Is the Internet good for democracy, or not? John Palfrey is up leading a distributed conversation on that topic for the second plenary session. Here’s the short description, from the conference program:
The Internet is changing how politics is conducted at every level, from local to national to global. Ten years ago, some predicted the online utopia of “everyone a pamphleteer.” It’s clear that the changes taking place on the Internet are more subtle than some anticipated, that they vary by place and context, and that the changes are not all good. Optimists argue that things are on the right track — that the development of the “networked public sphere” is, overall, a very positive thing for democratic institutions. Others are not so sure, pointing to the possible dystopia of citizens surrounding themselves with only the information they wish to hear, censors blocking important political speech at national borders, and a growing culture of surveillance on the web. Against this background, what types of interventions could ensure that the growing use of networked technologies helps to strengthen democracies rather than to undercut their development?
I’m going to take notes on the conversation, but as always treat these as paraphrases at best.
JP starts with Yochai Benkler’s “framing” work, “The Wealth of Networks.” In a networked public sphere, is democracy being enhanced or are institutions pushing back? He shows us some pictures of the recent protests in Burma against the military dictatorship, and talks about how the internet helped distribute images and videos from inside the country to the rest of the world. The net effect, he says, was to stimulate rallies and other actions in solidarity with the Burmese people. So, in this “everyone a pamphleteer” anecdote, is this the whole story, JP asks? The argument is that the Internet allows more speech from more people than ever before (think the “Yes We Can” video, or the Global Voices international blog network).
JP hands the mike to Ethan Zuckerman, one of the founders of Global Voices, who tells the now familiar story of how, in late 2004, he and Rebecca MacKinnon brought together a diverse group of bloggers from around the world to create a hub for distributing their stories, and help them get attention outside their own countries. Ethan admits, interestingly enough, that he was initially skeptical of this blogging thing, but Salaam Pax of Iraq convinced him that “it could literally be a tool for international understanding.” But Ethan is a little frustrated by the discovery that “people pay attention when the mainstream media tell them to pay attention.” For example, Global Voices has been trying to shine more light on the food riots in Egypt, to little avail.
JP shifts now into a discussion with John Kelly, looking at a map of the Farsi language blogosphere.
May 15, 2008