I am very happy to announce the launch of “Tecnopolítica y 15M: la potencia de las multitudes conectadas“, the first book written by DatAnalysis15M with Javier Toret Medina (coordinator), Antonio Calleja-López, Oscar Marín Miró, Miguel Aguilera, Xabier E. Barandiaran, Alberto Lumbreras, Arnau Monterde and me as authors.
English abstract by Antonio Calleja-López:
The text is a synthesis of our study on a living and novel phenomenon under construction. For more than six months our group, DatAnalysis15M, has undertaken a systematic exercise of analysis, synthesis, and visualization of data from the Spanish 15M (also known as “indignados”) movement. The work explores a series of theoretical and methodological proposals for the study of 15M and similar movements.
In our investigation, of transdisciplinary character, we have developed and applied new analytical methods based on complexity sciences, network analysis and data engineering in order to approach social movements in the network society, as well as to improve collective action inside them. In this sense, we have approached the movement from the viewpoint of both research and action.
We are convinced that we are in the prehistory of the network society. Despite the fact that the beginnings of microelectronics date back only to the last third of the XXth century, the last fifteen years have been crucial in the evolution of the Internet, free software, mobile devices and social networks, among other information and communication technologies (ICTs).
This process is not merely technological but also social or, rather, sociotechnological. Our study shows that the use and appropriation of different platforms or devices as enablers of political action have been key to 15M. The concept of “technopolitics” (which we dig into later on) connects the different research lines of a work that, more than a study, represents the sketch of a research program.
Pablo Aragón 