November 1, 2004
Web of Ideas invitation: The Net and Democracy
This Wednesay, I’m leading another session in the “Web of Ideas” series at the Harvard Berkman house (= Baker House). The topic is something like: Has the Net made a difference in politics? Will it? How can it? And possibly: Oh, crap! Crap! Crap! (But we hope: Yaaaaay!)
It starts at 6, goes to 7:15 and yes, pizza will be served. Everyone is welcome.
I start off with a 15 min discussion opener. I’m thinking of saying something like this:
It’s clear that the Net has been a great tool for organizing the troops and for fund-raising. And we get access to all the information we can eat. Beyond that, how has the Net helped democracy? How might it help? Or will it hurt democracy?
I think there are three main ways it’s helping:
First, it’s connecting us to one another. That helps overcome the alienation built into mass democracy, the same alienation built into mass marketing.
Second, it’s getting us used to the sound of our own human voice. There will come a time when spinning seems as off-putting as lying.
Third, it’s putting our democracy in a global context…not fast enough, but it’s happening.
What will a Web-soaked democracy look like in ten years? Twenty years? What can we do now with the Net to foster democracy?