WHAT IS WEBTIVISM?

Webtivism--One would ask what this term means, but it cannot be clearly defined. 

Yet.

This term is currently under construction. Throughout the next semester, we will develop the concept of webtivism from a feminist perspective.  So far we have researched the historical aspects of the feminist and cyberactivist movement not only in order to advance their personal knowledge of Women's History for the website but also to develop a better understanding of each movement as we try to find the happy medium or overlap of these two genres.

The WHM web design and content serves multiple purposes. One goal is to create a community that challenges the gender conventions in the field of information technology.  Currently, the world of computers and the World Wide Web is mostly created by males for males.  This website sets to break down that stereotype not only by presenting a community of female web-audience but also by presenting a community of female web creators.  

Another goal of this website as well as the overall project is to set an activist mindframe within the cyber interface. We want women to be involved and learn about the issues affecting their lives and other women's lives. With the growing availability, accessibility and audience of the cyberworld, activism online has been revolutionized within the past decade or so.  This website aims to utilize that advancement of cyberactivism for the purpose of feminism.  By incorporating cyberactivism and feminism, we will hopefully see the process behind webtivism. 

To observe this process, we are going to try and examine the potentials of webtivism by creating different pages, which would have varying purposes and goals. Primary websites, such as the WHM website, will be used to define what webtivism is.  The feedback and analysis from these sites will be applied to the creation of secondary websites.  Among the websites to be used in this project are the website for the Women's Studies Student Council and for the UMBC chapter of Choice USA.

-Allison Sherman and Achaia Andoque

What is your take of webtivism?

Send us an email and with your permission, we'll post it up here.