Dave Karpf, Assistant Professor, School of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University

Analytic Activism: The Organization Logic of Social Petition

Social petition sites like Change.org, MoveOn Petitions, and the White House's "We The People" platform have been heralded for dramatically simplifying citizen political engagement.  Now any individual can launch a campaign from their laptop or mobile phone with the potential of reaching millions and influencing public policy.  Public excitement about the new potential of digitally-enhanced democracy has outpaced our understanding of just how these sites function, and what types of political engagement they support.  In this presentation, David Karpf will share new findings on how the leading social petition sites construct dramatically different user experiences and leverage competing forms of citizen participation.

Dave Karpf is an Assistant Professor in the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University.  He is the author of The MoveOn Effect: The Unexpected Transformation of American Political Advocacy (Oxford University Press, 2012), and is currently working on a second book about analytics and activism. 

Open to the public. 

Sponsored by the Transnational NGO Initiative at the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs