The Hashtag and its Connection to Activism
Created by Jen McAllister
For my Final Project, I decided to look back at the hashtag, in terms of its development, turning point in history and impact on activism. I began with the Libra Pondo and moved through each of the symbol’s iterations, including pound, octothrope and hashtag. The hashtag has had a profound effect on the way in which people communicate and engage in a shared dialogue often grounded in social activism.
Wow, I just watched your video on #Activism. It is really moving. Well done! #spreadtheknowledge #unitedvoices
In terms of activism, I think that using hashtags is great for starting a movement and bringing a change in attitude to the current society. #MeToo has made a big change in how we accept the treatment of women. This ongoing hashtag has made significant and longlasting changes!
It takes more to make a punctuated change in that society.
I remember Dr. Micah White (https://www.micahmwhite.com/why-are-our-protests-failing) and Zeynep Tufekci (https://www.ted.com/talks/zeynep_tufekci_online_social_change_easy_to_organize_hard_to_win/up-next) speaking about how #movements are quick to go viral, and how a slower growth and development of contingencies is needed to make the movement successful.
Here in Montreal, there were many red squares on backpacks and hand-drawn letter-sized posters on telephone poles to stir up the Maple Spring revolution (at the beginning, the residents of Quebec want free higher-education) , and the social media sites were stamped #ggi (greve generale illimite) but the actual idea of what the noise was about became pretty blurred. Politicians jumped in and mixed up the messages and the outcome was a change in government that flipped back to the status quo once the fervour calmed down. The idea of free education has faded too.
I think that #diplomesansdette would have been a better way to start the movement, and would have helped to make the idea stick more in our current society.
Plato is quoted to have said “Those who tell the stories rule society.” I think that hastags are now our quickest storytelling devices.
Great job, and thank you for the bonus history lesson!