A MOVEMENT OF CONNECTED INDIVIDUALS

Abstract

The participants of the ‘unibrennt’ (‘university is burning’) protest movement, which saw the occupation of Vienna's largest lecture hall by students in October 2009, used social media such as Twitter and Facebook to a large extent. Communication, thus, was anchored in the participants' interconnected individual and personal (online) networks, so both in- and out-group communication took place within a media space that is referred to as networked publics. Based on the authors media ethnographical work which was followed by a qualitative analysis of conversations, this article discusses the form of community building and social organization that was facilitated by those means. The authors also look at the way in which involved actors (participants and non-participants) dealt with the social media's specific character, especially its high degree of transparency and accessibility which resulted in a conglomeration of internal and external discourses. Drawing on the concept of voluntary issue communities, this article argues that the low-obligatory and low-binding nature, as well as the immediacy of connection to the movement, were elementary for its success in terms of drawing large groups of students and university staff into the protests and the large amount of public attention the movement ultimately received. This movement of connected individuals exemplifies how individuals can organize themselves as a politically acting community and how such a community and its actions can be like when the participants quite naturally employ information and communication technologies to socially connect within networked publics.

Keywords:

• web 2.0
• social movements
• social networking
• domestication of ICTs
• community building

Notes

Times Higher Education (2000).

Student Point, University of Vienna (2009).

Cafebabel.com – The European Magazine (2009).

A summary of the process, ‘The Bologna process: setting up the European Higher Education Area’ and the respective documents can be found on the website of the European Commission: http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/education_training_youth/lifelong_learning/c11088_en.htm (21 September 2010).

derstandard.at (2009a).

Österreich (2009) and Die Presse (2009). The articles are examples of the media coverage. While Österreich (2009) refers to the close connection of political slogans and party in this ‘student revolt’ the paper Die Presse (2009) provided the vivid pun of ‘Partysan’ linking the party with the partisan.

Kurier (2010).

EuroNews (2009).

derstandard.at (2009b).

Deutsche Welle (2009).

derstandard.at (2009c).

The Vienna Review (2009).

AustrianTimes (2009).

On 1 September 2010 according to Hutter (2010): http://www.thomashutter.com/index.php/2010/10/facebook-infografik-deutschland-osterreich-und-schweiz-per-september-2010/ (12 January 2011).

The ‘official’ Twitter account maintained by unibrennt was not made anonymous, neither have the accounts of media institutions or renowned journalists. When ‘private’ users are quoted in this article, their real names or nicknames have been changed. Each quoted user is signified with a letter (T for Twitter user, F for Facebook user) and consecutive numbers, so ‘private’ users' quotes are labelled Tn or Fn.

The conceptions of ‘better’ ranged from very pragmatic demands to rather philosophical ideas of emancipatory education and extensive social critique. On the pragmatic micro-level ‘better’ meant that every student should be able to get a seat in the courses they attend and not have to sit on the floor in crowded lecture halls anymore. On a meso-level ‘better’ was understood as having university education without tuition fees and restricted access to one's programme of choice. And on a philosophical macro-level, conceptions of ‘better education’ were understood as a means of self-determined emancipation and social empowerment.

As we know from special youth or subcultures, a certain knowledge of codes and expertise is necessary to find the right platforms for collectivization.