Global Digital Activism Data Set, 2013

The Global Digital Activism Data Set (GDADS), released February 2013 by the Digital Activism Research Project (DARP) at the University of Washington in Seattle, features coded cases of online digital activism from 151 countries and dependent territories. Several features from each case of digital activism were documented, including the year that online action commenced, the country of origin of the initiator(s), the geographic scope of their campaign, and whether the action was online only, or also featured offline activities. Researchers were interested in the number and types of software applications that were used by digital activists. Specifically, information was collected on whether software applications were used to circumvent censorship or evade government surveillance, to transfer money or resources, to aid in co-creation by a collaborative group, or for purposes of networking, mobilization, information sharing, or technical violence (destructive/disruptive hacking). The collection illustrates the overall focus of each case of digital activism by defining the cause advanced or defended by the action, the initiator's diagnosis of the problem and its perceived origin, the identification of the targeted audience that the campaign sought to mobilize, as well as the target whose actions the initiators aimed to influence. Finally, each case of digital activism was evaluated in terms of its success or failure in achieving the initiator's objectives, and whether any other positive outcomes were apparent.