Net Neutrality and Censorship: Will the Telecommunications Industry Become the Nations Censors?
The issue of network (net) neutrality is a confusing and complex topic that involves technology, law, economy, and ideology. While much of the content and use of the Internet has evolved dramatically over the past 40 to 50 years, the fundamental workings of it have not. Based upon the TCP/IP suite of network communications protocols, the architecture of the Internet, while being greatly expanded, has actually changed very little. Read the rest of this entry »
For a long time I have been of the opinion that there is a global ethic that underlies all of humanity. I am a staunch supporter of the idea that morality is a biological and evolutionary construct rather than a religious one. As such, I feel that what Prime Minister Brown speaks of is a very real and actionable cause. He is absolutely right in that the information age has pushed the global ethic to new levels of understanding and appreciation, and as scholars and practitioners of government, it is our responsibility, our ethic, to promote this ideal. Read the rest of this entry »
Sandra Braman
MIT Press
569 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0262513241
In Change of State: Information, Policy, and Power, Sandra Braman presents a wealth of information on perspectives of viewing, interpreting, and managing information policy. Her central thesis is that the United States is evolving from a bureaucratic welfare state into an information state and that this transformation is having negative impacts on citizen interests. Braman details the dynamics of this shift over 500 pages of legal, social, and political analysis all through the frame of information policy as an avenue of power in historical and modern terms. At its base, information is the precursor to power and Change of State makes it clear that information policy is truly the politics of modern power. Read the rest of this entry »
Each of the government web sites in this week’s actions are quite unique. Some seem to be very helpful while others just seem to leave me dazed and confused. The dissemination of government information is not an easy task and the role that these web sites play is rather important. However, as a web developer myself, I have come to take a rather critical view of web sites; especially those whose sole job is to distribute information (as opposed to being interactive). Read the rest of this entry »
Group 2 did our paper on how local government can increase civic participation in the community.
Getting citizens active in civic affairs has been a challenge for many years. Many Americans born into citizenship take the liberal approach to the definition of what it means to be a citizen. Namely, that citizenship is simply a bestowal of rights and liberties. However, the original republican definition of a citizen was self-government or participative governance. Republican citizenship was seen as duty based and forms the backbone for seeking greater civic participation in our communities. Our research looked into how technology can play a role in increasing this civic duty to participate in government and the community.
We began by looking at virtual town hall meetings. Virtual town hall meetings have a number of advantages over traditional meetings in physical space in that there are little facility/space, safety, and time constraints. “Meetings” can last for an indefinite amount of time allowing for greater participation from people who either can or could not attend a physical meeting (e.g. the disabled, elderly, families, etc).
Virtual town hall meetings also allow for a more egalitarian and collective approach to participation and problem solving. Architecture and code for these virtual meetings can be constructed such that each person can contribute their voice to the whole and the information gathered can be easily processed by council members for later consideration.
Another way to increase communication and participation is through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. The City of Chandler maintains and is active in both Facebook and Twitter. This has allowed them to engage the community of Chandler in decision making and information distribution. Informal communication is something that was generally not seen very often between government and citizens but as the City of Chandler reports (through personal interviews with one of our group members), social networking sites has permitted this type of highly effective and social capital bridging method of communication.
Finally, e-voting system are another way that technology is engaging citizens. Much recent speculation and research has suggested that the digital revolution and our networked world has the potential to usher in a new ear of e-democracy and even a potential return to direct democracy. While e-voting systems make the job of managing vote counts easier, they also bring the potential for completely online voting systems in the future. Withdrawal from the physical requirements of poll voting, like virtual town halls, allow for a greater number of people to become active civic participants despite our increasingly busy lives. The advent of Internet based e-democracy and possible direct democracy are world changing possibilities and the our position as academics in this evolution of human government is exciting indeed.
Technology has the potential for great good and great evil. But implemented inline with fundamental ideals like the regulation influences outlined by Lessig and backed by normative and scholarly debate by individuals like ourselves, it is exciting to think about the potential that Internet technologies can bring to a new page in greater civic participation.
