Sign in or register
for additional privileges

Civic Media Project

adminx, Author

You appear to be using an older verion of Internet Explorer. For the best experience please upgrade your IE version or switch to a another web browser.

Galas: Mobilizing and Managing Volunteer Humanitarian Efforts Online During Euromaidan Protests in Ukraine


Tetyana Lokot

The focus of this case study is Galas (Ukrainian for “clamor” or “ruckus”), a crowdsourcing online initiative that sprang up during the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine (fall 2013–winter 2014). Founded by a group of enthusiasts seeking to help coordinate human, material and other resources for protesters’ needs, Galas grew into a major hub of the civic protest effort. The study, based on interviews with Galas activists and an analysis of the Galas website, provides a compelling case for how impromptu civic projects organized by skilled activists and augmented by digital technology can mobilize volunteers, route information and resources in a protest, and become a flexible, but lasting foundation for grassroots organizing.

The Internet augments civil resistance in many ways, including changes to its mobilization mechanisms. The networked nature of social media platforms means protest movements today rely less on pre-existing organizational or membership structures, and are often able to mobilize volunteers among people with little or no connection to the cause. When the blend of politics and online culture is right, appeals for participation and engagement often go viral and extend far beyond the traditional membership reach. Chadwick (2006), discussing what he calls “the Internet differences” for social movements, underscores greater organizational flexibility, reduced collective action problems and the emergence of new, fluid types of participation which allow “groups to mobilize individuals as actors in key online information networks” (ibid., p. 143). While not always robust and long lasting, these mobilized networks serve the short-term purpose of resource accumulation and information management and can act as “first responders” when cataclysmic events occur in a protest. Castells (2013) calls such networks “instant insurgent communities,” showing how mobile and wireless communication can lead to mass engagement. 

Online support for protest initiatives during Euromaidan in Ukraine formed spontaneously around particular needs; and in some cases, just a few individuals were able to take projects off the ground due to the affordances of existing free, open-source platforms that enable volunteer signup, project management, and resource mobilization online. Galas was one such project: one of its founders (known as DL, in this case study) observed that while there were lots of people on social media willing to help the Euromaidan protesters in Kyiv and elsewhere, the management and distribution of resources (funds, transportation, lodging, medications) was chaotic and inefficient. DL, who works as an IT manager at a software company, discussed this with friends (developers, programmers, a designer) and wondered if the protest crowdsourcing efforts would benefit from an online coordination tool. They then recalled that a real-time alert platform had already been tested during the heavy snowfalls in Kyiv the previous winter, and asked the platform creator if they could use it as a base for the new initiative. This is how Galas found a home

Based around an Ushahidi crowdmap, Galas relied on a key group of skilled individuals for initial operations setup, website design and recruitment of unskilled volunteer administrators, who then monitored resource needs from various protest communities on social media, and managed messages submitted directly to the website or sent through email, Twitter, text, and the Galas iOS/Android apps. 

All verified messages were then aggregated on the crowdmap, and the needs communicated via phone or email to a list of relevant suppliers/charities, compiled by Galas. 

According to DL, high volunteer turnover was one of the main issues for Galas during Euromaidan protests, but the relative ease of training new volunteers helped keep the momentum going. Most new recruits found out about Galas through social media, and saw it as a low-maintenance commitment that nonetheless allowed them to join the protest effort in a meaningful way. The flexibility of the resource management and volunteer operations structure also meant that Galas, as a project, was able to adapt quickly to the changing needs of Euromaidan, going from collecting camping gear, tea, and phone chargers at the start to crowdsourcing medical equipment and bulletproof vests when the protests turned violent. Another testament to the flexibility of the format is that Galas has continued operating beyond Euromaidan, although on a smaller scale, managing resources during the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, including refugee assistance and collecting donations for the Ukrainian army and volunteer brigades.

Bennett and Segerberg (2012) suggest that the use of digital networked media by activists leads to a shift from collective to connective action, and a new organizational pattern of digitally enabled action networks, where digital platforms and applications supplant established political organizations and institutions. The networked nature of these ad-hoc protest support projects can mobilize a wider range of individuals, allowing to reach even those not closely bound to the protest via ideological or community ties. However, it also means that the engagement might be less durable and the networks less stable, with a high turnover rate. There exist other movements that have faced similar issues: the Occupy movement worked with a leaderless, but place-based structure in the Occupy phase, and became more decentralized and networked to remain sustainable; the Arab Spring protest networks in Tunisia and Egypt were able to replicate the loose ties networks across national boundaries and sustain them under pressure. With only a few skilled individuals at the nucleus of the project, the use of platforms like Galas affords maximum flexibility to adjust and accommodate a fluid, diffuse user-base, as the operations management framework adapts to the changing needs of the protest movement. Understanding the nature of these grassroots projects, which, while in a state of constant flux, are able to distribute resources and deliver meaningful results, is crucial to further theorizing about the new, augmented reality of civil society and protest movements.



References


Bennett, W. Lance, and Alexandra Segerberg. 2012. "The logic of connective action: Digital media and the personalization of contentious politics." Information, Communication & Society 15 (5): 739-768.

Castells, Manuel. 2013. Communication power. Oxford University Press.

Chadwick, Andrew. 2006. Internet politics: States, citizens, and new communication technologies. Oxford University Press.
Comment on this page
 

Discussion of "Galas: Mobilizing and Managing Volunteer Humanitarian Efforts Online During Euromaidan Protests in Ukraine"

Add your voice to this discussion.

Checking your signed in status ...


Related:  Padres y Jovenes Unidos: Student Empowerment through Critical Media LiteracyMissing Intentionality: the Limitations of Social Media Analysis for Participatory Urban DesignCitizenship and Digital Mobilization in Brazil38 DegreesYour Story Goes Here: A Case Study Investigating Digital Storytelling and City BuildingCitizen journalism and Civic Inclusion: Access Dorset350.org: A Case of Online-to-Offline ActivismUkranian Crowdmapping of the '12 ElectionsThe 2013 Protests in BrazilAlternative 13 News: A New way to Involve Young Citizens in NGDO Cooperation Work Through Social Media and GamingIt Gets Better ProjectAliens on Campus: An alternate reality approach to student inclusionGuerrilla Research Tactics: Alternative Research Methods in Urban EnvironmentsAnother Promise’s Digital Civic Network and SamsungThe PolyXpress Mobile Ethnographic Storytelling SystemImplication of social media on electoral participation in IndiaBlogging for Truth: Ai Weiwei’s Citizen Investigation Project on China’s 2008 Sichuan EarthquakeThe Se Non Ora Quando Social Movement in ItalyCommunity Radio as Civic Media: The case of Radio al-Balad 92.4FM in Amman, JordanPop-Up Newsroom: “We Are Where You Are”Exploring Net Neutrality with Mozilla WebmakerThe #WalkMyWorld ProjectHorizontal Networking and the Music of Idle No MoreFrom #destroythejoint to far reaching digital activism: Feminist revitalisation stemming from social media and reaching beyondSocial Media Use and Political Activism in Turkey: 140journos, the Post of Others, and Vote and BeyondFort Vancouver Mobile ProjectUnited Colors of DissentThe Human Rights Campaign Facebook LogoPivot: Surreptitious Communications Design for Victims of Human TraffickingDesigning PolicyWebsite to Weibo: Activating the Local Communication Network and Civic Engagement in a Diverse CityNewsActivist: Using globally networked writing to facilitate cross-campus dialogue and engagementMeu RioBinders Full of Election Memes: Participatory Culture invades the 2012 U.S. ElectionCityBeat: A Social Media Data Visualization Platform for JournalistsCivic Media for Civic Intelligence: Product and Process in a Dynamic, Student-led Research and Action LaboratoryPriorities and pathways for civic caucusing: The Michigan Student CaucusThe 2013 Gezi Park Protest and #resistgeziIdle No More by Liz (beta)MídiaNINJA and the Rise of Citizen Journalism in BrazilKony 2012: Using Technology for EmpathyMarriage equality, Facebook profiles pictures, and civic participationProcurement Disclosure in the Slovak Republic unitedcolorsofdissentMobilizing Collective Urban Actions through MicroActsRegulationRoomPOPPYN: Presenting Our Perspective on Philly Youth NewsWebNabludatel: a Russian Electoral Observation AppCuban Blogosphere: an Scenario for Political Debate and Dissent#aufschrei – The Role of Twitter for Feminist Activism and as a Platform for Alternative PublicsThe #YoSoy132 Movement in MexicoConnecting Across Oceans Over AirThe ‘Solutionistic’ Logic of the National Day of Civic HackingTwitter Use and Negative Campaigning: A Case Study from the World’s Largest ElectionIran, the U.S., and Online DiplomacyThe Civic Cloud: A Public Access Model and the InternetMashnotesRoom to Tell: Designing Affectively Engaging Civic Opportunities with New Media for Adolescents Hospitalized with Cystic FibrosisBetter Reykjavik: Open Municipal Policymaking“More Than A Quota”: Youth-Led Creative Arts and Advocacy About the Stop & Frisk PolicyHarrasment and Karen Klein: A Case StudyMobilizing from above: Government use of ICTs for state and nation building in EthiopiaIdle No More in Canada: Dissent, Resonance, and a Middle GroundStrike Debt and the Rolling Jubilee: Building a Debt Resistance MovementDIY Citizenship in the “New Northern Ireland”: the Case of a Belfast MakerspaceAn #EpicFail #FTW: Considering the Discursive Changes And Civic Engagement of #MyNYPDDigital Empowerment Academy“Bury Until They Change Their Ways”: The Digg Patriots And/As User-Generated CensorshipSingapore Memory Project: Producing Public Memory through Social MediaThe Tilburg Public Library KnowledgecloudThe Community Media Drupal ProjectSocial Auditing & Transparency: Gas Cylinder Distribution in IndiaHacking Politics: Civic Struggles to Politicize TechnologiesThe California Report Card Version 1.0Internet Parties: The Internet as Party, Policy, Platform, & Persuasive SymbolismRace to the White HouseBecoming Civic: Fracking, Air Pollution and Environmental Sensing Technologies