USSF Atlanta 2007, June 27-July 1

Welcome to the blog for a research team that is traveling to the United States Social Forum in Atlanta. The research project is a collaborative effort of researchers at several universities including the University of Notre Dame, the University of California Riverside, Indiana University South Bend, the University of Idaho, Arizona State University, Georgia State University, and probably some others I'm not currently thinking of (or at least, that is what I glean from the email distribution list)!

This research is part of a larger project studying the World Social Forum process which includes surveying participants, participant-observation at Social Forum sessions, focus groups, interviews, and other activities that will enable us to draw comparisons and to build upon existing knowledge about the WSF process. For instance, one initiative is a “tracing project” that will investigate how groups’ participation in Social Forums (local, national, and global) impacts their work in local communities. Our researchers will interview group members and attend meetings of groups participating in Social Forums before, during and after the actual Social Forum events.

This blog is intended for the ongoing, informal reflections of the researchers while on-site and after.

I'm the blog coordinator, Dan Myers from the University of Notre Dame's Department of Sociology, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and Center for the Study of Social Movements and Social Change.