Presented at
Still Hacking Anyway (SHA2017),
Aug. 7, 2017, 8:15 p.m.
(60 minutes)
When the Australian media use the word “clusterfuck” in headlines describing a Government data-matching program that’s sending people to debt collectors, you know you have a campaign the community will connect with.
Lyndsey Jackson, instigator of Australia’s #notmydebt, introduces the approach behind this collaborative social media campaign, and discusses some of the challenges, and rewards, of crowdsourced resistance.
#Privacy #Society #SurveillanceState
Big Data is becoming the holy grail for governments looking for immediate savings, future spending control, and saleable assets.
On paper the lure is enticing; and with a media that doesn’t do tech reporting well, the clueless public is an easy target.
Or it was.
Australia’s #NotMyDebt campaign began when Asher Wolf started digging. Lyndsey Jackson saw the possibilities and made the connection; she used the Government’s own Drupal distribution to build a website, which Asher promoted directly to volunteers, and the concept caught like wildfire.
Within three days the website and social media channels were built; on day four the holidays ended and it was front page news and a media storm. The community’s gloves were off, and everyone wanted in.
The policy began to unravel.
In public the Government stood firm, but inside Parliament House the debt collectors were pulled back and a Senate inquiry was triggered.
People wanted to know more, they wanted to participate, and they cared. Over 200 people volunteered.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
Women that had never used a CMS learnt how to manage and run a sophisticated campaign.
The conversation on social media continues, and the pressure is still on. But for too many, ignorance is still… not bliss, but vulnerability.
Presenters:
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Lyndsey Jackson
Lyndsey has energy. She has a talent for finding people's strengths and talents. Then she comes up with plans on how she will connect them and create world domination. Fortunately (or unfortunately) she has no power, money, or agency. Yet.
Lyndsey has a love for the grass roots and is a fan of asset based community development - finding and connecting strengths in people, places and things.
Tokenism makes her eyes glaze over. Bullshit makes her eyes glaze over. Pretend stuff that isn't real makes her eyes glaze over.
Lyndsey fell into tech after a connection at a big Australian Government ideas fest. It was supposed to be a short term gig. Nine years later Lyndsey still lives for tech and the connections and potential it offers.
Without wanting to alarm anyone, Lyndsey believes the future needs more women and "others" in tech. So step aside tech peeps.
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