We
said earlier that users of the Internet
and other new communication technologies are an active (rather than
a passive) audience. Some have called them "prosumers" because they
both PROduce and conSUME information and communication (the cornerstones
of democracy, you recall).
Your readings
for this week go even further. They suggest that we are empowered in
ways that were not possible in older media environments.
In
"Free," Lessig (a
Stanford law professor and a practicing attorney who has led
fights for freedom of expression all the way to the
Supreme Court) argues that the Internet is an incredible avenue
for innovation, creativity and democracy -- as long as the resources
it offers remain free of either government or private control.
In
particular, he argues against restrictive copyright laws, which stifle
our ability to be part of a collective, creative process that is
possible only if resources are freely shared and open to modification
by their users.
"The
availability of a resource that remains outside the exclusive
control of someone else -- whether a government or a private
individual -- has been central to progress in science and
the arts. It will also remain central to progress in the
future.
...
"The
defining feature of the Internet is that it leaves resources
free. The Internet has provided for much of the
world the greatest demonstration of the power of freedom
-- and its lesson is one we must learn if its benefits
are to be preserved." (Lessig, "Free," Living
in the Info Age). |
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In
"Smart Mobs," Rheingold (an
online pioneer and author of The Virtual Community and Smart
Mobs) describes how text messaging and other readily accessible,
mobile,
digital technologies enable social activism.
In
the Philippines, more than a million Manila residents, mobilized
and coordinated through text messages, demonstrated against their
government -- and eventually forced the president to resign.
In
Seattle, demonstrations against the World Trade Organization were
similarly coordinated through mobile, networked technologies.
In
these and other examples, autonomous individuals -- connected but
under no centralized control -- can "swarm" in "sudden epidemics
of cooperation."
Such
smart mobs are "animated by a new form of social organization,
the network. Networks include nodes and links, use many
possible paths to distribute information from any link
to any other, and are self-regulated through flat governance
hierarchies and distributed power. ... Networks constitute
the newest major social organizational form" (Rheingold,
"Smart Mobs," Living in the Info Age).
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Networks
can empower citizens at "hyperlocal" as well as broader
social levels. The Online Journalism Review article
titled
"The New Voices" describes many of the citizen journalism
efforts that Nick, Mariel and
others in the blogs discussion group introduced us to a few weeks
ago.
These
projects -- including Northwest
Voice in Bakersfield, California,
and MyMissourian from
the Missouri j-school -- open up the gates and enable
ordinary people to contribute
news items
that
matter
to
them.
"One
of the greatest byproducts of citizen journalism is a sense
of civic involvement for people who have felt shut out
of their own local politics and media. ...
"`Can
you create opportunities for citizens to get informed and
inform others about micro-news that falls under the radar
of news organizations who don't have the resources? And
in the process, you seed the interest in participating
in community issues'" (Glaser, "The New Voices," OJR). |
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Participatory
journalism, described in the reading from the influential online
publication We
Media (sponsored by the American
Press Institute) includes blogs, wikis, customized news sites
and other news sites to which ordinary people contribute. We've
looked at many of these already.
It
is "the act of a citizen, or group of citizens, playing
an active role in the process of collecting, reporting,
analyzing and disseminating news and information. The
intent of this participation is to provide independent, reliable,
accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy
requires."
"The
venerable profession of journalism finds itself at a rare
moment in history where, for the first time, its hegemony
as gatekeeper of the news is threatened by not just new
technology and competitors but, potentially, by the audience
it serves.
"Armed
with easy-to-use Web publishing tools, always-on connections
and increasingly powerful mobile devices, the online audience
has the means to become an active participant in the creation
and dissemination of news and information" (Bowman and
Willis, "We Media"). |
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