More or Less Democracy in the Internet Age?

Mark E. Kann submitted the above entitled text on October 6, 2005.  He would go on to co-author with Merlyna Lim Chapter 3, Politics:  Deliberation, Mobilization and Networked Practices of Agitation in Networked Publics (Varnelis, 2008).  I must compliment him that he made good progress from this initial somewhat petulant rant to the final edit of Chapter 3.

In the text More or Less Democracy in the Internet Age? (2005), Kann begins by noting "broad disenchantment among people with civic engagement and representative democracy" but that "the growth of the Internet revitalized the democratic imagination" as follows:

"1.  The Internet promised to revive the civic sphere and extend community life by providing broad, diverse forums for discussions.

2.  The Internet enabled many-to-many citizen interaction that invited online political debate, deliberation, consultation, decision-making, administration, and scrutiny as well as online mobilizing, organizing, petitioning, and protesting.

3.  The Internet made polling, plebiscites, and elections relatively cheap and accessible.  Conceivably, the voice of the people could be expressed regularly and loudly, expanding popular decision-making and closing the gap between citizens and their representatives."

Kann then goes on to complain that things aren't all they're cracked up to be.  "[O]nline talk tends to be undisciplined, intolerant, and superficial rather than deliberative" (2005).  "[P]rioritizing deliberation produces exclusionary tendencies.  Individuals and groups that do not adhere to high standards of deliberation may be excluded or at least unwelcome by the moderators of online deliberative venues" (2005). 

Guess what?  Democracy, in practical application, is not perfect.  The Internet is not perfect.  People are not perfect.  Deal with it. 

It seems in this 2005 writing, Kann thought the Internet would be a "silver bullet" to fix deliberative democracy's shortcomings when in reality, the Internet is just one more tool in the toolbox.   

As an example, political blogging found its stride during the 2004 United States Presidential campaign.  In Chapter 3 of Networked Publics (Varnelis, 2008), Lim and Kann write, "The turning point was Howard Dean's Blog for America, which showed how a blog could be used for building social networks of political support" (p. 93).  Also, "[t]oday, both in the United States and other countries, it is common for citizens, candidates, political parties, fund-raisers, consultants, lobbyists, interest groups, legislators, and bureaucrats to have online strategies for advancing their goals.  E-government literature is saturated with suggestions on how individuals, groups, and officials can communicate and compete more effectively" (p. 77).

In the 2005 text, the only aspects of the Internet Kann praises:  "collaborative participation in mobilizations, and tapping public opinion by way of polling and plebiscites seem well suited to Internet technology" (2005).  Again, referring to Chapter 3 of Networked Publics (Varnelis, 2008), in the teamed effort, Lim and Kann write, "Democratic talk potentially deepens democracy where it more or less exists.  In contrast, mobilization often requires quick, decisive action, emphasizes people's identities as historical agents of change, focuses on corporate influence within and beyond political jurisdictions, and succeeds when activists disrupt and disable undemocratic corporate entities and dictatorships from committing injustices.  Democratic mobilization deepens democracy where it does not prevail" (p. 100).

More or less democracy in the Internet Age?  It depends upon your perspective.  While deliberation and mobilization have traditionally been grassroots activities, the Internet and advancing digital technologies have provided new avenues and speed.  Political blogging and political remix are aspects indigenous to the Internet Age.  Referring to Green's approach to literacy and technology, all three domains (i.e., Operational, Cultural and Critical) overlap and are necessary skills to master in order to participate.  Perhaps it is not a question of more or less; it is just different now than it was before the Internet.

Julie DeBold

Participatory Culture - Henry Jenkins

The video of Henry Jenkins speaking about participatory culture and his white paper, Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture:  Media Education for the 21st Century, are both engaging and challenging.  His years of extensive research and work pertaining to Participatory Culture are evident in the flow of his presentation and the depth of history he reveals.  I loved the segment on civic activism, and how it has been a constant but the media by which mobilization occurred/occurs has changed, from the printing press community of the 1850s with world circulation (parallel to today's zines) to the 1990s with hand-held video recorders to today's social media sites.  Fabulous.  Also, that the idea of a social network is not new (e.g., bowling leagues of the 1950s), but the media by which the (online) community forms is (e.g., Facebook, Wikipedia, gaming sites).

Jenkins discusses new media literacies and the new media landscape.  He notes, "Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy from one of individual expression to community involvement.  The new literacies almost all involve social skills developed through collaboration and networking.  These skills build on the foundation of traditional literacy, research skills, technical skills, and critical analysis skills taught in the classroom." (2006, p. 4).  This connection is a very important one; traditional literacy and new media literacy need to connect and intersect.  It brought to mind Motoko Rich's The New York Times piece, Literacy Debate:  Online, R U Really Reading? (2008) in which Carol Jago of the National Council of Teachers of English is quoted as saying, "schools don't have to get involved" (p. 5) on the topic of teaching and/or testing Internet reading. 

