Exploring the Impacts of Internet-mediated Communication on Iranian Women‘s Rights Activism

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to explore the impacts of Internet-mediated communication on Iranian women’s rights activism. The interview and observational analyses in this investigation has generated a fresh, in-depth insight into the patterns of use and the impact of three Internet technologies, utilized by women’s rights activists to the greatest extent: e-mail groups, websites, and social networking sites (SNSs). The study finds that more conventional forms of Internet-mediated communication, e-mail groups and websites, strengthen the activists’ collective identity and stimulate collaboration within the network of the activism. Also, the array of activist websites mobilizes and shares the activism-related knowledge across women’s rights groups. At the same time, however, deployment of SNSs by individual activists raises tensions within the women’s right activism network and threatens activists’ collective identity.