Merlyna Lim, Canada Research Chair in Digital Media & Global Network Society, delivers her Public Inaugural Lecture: Roots, Routes & Routers at Carleton University on November 6th, 2014. Lim makes the point that social media is neither the harbinger of social movements and social change nor just a passive and neutral medium. People and social media are both inseparable in the making of contemporary social movements. Instead of making rushed judgements that attribute the cause of social movements and uprisings with social media, she suggests that we must explore the deeper offline historical contexts that reside in the past. Movements such as the Arab Springs and protests in Hong Kong are not solely created online or offline, but rather through the flows and interconnectivity between both spaces. Social transformations take time, which the immediacy of social media does not always address. See more in a recorded audio presentation of Merlyna Lim’s lecture, Roots, Routes & Routers, accompanying her presentation.
Interested in seeing more? Check out more of more of Merlyna Lim’s presentations: