The Role that Technology Can Play in Terms of Feminism Activism - Report Example

The Role that Technology can play in terms of Feminism Activism The Role that Technology can play in terms of Feminism Activism Introduction There are a number of changes that have taken place all over the world in the recent decades. These have seen the lives and activities of individuals made a lot easier. People are now able to conduct their activities in manners that are swifter and more convenient. One of the elements that have significantly contributed to this massive transformation of activity is the advent of technology. Technology has been experienced in almost all the areas and quarters in life. Mainly, the most significant form of communication has been experienced in the field of journalism and communication through which information has been passed in a more efficient and effective way making the performance of most of the related activities better. In particular, this kind of technology has also impacted on the area of feminism activism whereby the members of the different groups have been able to be in charge and perform their own activities in accordance to what suits their themes and intended topics. It is as a result of such acts that the works “pop feminism”, third wave feminism” and do-it-yourself” feminism have emerged giving the women the power to make their own products in the quest for social justice as well as activities of social order within the society. Feminism activism For a long time, women have played an active role in movements that are aimed towards the achievement of social justice. They have used a number of channels to transport their messages. One of the major ones is the use of the media. This has also been one of the channels through which the women have been able to disrupt social orders, and to change the various social novel processes. In the last two decades, more and more women have taken up the tools of media into their own hands to enable the activities of the feminism activism. Since the advent of current and improved forms of technology, feminists have come to realize the long importance of being able to manage themselves, the use of alternative media to transport their messages in order to get the capacity to change their status quo and to spin the various novel social processes. The media and technological advances have continues to rise over time. This has given a rising number of women the chance to start using these kinds of technologies for their own productions and distribution of the feminism media (Hafkin & Huyer 2006, p. 46). Role of technology in feminism activism According to Bassett (1996, p. 110), over the years, digital technologies, art and social media have become an active part of the workshops mainly held by women to discuss the conditions within which they can work and live in a collaborative manner while taking into account their desires, ethics and violence issues. This is chiefly due to the important role that science and technology play in shaping most of the social practices as well as the related cultural identities. They have been principally applied in the effort to present the various possibilities and impossibilities that can be related to social equality. In this sense, therefore, the use of various forms of technology has played a great and significant role in the improvement of the activities of feminism activism in a number of ways (Fotopoulou & O’Riordan 2014, p. 78). The role of technology within the feminism activism has brought rise to what is currently referred to as the feminism media. It is the self identified form of media that is used by the feminists or the women’s media. Most of these are applied in the projects that are directed towards social change. In a broader form of understanding, the feminist media encompasses the text media that include flyers, magazines as well as the different practices of graffiti, art and performances. The basic fortm of interest to any of the feminist activists and feminist media producers is the way that they engage in participatory space, cultural practices and networks to assume a form of cultural citizenship and initiate the various processes of social change. These improvements in technology in most of these women conferences have been features to include the presence of digital labs. Digital labs provide the chance for the visitors in attendance to browse and have an interaction with the wide range of selection of the projects that comprise digital history. It also provides the platform through which the members can listen to the project leaders as they talk about their work and therefore participate in various forms. All of these activities are aimed at helping the women to make improvements on their historical content online. The use of technology like films, photography, videos and arts by scholars enables them to interrogate the gendered spaces, gender norms and the absences or presence of women in history. Moreover, technology is highly used by the participants in the conferences talk about the various aspects of their research work, to carpool, to have panels with live tweets and alongside the varied technologies that include Active history.ca to have the opportunity to share some of the podcasts of the key notes (Pande 2012, p. 68). One of the main roles that technology plays in the area of feminism activism is to ensure that the knowledge is passed, maintained and sustained among the different groups. It is through the use of improved technological advancements such and the social media and the other forms of digital media that the interconnectedness between the radical arts practices and the cyber feminisms can be adequately understood. It is mainly due to the fact that putting up of the workshops makes it possible to open up the collaborations and help to identify the most appropriate ways through which there can be a proper facilitation of the exchange between the local and international feminist conversations (Woolmark 1999, p. 109). Besides this, there are also a number of groups that have been formed with the aim of bringing together the feminists cultural productions, their art as well as their activists approaches that enable them to have the exchanges between the researchers, the artists, the activists, and the various dimensions in the community. Through this, there is also the possibility of securing the necessary findings as well as the required support for the various projects that are put in place for this purpose. For instance, with the formation of the groups, there is the chance to identify and reflect upon the possibilities and the obstacles presented for making and the sustenance of feminist knowledge in the digital media. It is an issue of concern since it presents a context through which the production of the feminist knowledge can be easily erased as it is found in a vulnerable form. Technology also helps to sustain feminist knowledge and praxis within the context of different institutions and canonical operations. It refers to that area within which most of the individuals as academicians operate and through which they are able to perform a number of its own kinds of exclusions. In this case, there are several forms of technology that include print and the use of the internet, which have been applied to act as multi modal peer reviews with open access to enhance the essential collaboration for this kind of exploration and form the most appropriate publication platform for the issues. The use of the various improved modes of technology enables the feminist activists to work together on the digital media in collaboration with various concepts of feminism and queer studies to structure the different themes of the studies. This kind of technology makes it possible to study the concept of praxis and what it is likely to offer in the way that most of the feminists think with regard to the intersections of gender, digital media and technology. Since praxis in the context of the Arendtian political thought and Marxism brings about the philosophies, theorize and the political actions that are present in the realms of everyday life. The other important contribution of digital technology and social media is the contribution towards social justice. This is related to the area of feminism activism since technology plays a part in making and theorizing the media towards the various projects that are stated all over the world in the effort to create self change. This can be a vital component in feminism and sheer political actions as it enables the involved individuals to provide an elaboration of the different modes of political actions that are necessary for social justice. It is enabled by the digital media and the social justice, which through theory, activism, pedagogy and art make it possible to find the possibilities and impossibilities that are related to the interpretation and intervention of the world through the use of various technologies and relevant platforms (Fotopoulou & O’Riordan 2014, p. 118). Technology also goes hand in hand with innovations, which provide varied platforms for the development of the chosen theme. This is made possible by enacting the theme through the participation in the different forms of feminist media praxis. The use of technology makes this possible as it enables the formation of a space with different kinds of formats with which people are encouraged to apply their different disciplinary or non disciplinary languages. As such, the use of technological advancements in this sense makes it possible to together some of the critical interventions that make it possible to open up different spaces for conversations and collaboration, the development of creative works, as well as the creation of other works that cut across varied practices. In this case, technology also comes in very handy as it allows for the performance of different experimentation. The most important component of an experiment which is the ability to repeat and get valid and accurate data is easily achieved through the use of various modes of technology. In this sense, the continuity of the information as well as the projects is enabled through this kind of repetition that is made possible through the use of advanced and recent technology (Adams & Green 2001, p. 90). In the communication, journalism and media sector, technology is a great and vital aspect in relation to the feminism activism. When the feminists make use of the available technology, they are presented with the opportunity to present themselves as nodes within a network that is constantly emerging and sifting (Turow 2003, p. 156). In this way, the events of the workshop, the issues and the overall interactions form part of the larger community and team that points to the promises and possibilities that come with the use of the common languages or the new hybrid languages. These also involve the practices that are found within the feminists’ queer media art and theory. They help to elaborate the terms and themes that commonly form part of the feminists media praxis and define both how they can work and how they can connect with each other. Technology plays a vital role in this since this kind of communication can be revisited both in writing and through the various interactions in ways that are either direct or associated with play. It additionally involves the way that women have been able to communicate to one another through the internet. In this sense, translational collaboration is made possible through the formation of specific networks and participatory spaces (Corneliusse 2011, p. 78). Ultimately, after the use of media and technology to make plans and preparation, their use can also be extended in the making and theorizing of the projects. This is done within the community whereby communication is also made and theorized. Technology provides ways and means through which the individuals can engage and intervene and hence stretch back several years as well as across multiple networks, countries and activities. For instance, during the publication of the various materials, technology can be used in the processing of the open review process to produce an intellectual form of engagement as the work progresses in a gradual manner. Through this, there has been an increased rate of participation within the forums. In essence, it also enhances the possibilities of bringing new people in a collective and extensive way to reach the various feminist media praxis. In this way, the various publications that are produced by the feminist activists to enhance their activities involve a broad range of publications. These include articles, essays, commentaries and art work that are all used in a collective way to cohere around a particular core identity and the common theme while at the same time producing the relevant friction within the different directions. In this way, the various distributions are arranged in an appropriate way to make it possible for the readers to obtain the required contents based on their varied areas of interest (Fotopoulou & O’Riordan 2014, p. 98). There is also another important role that technology plays in the area of feminism activism. This is related to the idea of enhancing cultural citizenship in the effort to initiate the process of social change. Technology has in a magnificent way captured the various areas that are captured in the ongoing process of social and cultural transformation. These include the important areas of citizenship rights that include social rights, civil rights and political rights. The advanced technology which is in the form of the alternative feminist media has provided the chance to negotiate productive space in a constant manner and to give the marginalized and oppressed women a chance to express their opinions, political views and experiences with the aim of constructing meaning and making sense of most of the occurrences and happenings of the world. From this, it is possible to make a critical form of political education that is also self reflexive. It is with this that a cultural citizen can be developed. With cultural citizenship, therefore, the process of examining cultural production is made easier (Wacjman 2003, p. 98). Since culture is the site of political intervention and critique, cultural production plays a vital role in the meaning of production that forms an important element of technology. It lies between fact and fiction, information and technology as well as the privacy of both the public and private discourse involved in rationale and emotional debate (Harcourt 1999, pp. 150-162). For example, there are some aspects such as feminism and lesbian activism that are likely to occupy the same public spaces. This can happen in concrete terms through the use of streetwise politics by the feminism activists. The use of technology helps to work out the possibilities and the limits of using alternative norms of public speech and separate it from the political expression that is usually made in the public space. They can make use of the theoretical conception of the counter public spheres to prove themselves to be sporadic, anonymous and fleeting interventions. In the historical context, there were the public counter spheres that were produced by the feminist public spheres since they mostly sort to reach the larger public by making use of alternative positions. However, the new technology has helped to separate these two aspects since there is the presence of the internet that plays a great role in forming the distinction between race and gender and negotiating the concerns that bring about the different identity positions. Feminist blogs of this nature play a crucial role in allowing for the participation of girls as well as the members involved in feminism activism and in the long run emerge as the significant basis for the formation of the feminist blogosphere (Youngs 2005, p. 70). Conclusion Feminism activism has put women on the forefront of fighting for social justice in many different ways and changing the ways with which social processes are conducted for a long time in history. There are a wide range of activities that are included in these processes. Some of them include research, communication and the implementation of some of the findings that arise from the different studies. This has made communication one of the most vital elements of these activities. They are conducted through discussions in conferences among other different forms. So as to be able to reach a broader audience as possible, there has been the need to make use of the latest and most advanced forms of technology for efficiency. In this sense, women have taken up the production of the various media forms in order to be able to share and communicate effectively among each other. This kind of use of technology has given them sufficient powers to create and design their own modes of communications using various channels that have been adequate in bringing about the necessary effects of social justice and change within the society. Bibliography Adam, A. & Green, E. (eds)., 2001. Virtual Gender. London: Routledge: pp 78-94 Bassett, C., 1996. Virtually Gendered: Life in an on-line World? in K. Gelder and S. Thornton, (Eds.), The Subcultures Reader. New York: Routledge. Corneliussen, H. G., 2011. Gender-technology relations: Exploring stability and change. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Fotopoulou, A., & O’Riordan, K. (2014) Queer feminist media praxis: An introduction. Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology, No.5. Hafkin, N. J. & S. Huyer (eds)., 2006. Cinderella or Cyberella: Empowering Women in the Knowledge Society. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press: pp. 34-60 Harcourt, W., 1999. Women@internet: creating new cultures in cyberspace. 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