed to be updated more and more frequently, and required more categories, better organization, and a cleaner look.

This week, RaiseMyVoice.com got the overhaul it needed. It was such an overhaul that I decided to change the website entirely.

With the new look comes a new name: Radical Citizen Media.

There are more events organized by subject matter than ever. More categories. The videos are easier to find. Photo sets lost and broken have been found and fixed. The design is cleaner, navigation is easier, and updates now include embedded photos and videos.

I have been called Edmonton's Indymedia because of my commitment to documenting progressive and left-wing citizen engagement in Edmonton. That commitment is going to be met even better moving forward. Radical Citizen Media is now both a serious part of Edmonton's media scene and valuable historical archive.

Rise Up on CJSR

CJSR FM88 is the University of Alberta's campus radio station. Each year around this time the station holds it "FunDrive" to raise the money to keep its alternative programming on the air.

One of these alternative programs is Rise Up, an independent news program focusing on revolutionary politics and activist happenings. It airs on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. During the FunDrive, two of the shows were expanded to an hour.

I was privileged to be asked to be a musical guest on November 3. I performed one of my songs live ("Marching in the Street") - my first ever live radio performance (and I understand a first for the show as well) - and was interviewed about my involvement in Edmonton's activist community, particularly how I got involved and what issues stand out for me.

I was also asked about my work as an independent journalist covering the activist scene, particularly with my website RaiseMyVoice.com and tried to encourage listeners to get involved in media activism as well.

The show should be podcasted on its website some time in the future.

Media Release: Five Years of Visual Activism

Five Years of Raising Her Voice
Independent Photographer/Filmmaker Celebrates Five Years of Documenting Edmonton’s Activist Scene

In the summer of 2005, Paula E. Kirman was scouring the Internet, looking for a place to connect with Edmonton’s activist community with the goal of putting her lifelong interest in issues concerning peace and human rights into practical action. “I knew there was a scene going on, but it was difficult to find where they were or information about what they were doing,” she explains.

Kirman was able to connect with a few groups and started to showing up that fall to rallies, marches, speakers, and other events, with her camera. She began posting her pictures and videos online, just as a matter of personal interest to share with other activists. The demand for her work by the community was so strong that she began RaiseMyVoice.com, an internet portal to her work that features thousands of photos and videos from almost every major activist event and group in the city.

“I started posting my photos online on a free service. After my first peace march, the download rate was so high it crashed the site,” Kirman says. “I purchased a domain and hosting package, and put together a quick and dirty website, just to get my work out there.”

RaiseMyVoice.com celebrates five years this month, and has expanded to include the use of social media. Most of the photos are now hosted on associated sites on Flickr and the videos on YouTube. The YouTube videos have received almost 700,000 views and feature not only clips of rallies and marches, but entire speaker presentations. The Flickr site has grown into a photo blog not only of Edmonton’s activist scene, but the almost 12,000 photos are also of festivals, events, and general photos from Kirman’s artistic perspective.

Kirman is an avid organizer in the activist community in the areas of peace, community media, poverty/housing, and labour issues. She maintains the Twitter account @yegactivist to send out announcements of local activist events and links to her work, as well as doing the same with her own account @livingsanctuary and active Facebook presence. In the last couple of years, she has also emerged as a political singer/songwriter, often performing her original songs at protests and rallies. She continues to work at her activist photography and film making completely independently, putting in “an uncountable number of hours” without any funding or monetary support.

“What is happening in the activist community is part of our history as a city,” says Kirman, who works as a freelance writer, editor, and photographer. “No one has been documenting it, until now. Whether they agree or disagree, people are fascinated by it and it prompts a lot of discussions of the various issues at hand. It helps activists in Edmonton share what we are doing with the rest of the activist world, and gives those from outside our community a real education into what some of the issues are and what our events are all about.”

For more information/interview requests:
Paula E. Kirman
paula at raisemyvoice.com
(780) 905-6094

Pens Give Power to the People

A friend of mine online was having an argument with a very politically conservative American woman. When told she was not getting the full extent of the stories behind issues such as the war in Iraq, she gave a response that sent us both into hysterical fits of laughter. “Of course I get more than one perspective,” she said, totally serious. “I watch CNN and Fox!”

