Title
Hollaback!: the role of storytelling online in a social movement organization
Abstract
CSCW systems are playing an increasing role in activism. How can new communications technologies support social movements? The possibilities are intriguing, but as yet not fully understood. One key technique traditionally leveraged by social movements is storytelling. In this paper, we examine the use of collective storytelling online in the context of a social movement organization called Hollaback, an organization working to stop street harassment. Can sharing a story of experienced harassment really make a difference to an individual or a community? Using Emancipatory Action Research and qualitative methods, we interviewed people who contributed stories of harassment online. We found that sharing stories shifted participants' cognitive and emotional orientation towards their experience. The theory of "framing" from social movement research explains the surprising power of this experience for Hollaback participants. We contribute a way of looking at activism online using social movement theory. Our work illustrates that technology can help crowd-sourced framing processes that have traditionally been done by social movement organizations.
Year
DOI
Venue
2013
10.1145/2441776.2441831
CSCW
Keywords
Field
DocType
harassment online,street harassment,social movement organization,social movement theory,collective storytelling online,social movement research,social movement,activism online,experienced harassment,hollaback participant,social movements
Social psychology,Resource mobilization,Storytelling,Social movement,Public relations,Sociology,Social movement theory,Knowledge management,Social movement organization,Action research,Social change,Harassment
Conference
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
57
2.32
30
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Jill P. Dimond118712.00
Michaelanne Dye2756.84
Daphne Larose3572.32
Amy Bruckman41500182.36