The Wiki man cometh
The mighty should quake before the Wiki man
New technology has the power to transform democracy
The primary function of technology is to make specific practices possible, easier, cheaper or more widely accessible. But technology also operates at a more profound cultural, behavioural and philosophical level. Printing was the basis of the Protestant Reformation and the so-called ‘priesthood of all believers’, just as the internal combustion engine fired up modern economic individualism, and the splitting of the atom defined the soul of the second half of the 20th century. So, too, the web is changing human behaviour in the most fundamental fashion.
Don Tapscott, co-author of the book Wikinomics, described what he calls the ‘net generation’ thus: ‘When they come home, they don’t turn on their TV, they turn on their computer and they’re in three different windows, talking on the phone, listening to MP3 files, playing a video game on the side, they may have their homework going on at the same time. What’s happening is that rather than being the passive recipients of someone else’s broadcast video, they’re spending their time reading, and collaborating, and thinking, and organising information and searching for stuff. And this actually affects brain development and there are several different parts of brain function that are actually different. So this suggests that youth are not different in the way that youth are always different. This is not just a life stage difference. It’s an actual generation difference that will persist and endure as they become adults.’
We’re talking neurology, in other words, and a generation whose brains are literally wired with different software. They take transparency for granted — ‘open source’ — and have contempt for secrecy and confidentiality. They assess political truth collaboratively rather than in deference to authority. They treat hierarchies with scorn. They believe in ‘peer-to-peer’ recommendation, not instructions from on high. They offer trust only to those brands — political or otherwise — which truly earn it.
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Kare Anderson
November 22nd, 2007 11:18pmYou inadvertently offer a primer for politics everywhere - how cool here's to more coverage of Me2We methods.. my neighbor, Howard "Smart Mob" would love to observe http://www.movingfrommetowe.com/
Cogito Ergosum
November 22nd, 2007 11:31pmBefore the twentieth century we had the London Mob. Nowadays we have the comprehensive rabble. None of these would interact with the Internet in the way the author supposes. (P) I am afraid the Internet has captured his imagination but drained him of his powers of observing ordinary people.
Lucan C. Heraclitus
November 23rd, 2007 12:28amYou speak for yourself Cogito and I'll speak for mine. Comprehensive rabble indeed! Rubbish, Sir! Rubbish! For the past forty years the politics of our country has been dominated by networks of neo-marxist cliques and now the web is washing out their covert webs. The totalitarian movements of the twentieth century depended upon the use of the mass media to manipulate the public opinion but the use of force to silence opposition. The w.w.web has made it very difficult for political cliques - a point underlined by Blair's distressingly distressed attack on this 'feral' world of ours that he made shortly before he went on his way somewhere or other.
alan
November 26th, 2007 7:13pmLast week my organisation had some Web 2.0 "Experts" in the office, attempting to convince some of the older elements of the office of the value of the internet, of the web, of new media tools and techniques. Some of it fell on some very deaf ears. I've only listened to the first show, but i will be sending the Radio 4 Listen Again link to my superiors, as it is an excellent primer to some of the ideas and concepts you present so well and so simply.
ATFlynn.
November 27th, 2007 10:43amI wrote to Professor Peter Cochrane, Head of Research at BT, on the 20th Aug. 1999. about this subject. And I have posted many comments on BBC Actionnetwork and other places. This is the ultimate power to put a Check Rein on any Politician. The power of all and any government, rests in its ability to levy Taxation. It is legally possible today, to move all income beyond the jurisdiction of the government and quite legally avoid all Direct Taxation. My suggestion is for all working TaxPayers to come to an agreement on the amount of Taxation to be paid, and then use their Parish and Town Councils as their Tax Collectors. In this fashion, the government of the day, has only the power to spend the money that the TaxPayer agrees to allow. Regards, ATFlynn.
Bu on U
November 28th, 2007 4:07pmThe www works in another, surprising way to battle totalitarianism by overzealous police action - people can post them on YouTube, and the official line of the police officer that he was acting appropriately, or that the citizen was resisting, or that the protesting mob was about to riot, are utterly destroyed. Let a transparent justice reign!
Andromeda
November 29th, 2007 12:23pmHas anyone visited http://www.1party4all.co.uk the opinion-polling direct democracy website where you can vote on its many provocative polls? Its conceit is that it is a VIRTUAL protest party with "policies" influenced by its ENTIRE membership. It also has 2 systems of voting: OMOV (One Member One Vote) and OMMV (One Member Multiple Votes - earned through an internal award system that is designed to be meritocratic). You can change your mind at any time and vote the other way. Membership is free requiring only the minimum of personal information. Its current poll concerns the very topical issue of party funding and suggests a radical alternative of no representation without taxation and greater representation with greater taxation.
Christian Egners
March 7th, 2008 1:31amVery true, a lot has changed with the internet, giving lots of people immediate access to information and communication. However, the authorities are uneasy about it, trying to use information technology against us (DNA-databases, etc.), reducing each and every user of the internet to potential terrorists that must be monitored. We all ought to be very aware and wary of state interference that pretends to interfere in our privacy for the sake of security (quite a buzz word since "9-11"). Let's all watch out for Big Brother, who is no ,longer content with just watching us...