It’s a sad state of affairs when people think they actually have a choice, when that choice consists of essentially the same political and cultural view. Corporate media, or mainstream media as it is sometimes called, is part of our everyday way of life as we are inundated with major daily newspaper, television stations owned by media gurus, and radio that plays either top hits or the same tired songs over and over.

Community and alternative media provides another voice in society – often that of the people themselves. As the editor of a community newspaper, I encourage people to tell their own stories and report on local news and issues that are important to them. This is called ‘citizen journalism,’ and it puts the media into the hands of the people. By becoming the media, so to speak, individuals can offer a first-hand perspective and both express themselves creatively, while informing others.

'Community media' is not just a form of communication; it is a form of activism. When mainstream media covers activist events, for example – if they even show up, that is – often the reporters come early, leave early, and then report that there was hardly anyone in the crowd. When media is owned by corporations, or people intrinsically tied to corporations, there is only one perspective that can be told – that which is in the best interest of advertisers or the people pulling the purse strings. So when community media springs up in the form of blogs, zines, alternative newspapers, and even street magazines like the one you are holding right now, it automatically has an air of ‘subversive’ about it.

There are many ways in which people can become the media. Writing letters to the editors of local newspapers is a start, but often they will not print ones that provide a radically different viewpoint to the dominant one supported by the publication. Find a community newspaper in your area, and offer to contribute – for instance, we here at Our Voice are always looking for submissions.

Get online and start a blog, and comment about the issues that compel you. Take pictures, shoot video – the Internet provides inexpensive and easy ways to publish your work. When I saw the lack of coverage progressive and activist events were getting in terms of airtime, I started RaiseMyVoice.com, an independent, local media resource documenting these events in photographs and video.

Make a zine – a small, independent publication. It can be about politics, a poetry collection, or anything you can think of. Some zines are as simple as a few photocopied pages, stapled together. Others use desktop publishing software and are professionally printed. This is a great project where one can team up with others to share skills. You’ll be limited only by your creativity – and your budget.

While it may seem intimidating at first to get involved in community media, you don’t have to be a professional writer or photographer – besides, skills develop when they are used. So pick up a pen, and give yourself power. Become the media.

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Originally published in the August/September 2007 issue of Our Voice, a street newspaper in Edmonton.

Die-Ins, No Nukes, Health, And More

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. Towards the end of October, I went to three rallies in four days. First came the International Day of Climate Action on October 24. Greenpeace held a die-in on the steps of the Legislature, where a group of about 100 of us lay down to show that we were "dying" for leadership in Canada in terms of the climate. For once, I decided to hand my camera off to someone else and take part. Our group shot made it into the local media. Here are the photos taken by the daughter of one of The Raging Grannies, who sang as we lay dying.

October 26 was yet another healthcare rally, organized by Friends of Medicare. It was short and sweet during the noon hour. Not as huge a turnout as some of the other healthcare rallies, but important nonetheless. Here are some photos.

The next day, a rally was held outside the Legislature calling to Keep Alberta Nuclear Free. It was a colourful and spirited event, despite the rain. Here are some photos and this is a short video.

Last week, I went with a friend to hear Andrew Nikiforuk speak about the Tar Sands, in particular the effects of the resulting pollution affecting Aboriginal communities who live downstream. I videoed the presentation - it is about an hour and worth watching. I saw Mr. Nikiforuk speak again on Saturday afternoon as part of the Global Visions documentary film festival after two films dealing with the Tar Sands were shown. He had a major update to report, in that the doctor who had been treating Aboriginal patients in Fort Chipewyan (John O'Connor), was cleared of all charges brough on by Health Canada. He had been accused to causing "undue alarm" in the community because of his questioning the connection between the Tar Sands and the high prevalence of rare cancers amongst his patients.

Another documentary I watched at Global Visions was Broke, about a pawnshop owner and his relationship to an Aboriginal man who helps him around his shop. The film was shot in the very inner city community where I spend most of my time, and it was extremely interesting to see the area on film. A lot of neighbourhood folks were at the screening (it was a repeat screening and was previously shown on opening night) and they all had different reactions to the film, the pawnshop owner, and how he conducted business. I'm gathering these opinions for an article in the next issue of Boyle McCauley News.