"I particularly appreciated the integration of macropractice principles. Content on current social issues such as the digital divide, the information economy, and globalization address areas of content mandated by CSWE. This is readable, interesting information that the reader enjoys adding to his/her professional toolbox. This is a useful text for policy, macropractice, and capstone courses as well as a good basis for continuing professional education in an increasingly important area of social work practice."

— Peggy Pittman Munke, Murray State University

"Well-conceived, readable, and very informative."

— John Herrick, Michigan State University

"This is just the ticket for introducing students interning in an advocacy agency that uses the web to educate various publics."

— John H. Noble, Jr., Catholic University of America

"An excellent contribution to how technology can be used to promote social change. Very informative."

— Joseph Wronka, Springfield College

ADVOCACY, ACTIVISM,
AND THE INTERNET
Community Organization and Social Policy

Edited by
Steven F. Hick, Carleton University
John G. McNutt, University of South Carolina, Columbia

This groundbreaking new book illustrates how the internet and other electronic resources are currently affecting social work practice. Rapidly emerging technologies have facilitated economic globalization and created a host of new issues for social workers to address. At the same time these technologies have become key tools for social activism and advocacy. Practitioners must understand the changes in social policy advocacy and community activism that these technological advances bring and learn to formulate new skills to utilize them to their advantage. Advocacy, Activism, and the Internet discusses the use of the internet as a tool for instigating social change at the local, state, national, and international levels. The authors show how technology affects social work practice directly through new methods and indirectly by affecting the communities that practitioners serve. It provides channels for e-advocacy as well as a thorough exploration of the major theoretical, practice, and research perspectives that inform electronic activism. This book solidly integrates new on-line advocacy skills with traditional methods and unites research on internet communities with macro social work theory.

Features

• Provides latest scholarship from eighteen international authorities
• Utilizes cutting edge research and practice materials
• Addresses current social issues such as the digital divide, the information economy, and globalization
• Discusses nonprofit issues in advocacy
• Helps students draw connections between macropractice and social movements via the internet

About the Editors
Steven Hick is an associate professor in the School of Social Work at Carleton University. His published books include Land Our Life: a Study of the Struggle for Agrarian Reform in the Philippines (1987), Human rights and the Internet (2000), and Social Work in Canada: An Introduction (2002). John McNutt teaches policy, research, and macropractice at the University of South Carolina, Columbia. His research is in the area of advocacy and activism on the Internet, and he has previously edited The Global Environmental Crisis: Implications for Social Welfare and Social Work (1994).

Contents

Foreword: The Internet, Society and Activism. Noam Chomsky

Preface

Chapter 1 Communities and Advocacy on the Internet: A Conceptual Framework. Steven Hick and John McNutt

Part 1 Community Organizing and Advocacy and the Internet: An Introduction
Chapter 2 Social Work Advocacy and the Internet: Research Findings and Future Directions. Katherine Boland, Jennifer Bartron and John G. McNutt
Chapter 3 Can You Have Community On the Net? Steven Hick and Emily Reich
Chapter 4 Public Policy, Technology, and the Nonprofit Sector: Notes from the Field. Ryan Turner
Chapter 5 The Role of The Internet in Educating Social Work Practitioners as Online Advocates. Steve Wernet

Part 2: Organizing for Social Change
Chapter 6 Organizing for Social Change: Online and Traditional Community Practice. John G. McNutt and Steven Hick
Chapter 7 NetActivism 2001: How citizens Use the Internet. Edward Schwartz
Chapter 8 Environmental Activism on the Internet. David Barnhizer
Chapter 9 Organizing Women of Color Online. Irene-Quiero-Tajalli and Craig Campbell
Chapter 10 Dial Up Networking for Debt Cancellation and Development: A Case Study of Jubilee 2000. Nick Buxton
Chapter 11 Online Collaboration, Information and the Resourceful Community. Joe Clarke
Chapter 12 Technology-based Groups and Flash Campaigns. Gouthan M. Menom

Part 3 Social Policy and Community in an Information Society: Implications for Advocacy and Organizing
Chapter 13 Social Policy Advocacy in Cyberspace. Steven Hick and John G. McNutt
Chapter 14 Social Policy and Social Change in the Post-industrial Society. George Haskett
Chapter 15 Tele-democracy: Re-inventing Governance for Social Welfare. On-Kwok Lai
Chapter 16 Inequality and the Digital Divide: Myths and Realities. Jan Steyaert
Chapter 17 The Global Information Divide and Online Organizing for International Development. Jamal Shahin
Chapter 18 Cyberadvocacy as Social Work Practice: The Continuing Challenge to Reinvent the Profession. John G. McNutt and Steven Hick

About the Contributors

2002, Paper, 256 Pages, ISBN 978-0-925065-60-5, Price $39.95