Online Environmental Activism: the Case of Iğneada Floodplain Forest

Abstract

The Internet has changed the ways and conditions of activism. Especially over the last three decades, online activism has been prevalently used for sharing information, connecting people, and mobilizing crowds to express their discontent. The Internet is often referred to as a new form of public sphere, which demonstrates many distinctive and advantageous features compared with traditional types of public spheres. By following public sphere theory, this study examines online activism in the context of environmental activism and aims to understand the potential of the Internet within online activism practices. The studied website “Save the Floodplain Forest” (www.longozukoru.org) is an environmentalist activist platform dedicated to saving the Iğneada floodplain forest. The study employed the five-dimensional content analysis scale developed by Kavada to evaluate and analyze the campaign website. The results exhibit inadequacies and point out the potential rooms for improvement for the campaign website. © The Author(s) 2019.