Out of the Shadows Into the Streets Epub Ä the
For decades social movements have vied for attention from the mainstream mass media — newspapers radio and television Today many argue that social media power social movements from the Egyptian revolution to Occupy Wall Street Yet as Sasha Costanza Chock reports community organizers know that social media enhance rather than replace face to face organizing The revolution will be tweeted but tweets alone do not the revolution make In Out of the Shadows Into the Streets Costanza Chock traces a much broader social movement media ecology Through a richly detailed account of daily media practices in the immigrant rights movement he argues that there is a new paradigm of social movement media making transmedia organizing Despite the current spotlight on digital media he finds social movement media practices tend to be cross platform participatory and linked to action Immigrant rights organizers leverage social media creatively even as they create media ranging from posters and street theater to Spanish language radio print and televisionDrawing on extensive interviews workshops and media organizing projects Costanza Chock presents case studies of transmedia organizing in the immigrant rights movement over the last decade Chapters focus on the historic mass protests against the anti immigrant Sensenbrenner Bill; coverage of police brutality against peaceful activists; efforts to widen access to digital media tools and skills for low wage immigrant workers; paths to participation in DREAM activism; and the implications of professionalism for transmedia organizing These cases show us how savvy transmedia organizers work to strengthen movement identity win political and economic victories and transform public consciousness forever
What makes this book so valuable—besides of course the plethora of trans media strategies a term coined by the author—is Costanza Chock's position as scholar media maker and activist This is not an individual watching from the periphery or simply analyzing large data sets to make broad reaching declarations about what is or is not an effective protest action Rather Costanza Chock has spent years working in the academy as well as producing their own media and—most importantly—working as an activist It's their first person perspective that results in a thorough and meaningful understanding of the struggles that activist media makers encounter while their years of scholarly experience allows them to frame those struggles in broader contexts The writing itself is extremely accessible while never feeling like it forgoes complexity for that readability I strongly recommend this book for any media maker seeking to work closely with activists—and certainly vice versa