| Abstrakt: |
From Wiki leaks revelations to claims of "Twitter revolutions," the role of new media in shaping global political action is one of the most discussed but least understood phenomena confronting scholars, policymakers, advocates, and the private sector. This article describes and evaluates democracy in the milieu of new media technology, particularly the internet, to improve participation in local democratic processes. Various aspects of democratic communication are examined, including information access, preference measurement, deliberation and group mobilization. This paper gives an overview and critique of some of the rhetoric surrounding digital media at this time. Specifically, I wish to question claims being made about the democratic properties inherent to such media, and that are being naturalized in discussions about their own use and understanding of digital media in terms of democracy, and to think again about the language that may have been naturalized around their use. I will attempt to focus on how this new model and these new media help to promote a more democratic form of mass communication where the receivers are able to become the senders and vice versa. Should we fear this evolution, or embrace its potential? Will digital media fulfill the ideal of direct democracy, or will it generate a "cesspool" of erroneous information? Is the free and equal communication of citizens through the new media a feasible ideal at the end of the twentieth century? In turn this creates a large social based "discussion" rather than small-localized group "discussion" and can lead to make social and political changes. I also want to examine how these new media technologies have helped blur the lines between the public and private spheres. These are a few of the sources I am going to be pulling concepts from [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
