The Information Society, 21: 389390, 2005

c Taylor & Francis Inc.

Copyright

ISSN: 0197-2243 print / 1087-6537 online
DOI: 10.1080/01972240500253632

Cyberactivism: Online Activism in Theory

and Practice, edited by Martha McCaughey
and Michael D. Ayers. New York: Routledge, 2003.
ix + 310 pp. $21.95 paper. ISBN 0-415-94320-5.
Reviewed by Noriko Hara
School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

The world is largely dominated by capitalism.

McCaughey and Ayers contend that the Internet is no exception to the rule since it was opened up to commercial entities in the late 1980s, despite its original intent to
support military forces and then scientific communication
(Internet Society, 2003). On the other hand, the Internet is
increasingly being used as a mobilizing tool for grass-roots
groups, as evidenced by growing use for the organization
of antiwar demonstrations (Boyd, 2003), grass-roots environmental movements, and a variety of other civil society
activities. This book deliberately shifts the focus on the
commercial use of the Internet and introduces a stream of
research that touches on cyberactivism. However, the authors are not a group of scholars who believe that technologies are magic bullets (Markus & Benjamin, 1997) and
will change the world. On the contrary, as the editors state:
Neither we nor the contributors to this volume are technological utopians or dystopians. At the same time, all share
a modest belief that new technologies can become agents of
progressive social change. (p. 2)

The virtues of this book derive from the diversity of

both the subject matter and the theoretical frameworks
discussed in the collection of articles. This most certainly
is influenced by the range of the authors backgrounds.
They represent the fields of sociology, science and technology studies, communications, informatics, media studies, rhetoric, and womens studies. As such, this book
is a showcase of interdisciplinary studies on the use of
the Internet, illustrated in chapters that focus on, for example, feminist activism (Chapter 6), protest resistant to
the World Bank (Chapter 3), and environmental activism
(Chapter 8).
The theoretical frameworks incorporated in the book
range from Habermas to social network analysis. A case

in point: The study using the social network analysis examines the famous case of cyberactivism and the promotion
of democratization in Mexico, that is, the Zapatista Movement, and sheds light on the relationships among the actors
involved in the movement. Garrido and Halavaiss analysis of 100,000 web sites linkages supports the findings
that nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) played a major role in supporting this movement; they found a strong
tie between Zapatista-oriented groups and human rights
groups in the online environments under study.
Another chapter examines Amnesty International (AI)
and its strategies for information production and dissemination through information and communication technologies (ICTs). From a sociotechnical perspective, Lebert
analyzes the issue of accessibility, archiving materials, accurate representation, and all other old challenges of record
management with a highly political slant. For example,
Lebert discusses the struggle of human rights activists and
the pros and cons of using ICTs. One drawback mentioned
is that activists can be at risk if they are in a country where
communications are highly monitored. On the other hand,
they have access to a vast amount of information via the
Internet and, if they are in fact in danger, they can immediately contact AIs headquarters.
The majority of the chapters in this book are based on
narratives. Although survey data provide a general and
informative overview of online phenomena, as seen in
the edited volume by Howard and Jones (2004), surveys
are likely to portray a view different from actual events
(Kraemer, 2004). Using narratives obtained through interviews, listservs, and web sites, the studies in this volume offer a better sense of individuals who are involved
in cyberactivism, that is, the sense that users of Internet
technologies are actively interacting with ICTs (Lamb &
Kling, 2003). They are not passive users of ICTs.

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BOOK REVIEW

The last chapter by David Silver summarizes current

trends in the study of cyberactivism and provides discussions about future research. Silvers characterization
of the book differs from that of the editors and is worth
noting. In terms of future directions for research, Silvers
excellent suggestions indicate five areas that need to be
expanded: historical analysis of cyberactivism cases; discourse analysis of online movements; empirical analysis on players of cyberactivism by using ethnographic
methods as well as surveys; interface analysis of web
sites; and analysis of cyberactivism on the right in addition to that on the left. I agree that these areas require more attention from the researchers in the field. The
need for more research in the second area was also pointed
out by the former editor of The Information Society, Rob
Kling. Online activism can be considered a computerization movement (CM) (Kling, 1991; Kling & Iacono,
1988; Iacono & Kling, 2001). I suggest here that one way to
expand the research on cyberactivism is to use Klings CM
framework.
This book could be put to good use in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in culture studies,
journalism, information science, sociology, and political science that concern social aspects of information
technologies.

REFERENCES
Boyd, A. 2003 (August 4). The web requires the movement. The Nation.
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Iacono, S., and Kling, R. 2001. Computerization movements: The rise
of the Internet and distant forms of work. In Information technology
and organizational transformation: History, rhetoric and practice,
eds. J. A. Yates and J. V. Maanen, pp. 93136. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage.
Internet Society. 2003. A brief history of the Internet. http://www.
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Kling, R. 1991. Computerization and social transformations. Science,
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