The unibrennt movement: a successful case of mobilising lurkers in a public sphere

摘要

With the student protest movement 'unibrennt' in 2009, Austria saw a new quality of online mobilisation. Beginning with the sit-in of the auditorium, the initiative provoked an extensive media echo in Austria and other European cities. In this paper we examine the preconditions of unibrennt, such as the political culture and individual motivation. We analyse factors of successful mobilisation and empowerment in the case study of unibrennt with reference to communication studies, political theory and psychology. In particular, we draw on recent research on the lurker as a user type and relate it to the bottom-up movement and its characteristics.