The article I have chosen to briefly talk about this week is regarding the privacy of Google’s Book search. There article is here; it’s short but the issue has been in the news for a few months now and certainly touches on the personal, professional, and private spaces of everyone who will use it (and by my judgment, I would say that a good many people would). The issue at hand is regarding a project by Google to catalog and make searchable/readable as may books as possible online. This includes out-of-print books from hundreds of years past as well as modern best-sellers. Read the rest of this entry »
There were no deliverables for this week so I thought I would post something just in case. Comments have been posted on Slashdot. For some reason, there’s just something about Slashdot that I don’t like. I’m a much bigger fan of Reddit.com. Their stories include everything from tech and politics to WTF and NSFW! It’s kind of like Digg but without so much Digg “whoring” and childish antics. The user base is also much more tech/scientific with a lot of scientists and very intelligent computer folks. There is a very particular comedic mentality that is apparent in some comment threads but you will also find incredibly insightful and intelligent responses as well. It almost feels like a big little community!
I am actually already a member of meetup.com and am in the Phoenix Atheists group. I have been to one of their get togethers and it was pretty interesting. I also participate in their discussion board there.
I also already tried out SecondLife probably a year ago (though I did login for a bit for this assignment). Participation in this world is done through a number of visual controls for your avatar. You can communicate with others through either “speaking”, gestures, joining groups, or participating in activities (ohh, and of course you can FLY!). I think the thing that influences your experience most in a medium like SecondLife is the creative expression of your avatar. This world allows you to basically recreate yourself into whatever form you think you should or would want to be. I think it says a lot about the mind of the individual behind the character. Seeing people dressed as punk rockers wearing fishnets and spiked hair sitting right alongside a prototypical nerd with a plaid shirt and pocket protector is something that would probably only happen in a place like SecondLife.
This was an interesting Ted talk and a great idea but I think that it was a bit idealistic and grandiose in its premise. I’m not sure that the idea of charter cities simply arising in areas where there is currently nothing and having them be perfectly run with perfect rules and living conditions is realistic. From the perspective of Lessig’s four aspects of regulation, I can certainly see them playing an important role with Mr. Romer’s strict adherence to good rules. But in order for Lessig’s ideas to even take root, the city would have to be technologically adept and capable of an information technology architecture. It could take decades for the proper facilities to be built and not to mention the cultural issues that would plague a largely western ideology being imposed, even if by choice, on a disparate culture.
In relation to my own interests as a PA student, I like the idea but I think it’s one of those theories that will probably remain just that, a theory. Much like socialism and capitalism, both work great as theories, but in practice 100% of either one will (and has) fail miserably. My interests in PA are generally confined to social justice and democracy within the realm of technology; leaving it squarely in established societies and governments. While I would love to participate in laying the groundwork of my interests in a new type of charter city, my frame of reference is still of the western democratic influence and thus I am not yet sure how successful my ideas would be in this new type of venture.
In this article, Carl Malamud, has decided to take on the state of California and challenge the state’s assertion that all of its regulation and laws are copyright and thus subject to constraints on distribution and access. His claim is that public laws cannot be copyright and that by making access to regulations and laws open and easier to retrieve, it spurs innovation and new means of access and search capabilities. Read the rest of this entry »
I found the Malone chapters to be an interesting taken on the evolution of our civilization. It certainly does make sense and given that I have not studied this topic in any great detail, I cannot immediately think of any arguments against the lowered transaction cost of communication being at least partly responsible for the rise of our present civilization.
The ability to effectively (and dynamically) communicate is one of the fundamental human attributes that has allowed us to achieve dominance over this world and nearly everything in it. However, I suppose the next question would be, “what happens from here?” World-wide communication and access to nearly the entire history of human knowledge is at our fingertips for immediate access. What does this power mean to an individual? What does it mean to an organization? Does it simply change how we live our lives or might it also change why we live them? Read the rest of this entry »
