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The Role of Information and Communications Technologies in Migrants from T unisia's Jasmine Revolution
Author(s) -
Paradiso Maria
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
growth and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.657
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1468-2257
pISSN - 0017-4815
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2257.2012.00603.x
Subject(s) - icts , information and communications technology , social media , democracy , digital media , political science , sociology , law , politics
The role of information and communications technologies ( ICTs ) in the A rab S pring of 2011 has been widely discussed in the popular media, but has received little scholarly attention. This paper presents the results of field work carried out at the I talian island of L ampedusa in M arch 2011, which investigated migrants' use of the I nternet and mobile communications technologies while still in their N orth A frican countries of origin, and the influence of ICTs on recent democratic movements there. Empirical work proved that the use of digital social networks helped to break migrants' isolation, spread information and indignation, and virally coordinated demonstrations. The paper stresses the role of emotions and affect in this process, injecting these into regional analysis.