The course discusses how Internet based social media can be utilized for community empowerment, advocacy and peace. It looks at the media landscape, its main actors, the architecture of the Internet and its available platforms and tools. Using several case studies, it is demonstrated how social media is applied today by governments, NGOs and individuals to drive narratives on according to their agenda. The course aims to connect the theory to the practice with introductory exercises in journalistic storytelling, building evidence through photography /video and by visualizing data and networks flows. The importance of IT security is also explored by discussing online threats as well as concepts of anonymity and privacy. By the end of the course students will be familiar with the state of social media today, its usage for peace building and its advantages and limitations. They will have been introduced to several disruptive, yet easy to use technologies that are essential assets for the peace practitioner. In addition they will gain practical knowledge to use tools such as Twitter and Storify.
- Professor: Tatiana Philiptchenko
- Professor: Ingmar Zahorsky