Book description
The student protests during the closing months of 2010 were organised
online via Facebook, Twitter, university forums, Google Maps and other
networks. They came in the wake of a surge of activity on the web that
confonted the traditional media channels when Wikileaks and Anonymous
disrupted them, creating a New World Order of breaking news.
The fluid organisation of the protests showed that the internet and
social media were key tools for organising dissent. Then in the Spring
2011, a wave of uprisings broke over North Africa with Tunisia, Egypt
and Libya swept up in revolts also galvanised online.
Tom Chatfield explores how the internet is re-shaping society and
affecting identity in a period of acute political turbulence.
BRAIN SHOTS is the pre-eminent source for high quality, short-form
digital non-fiction. The Summer of Unrest series brings
together stellar writers to explore the issues surrounding the
austerity measures in the UK, uprisings in the Middle East and the
nature of the protest movements springing up all over the world.
Tom Chatfield is a freelance author and commentator. His first
book, Fun Inc. (Virgin), was published in 2010. He has done
design, writing and consultancy work for games and media companies
including Google, Mind Candy, VCCP, Preloaded, Grex, Red Glasses and
Intervox; and has spoken widely on technology, media and gaming at
forums including TED Global, the Cannes Lions Festival, the House of
Commons, the RSA, ICA, authors@Google and the World IT Congress.
A former senior editor at Prospect magazine, he has a
doctorate from St. John's College, Oxford, and has written widely in
the national and international press, including for the
Observer, Independent, Sunday Times,
Wired, New Statesman, Evening Standard, Times
Literary Supplement, and the website Boing Boing. He also writes
fiction, and plays jazz piano.
