Activism and Democracy
Rebecca MacKinnon is moderating. Brian Reich on Kos, promotes candidates by so far he is 0-14. So either he has a great impact, or he knows nothing about politics (which is what Brian says he thinks). But there are lots and lots of people reading Kos and getting one perspective. And he says "there are lots and lots of political discussions that don’t rise to the level of cable news that are being discussed onthe web."
Seth Green: What we’re trying to do is create global education, that there is a small community right now that is involved and goes to blogs. But there is not a discussion large in this country about our role in the world.
What Seth is doing is, then, is trying to jumpstart this discussion by creating forums on this topic, and then bringing it to the web. He says it is a good model to use with youth, that college students respond to this.
Marcus Xiang, a Chinese businessman, has a community of 1 million mobile phone users in China. They share on their phones their experiences, but its less about politics and more about therapy. He says he read a report from AOL that 50 percent of blogs were used as therapy. he says it’s true because it is like his community.
Rebecca to Nicholas Kristof of the NYT: What do you think about people channeling their feelings about what you write into some kind of policy area?
Nicholas: Blogging has brought some kind of accountability into scrutinizing the Times and CBS News. But it has not been good at scrutinizing its own house. For example, the altered photo of John Kerry with Jane Fonda, or rumors about Kerry and girlfriends, that those had real impact. A dirty drickster would reassess how to weigh into a campaign in the future.
Brian: I don’t want to defend bloggers for the same reasons, but do you think tricksters will do it because it’s wide open?
Nicholas: If you come up with some vaguely plausible that’s difficult to disprove, it will fly around in email and people want to believe it and they will never see the denials.
Rebecca: How do you span what is called the digital divide? That come a lot this morning. But right the conversations are going on between elites. What are the implications of that? I’d liek to bring in Andy Carvin of the Digital Divide network. What do you think about this? how do you make sure that those communities are empowered?
Andy: It’s fallen out of the American discourse. Two-third of American public has internet access. Powers that be assume everyoone they need ot reach has access. It’s creating a revolution for those of us who are plugged on, but the other groups are even more marginalized than ever. These groups are lacking basic media skills and literacy skills.
Seth: I don’t think it’s a digital divide. I think of my Aunt Marilyn and I’m kind of the global person in the family. She gets her news from the TV. I’ll bring her over to the computer and try to do with her, bring her to these global websites. But she says, Seth, that’s your domain.
Brian in response to a question to Move On, says it is an unsuccessful model for everything, except fundraising. We glorify these things that get the numbers, but they didn’t do anything that actually met the goals they set out to achieve.
