(Note: This is an addition to my blog post FOR THE WIN part 1)

Cory Doctorow‘s novel, For The Win, continues with part 2 . His science fiction story still mentions Matthew, Wei-Dong, and Mala but switches focus to secondary characters – Big Sister Nor (labor organizer), Connor Prikkel (Stanford Doctorate drop-out turned gamer economist), Yasmin (Mala’s trusted lieutenant), Ashok (Bollywood celebrity turned union advocate), and Jie (Chinese webbie star who also is a union advocate). With the addition of all these characters, the lives of the initial three become more complicated and intertwined mainly through labor organization and economics.  I think the most interesting theme in part 2 though is how social media allows the virtual gaming world transcend into the physical real world.

Big Sister Nor uses Twitter (not explicitly mentioned, but since Doctorow uses “tweets” I feel it is inferred) to send out information to Webblies (gamer union members) when a factory of gamers are striking. Yasmin (who is part of Big Sister Nor’s inner-Webblies) was Mala’s trusted lieutenant until she sided with Big Sister Nor. Yasmin also uses Twitter and a social network site, Minerva, to see what happens to a Webblie physical strike after an ambush on Mushroom Kingdom (another online game which people around the world play for fun and work). These two fictional events parallel what had happened in Tunisia and Egypt – an issue I had previously blogged about. Big Sister Nor and Yasmin utilize the Internet and its means of communication to bring issues to the forefront. By tweeting/sharing tweets, status updates, pictures, and video clips of these union strikes that initially started online and ended up in the real world is such a sign of the times that the Internet is much more than what it initially started out as. It is really interesting to see from a technological viewpoint how people in a fictional story AND real life can unionize and bring knowledge to the people.

Jie also brings knowledge to the people when she creates her online radio shows/message board communications. She broadcasts online and radio to worker girls all over the world who experience work injustice. This is an interesting storyline that reminds me of podcasts and social change. The revolution will be tweeted, shared, and online!