Section 7: Conclusion

As the computing revolution continues to radically re-shape our society’s economic, social and political context, community activists must question the efficacy of traditional organizing strategies. It is likely their effectiveness will diminish as more dynamic forms of communication are developed and incorporated into people’s daily lives. New forms of community organizing and activism must be pursued. Current practices of online activism appear to be electronic implementations of Alinsky-based organizing methods. The success of an online activist site is generally measured by volume of e-mail messages, faxes or electronic signatures gathered in support or opposition to a public policy agenda. The most common and effective online tools today are those that emphasize top-down change. While online activism is a novel strategy that provides great promise in influencing public policy, it falls short in its ability to shape personal attitudes and behaviors. Sisterhood, the technology-enhanced community organizing model proposed in this paper, builds upon traditional organizing practices and is enhanced by a new approach to online activism. It balances Alinsky and identity-based framework strategies to motivate change in personal attitudes and behaviors as well as public policy. Sisterhood also introduces a new form on online activism that supports bottom-up organizing through consciousness raising. The Bay Area chapter of 9to5 National Association for Working Women functioned as the social component of the Sisterhood model. Its use of the website Equivalent: a working woman’s invoicing system demonstrated how a bottom-up online activist strategy can enhance traditional organizing strategies by supporting consciousness raising and motivating political change through grassroots data collection. The study also found that women’s interests in computing peaked as they recognized it technology could have relevance to their lives. The Sisterhood model has excited members of the Bay Area chapter of 9to5 National Association of Working Women and Coalition for Equal Pay. With the support of City Councilmember Cindy Chavez and Chief Executive Officer of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, funding will be sought to extend Equivalent: a working woman’s invoicing system into a scalable system that supports women’s rights organizing throughout Silicon Valley and beyond.