Jenkins outlines the new skills needed for the new media culture:  Play, Performance, Simulation, Appropriation, Multitasking, Distributed Cognition, Collective Intelligence, Judgement, Transmedia Navigation, Networking, and Negotiation (2006, p. 4) and throughout the paper discusses each in depth.  He also discusses why we should teach media literacy.  Briefly, it is to mitigate the inequalities in access to new media technologies and opportunities to develop skills, the challenges youth face in evaluating how media shape perception, and to help youth develop ethical norms (i.e., The Participation Gap, The Transparency Problem, and The Ethics Challenge, respectively). 

Jenkins' lecture and paper are encompassed by the graphical representation of Green's approach to literacy requiring Operational, Cultural and Critical literacy practices (DECS, 1996).  In his paper, Jenkins also notes that "the new media literacies should be seen as social skills" (2006, p. 20).  However, "[b]efore students can engage with the new participatory culture, they must be able to read and write" (Jenkins, 2006, p. 19).

Julie DeBold

Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?

Motoko Rich's piece as referenced above, published July 27, 2008 in The New York Times, is very provocative. My thought on the topic is yes, you are really reading. You are reading text presented to you via a new delivery system. Cave art, Egyptian carvings, 19th century artistic painters capturing daily life on their canvases, leaflets, posters, newspapers, magazines, books: all are texts communicating via a delivery system unto its own medium. Utilizing the Internet to gain information or for enjoyment follows an ongoing path of progression. In Rich's text, the pro-book folks are characterized as very anti-Web: "As teenagers' scores on standardized reading tests have declined or stagnated, some argue that the hours spend prowling the Internet are the enemy of reading - diminishing literacy, wrecking attention spans and destroying a precious common culture that exists only through the reading of books" (Rich, 2008, p. 1). The pro-Web folks are characterized as appreciating books: "Few who believe in the potential of the Web deny the value of books" (Rich, 2008, p. 1). I think Nadia, the Ohio teenager central to Rich's article, is representative of her generation's "common culture" as she checks her email, utilizes social networking, music video and role-playing sites, and sites whereby she reads and comments on stories written by others and submits her own stories. In this question of literacy, Nadia is not only reading and writing, she is analyzing the stories she reads and communicating that analysis via her online posts/comments. She is an example of digital literacy in action; she is making meaning from what she reads. She also reads books. I think all mediums of commonly used texts need to be utilized in Education. The New York State Department of Education defines Literacy as consisting of the skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. For example, I think students need to be comfortable and competent in reading a newspaper whether they are physically holding the newsprint in their hands or scrolling down a webpage. The point of literacy is communication - one needs to be able to comprehend what he or she is reading, and one needs to be able to communicate clearly via writing and speaking. In the case of special needs students such as Hunter, who is dyslexic, he is proof that the Internet is a useful literacy tool. He had been diagnosed as dyslexic in second grade. In seventh grade he took part "in a study comparing performance on traditional state reading tests with a specifically designed Internet reading test" (Rich, 2008, p. 4). Hunter spent 12 weeks learning how to use the Web before taking the Internet test. On the Internet test, Hunter scored in the top quartile, whereas on the traditional reading test he scored in the lowest 10 percent. I think this is huge. If the idea of Education is to educate, here is an example of where the new tool fits the need. Use it. Julie DeBold

The Educated Blogger: Using Weblogs to Promote Literacy in the Classroom & Digital Culture and Education

"The distinctive contribution of the approach to literacy as social practice lies in the ways in which it involves careful and sensitive attention to what people do with texts, how they make sense of them to further their own purposes in their own learning lives" (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9). Both of the above noted texts are thoughtful and offer insights as to how weblogs and digital learning are useful tools to enhance learning and literacy. The idea that blogs and the digital forum are community oriented is a pretty nifty thing. While a blog can be a journal much like a hand-written reader response journal is utilized, a blog is out there for interaction whereas a hand-written journal is more solitary, most likely only shared with one's teacher and select classmates. With a blog, collaboration and group learning take on an entirely new dynamic and scope. For myself, past ESC classes with discussion forums utilizing posts have been very enjoyable and provided enrichment via the dialogue synchronized with the readings/tasks. New Media & New Literacies is providing my first venture into blogging. Though the activity is somewhat similar, the blog forum requires more ability to navigate. I'm working on it; it is new and therefore, I have had some misfires and frustration, but when it works, it is a thrill! Julie

Julie's Inaugural Blog & Post

Hello Everyone,

My name is Julie DeBold and I am a transfer student from the ESC MAT program. My digital media knowledge is very limited, so getting this far has been quite the feat!

Two points where I have stumbled:
1. I am not finding the Blog Rubric located in Module One for this assignment;
2. I am not finding an "enrolment key" with which to access the Digital Skills Workshop.

If anyone can assist me with either or both items, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you!