Proposal

In Gladwell’s article, he explains how so many students around the south began doing “sit ins” at restaurants and other locations. He discusses how that information spread by word of mouth, differentiating that with the Occupy movement. I will compare those two instead. So many people engaged in those two because they were told the exact place, time, set of actions, and reason for participating in the civic engagement. You go to Hal’s Diner, 5:00, sit at the counter, it’s for civil rights. Or, go to Wall Street, 5:00, stand in front of Merrill Lynch, it’s for the Occupy movement. When people hear this they immediately can make a decision if they want to participate, Yes or No. That is all they have to do. The next decisions have been made for them, the infrastructure already exists. They do not need to choose what concept of of activism to participate in, where to go, or even how to participate because these choices have already been made for them.

I don’t want to seem cynical and say that people are sheep just waiting for direction. But, making decisions if difficult, and just like physics, humans often take the path of least resistance. It’s just plain easier to engage and participate when the only decision you have to make is “should I participate, or not.” These aspects tremendously boost social engagement, making the Occupy movement and the sit ins so widespread. Give people the path from A to B, and all they have to do is walk it. Simple = participation.

These same reason help bridge the gap from clictivism to activism. It’s like the McGonigal’s article about gaming. Gaming is so popular because everything is pre-set up and laid out right in front of you. You may pick certain options inside the game, make active choices, but those choices only exist because they are already created and exist inside the game.

This is partially what makes Greenpeace so successful. There are many ways to engage, and all of them have been pre-set up. You want to donate? Three clicks away. You don’t even need to pick where that money goes to, how it makes a difference, or for what cause. Those decisions will be made for you. All you need to do is decide “should I, or shouldn’t I.” Want to volunteer? You don’t need to set up an event and organize it yourselves, just three clicks and your name is on the list. They will email you all the information, they have made these decisions of where to meet, what to work on, and what goal to accomplish. Donating = participation. Volunteering = participation. It is easier to do participate when you don’t have to make any big decisions. It’s as easy as yes or no.

Therefore, in the future if I wanted to boost engagement then I would do all the work so the people don’t have to. I would have different options and different ways to participate so people can have choices, but once that choice is made then everything will be pre-set up. This is the way to boost participation. It’s just like physics, humans will often choose the path of least resistance.