Civic Organizations and Internet Social Networks: A Case Study in the Province of Buenos Aires

• Author: Ana Cecilia Silva
• Published date: 01 May 2018
• DOI: 10.1177/0094582X18766919
• Date: 01 May 2018
• Subject Matter: Articles

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 220, Vol. 45 No. 3, May 2018, 236–249

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X18766919

© 2018 Latin American Perspectives

236

Civic Organizations and Internet Social Networks

A Case Study in the Province of Buenos Aires

by

Ana Cecilia Silva

Translated by

Victoria J. Furio

A neighborhood assembly in a medium-sized city in the province of Buenos Aires

formed in connection with a petition for designation as a historical protection area uses

the Internet to generate visibility spaces alternative to those of the traditional media and

install its own agenda, to include in those new spaces the voices and perspectives of new

social actors, and to organize and improve its own participatory management. Its use of

Facebook has acquired some of the features of “community media.” At the same time, its

use of the Internet for internal communication and coordination is clearly accessory to

face-to-face interaction. There is a generational difference in access to and decision making

about the content to be posted in the various media, and spokespersons have become autho-

rized voices. Appealing to both the traditional and the new media is a crucial aspect of the

assembly’s positioning strategy, but the strategy is in constant revision.

La asamblea vecinal de una ciudad mediana de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina,

que se formó en torno a una petición para designarse área de protección histórica utiliza la

Internet para la construcción de espacios de comunicación alternativos a los medios tradi-

cionales e instalar así su propia agenda, incluir las voces y perspectivas de nuevos actores

sociales en esos nuevos espacios, y organizar y mejorar su propia administración partici-

pativa. El uso que le dan a Facebook ha adquirido algunas características de los “medios

comunitarios.” Al mismo tiempo, el uso de la Internet para la comunicación y coordi-

nación internas es claramente un accesorio a la interacción cara a cara. Hay una diferencia

generacional en el acceso a y decisiones en torno al contenido que se publica en diversos

medios, y los voceros se han convertido en voces autorizadas. La estrategia de posiciona-

miento de la asamblea apela a medios tanto tradicionales como nuevos, pero dicha estrate-

gia está sujeta a revisión constante.

Keywords: Urban social movements, Internet, Communication, Democratization,

Participation

Reflecting on the use of the Internet by civic organizations to construct spaces

for communication alternative to the traditional media, I attempt in this article

to understand the meanings of emerging sociocultural practices and formulate

questions and possible lines of action for deepening the democratization of com-

766919LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X18766919Latin American PerspectivesSilva / CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS AND INTERNET SOCIAL NETWORKS

research-article2018

Ana Cecilia Silva is a research assistant in Argentina’s Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones

Científicas y Técnicas and a professor in the arts department of the Universidad Nacional del

Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Victoria J. Furio is a translator living in New York City.