Research Proposal

At the Intersection of Equality and Technology

Introduction

In a previous class, Global Impact of New Communication Technologies, I researched the overall impact new technologies would have on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. My main focus was the process behind building a personal identity within an online community. I explored the areas of creating a sense of identity, creating a sense of community, using new technologies to facilitate personal activism and the complexities of niche marketing in an online forum.

For my final project, I took an in depth look at what effect, if any, bloggers had on the outcome of the 2004 elections. In my piece titled, “Gay Blogs and the Power of Outing – An Essay in the Politics of Sexuality,” I used the online outing of Congressman Ed Schrock, R-Va., the notoriously conservative politician who opposed equal rights for his LGBT constituents, as a case study. Although it was hard to determine what impact bloggers made in the election, the conclusion was that gay bloggers prevailed in upsetting the political balance.

As an activist, a journalist and defender of equal rights, I would like to take this opportunity to continue with this line of research. I think it is important to fully understand what impact bloggers have had, and will have, on the LGBT community and what steps can be taken, as far as personal activism, to help further the fight for equality.

Research Questions

For the purpose of this research project, the following is a list of questions that I hope to answer:

1. In what ways does blogging, as a form of self-expression, mirror “consciousness raising” of the Women’s Rights Movements during the 1960s. What effect, if any, does this type of understanding and personal connection have on the LGBT community?

2. What is the definition of personal activism and what does it entail in terms of digital media? In contrast to other types of activism, in which the success depends upon the participation of millions of people, will personal activism have as important and as lasting an impact?

3. What are the different types of online activism? Radical activism? Peaceful activism? Is the personal really political?

As you can see, my inspiration comes directly from the great human rights movements that took place in the United States during the 1960s. My research questions incorporate the various techniques that historically have been employed to further the fight for equality in the Women’s Rights Movement, the Civil Rights Movement and the Gay Rights Movement.

It is my initial opinion that human rights movements are somewhat cyclical in nature. By this, I mean that they seem to evolve in a similar manner and that people who participate are able to learn from other’s mistakes and to use techniques that have been successful in the past at combating oppression. Will the same techniques hold true while utilizing new communication technologies such as blogging?

Methods

For this research project, I plan on using the latest publications and literary works in combination with my own personal knowledge and experience to assist me in gaining a better understanding of the issues involved. Per the class requirements, I will use printed sources (such as books on the history of the various human rights movements here in the United States), electronic database sources (such as accessing the most recently published research on the power of blogging) and incorporate additional sources (such as interviewing a local activist on the potential reach and impact of blogging and, of course, monitoring a few select political/personal LGBT blogs).

Purpose

This project comes at a very interesting time in our class as we collectively discuss the various theories behind analyzing the Web. If it is somewhat problematic to analyze today's multi-media by comparing its capacity to that of a single medium which came before, what will this mean for analyzing activism on the Web? As we shift our thinking of convergence and rhetoric, as Anders Fagerjord suggests, perhaps this is a perfect time to re-examine the activist's use of the Web.