Computers, Information Technology, the Internet, Ethics, Society and Human Values Philip Pecorino, Ph.D. Queensborough Community College, CUNY Chapter 12 Political Change |
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Impact of Internet and Communication Networks and Technologies on Concepts of and forms of Democratic Government and Rule
The following are the evident results of the project:
Abstract
BOOKS A. Trechsel, F. M. (2004). European Union and E-Voting. Taylor and Francis, Inc. Barber, Benjamin. Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984 Cammaerts, B. (2009). Internet- Mediated Participation Beyond the Nation State. Manchester University Press. Cammaerts, Bart and Carpentier, Nico. Reclaiming the Media: Communication Rights and Democratic Media Roles, Chicago, IL : Intellect Books, 2007 Coleman, Stephan and Blumler, Jay. The Internet and Democratic Citizenship: Theory, Practice and Policy, New York : Cambridge University Press, 2009 David M. Anderson, M. C. (2002). The Civic Web: Online Politics and Democractic Values. Rowman and Littlefield. Davis, Richard (1999). The Web of Politics: The Internet’s Impact on the American Political System. New York: Oxford U. P. Deibert, Ronald; Palfrey, John G,; Rohozinski, Rafal; Zittrain, Jonathan; Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008. Ginsberg, Benjamin. The American Lie: Government by the People and Other Political Fables, Boulder : Paradigm Publishers, 2007. Gutmann, Amy and Thompson, Dennis. Democracy and Disagreement, Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press, 1996. Hindman, Matthew. The Myth of Digital Democracy, Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 2008. Hornrick, C. (1988) Development Communication: Information, Agriculture, and Nutrition in the Third World. New York: Longman. Howard, A. C. (2008). Internet Politics. Taylor and Francis, Inc. Kalathil, S. (2003). Open Networks, Closed Regimes: The Impact of the Internet on Authoritarian Rule. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mayer-Schonberger, Victor and Lazer, David. Governance and Information Technology: From Electronic Government to Information Government, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007. Noveck, Beth S., Wiki Government: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful, Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution Press, 2009 Prior, Markus. Post-Broadcast Democracy: How Media Choice Increases Inequality in Political Involvement and Polarizes Elections, New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007. Sunstein, Cass R. Republic.com 2.0 (Paperback), Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 2007. Wayne, S. J. (2002). Is This Any way to Run a Democratic Election?: Debating American Electoral Politics. Cengage Learning. Articles Conway, M. (1985). Political Participation in the United States, Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, Inc Moor, A. d. (2004, June 6). Growing Pains: A Place to discuss the meeting of theory and practice on evolving virtual communities. Virtual Political Communities. Williamson, A. (2000). Peer-Reviewed Journal on the Internet. The Impact of the Internet on the Politics of Cuba., Vol 5, No. 8.Open AccessArticlesBandyk, M. (2009, March 26). U.S. News & World Report. Obama: Marijuana legalization not good for the economy. http://www.usnews.com/money/blogs/risky-business/2009/3/26/obama-marijuana-legalization-not-good-for-the-economy Bollier, David (1996, October). NetAction.org. Reinventing Democratic Culture in an Age of Electronic Networks http://www.netaction.org/bollier/index.html Cupitt, C. (2001, August 10). Geocities.com. Changing communication technology: evolution or revolution? http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Hollow/2405/information.html Dumpala, Preethi (2009 July 4). The Business Insider The Year the Newspaper Died http://www.businessinsider.com/the-death-of-the-american-newspaper-2009-7
Flyzik, J. (2009, May 13). Federal Computer Week. Obama launches new era in government technology. http://www.fcw.com/Articles/2009/05/18/COMMENT-Flyzik-The-First-100-Days.aspx Fox, Jeff (2009, January 14). Blogs:Electronics. Obama advisor: Technology to open government, help economy. http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2009/01/obama-advisor-technology-to-open-government-help-economy.html Gaynor, D. (1996). Georgetown University. Democracy in the Age of Information: A Reconception of the Public Sphere; at:www.georgetown.edu/faculty/bassr/gaynor/intro.htm (accessed 24 November 2009). Gutstein, D. (2001). E.con: How the Internet Undermines Democracy. Canadian Journal of Communications , Vol 26, No 1. http://www.cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/viewArticle/1206/1156 Hansell, S. (2008, June 24). The New York Times. Using Technology to Bring Politics Out of the Darkness. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/using-technology-to-bring-politics-out-of-the-darkness/ Hom, Sharon; A. T. (2004, November 3). China Rights Forum. The Rise of the Internet and Advancing Human Rights, pp. 37-41. http://www.hrichina.org/public/PDFs/CRF.3.2004/The_Rise_of_the_Internet_and_Advancing_Human_Rights.pdf Iskold, A. (2007, May 30). Read Write Web. Iskold, A. (2007, May 30). Read Write Web. Evolution of communication: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/evolution_of_communication.php Jia, Cui (2009 July 23). China Daily. More laws needed for Internet regulation http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-07/23/content_8461140.htm Kumar A., Shear M. (2009, April 19). Washington Post. Obama picks technology and performance officers. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/18/AR2009041801980.html Maibach, M. C. (1997). The Internet: The Great Equalizer. Retrieved September 21, 2009, from Maibach Foundation: http://www.maibachfoundation.org/articles/CIPEarticle.htm Miller, C. C. (2008, November 7). The New York Times. How Obama's Internet Campaign Changed Politics. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-politics/ Marks A. (2008, November 13) The Christian Science Monitor. Under Obama, a newly interactive government? http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2008/11/13/under-obama-a-newly-interactive-government/ Moll, S. W. (1995). Commodification,Communication, and Culture: Democracy's Dead End on the Infobahn 1. Retrieved September 21, 2009, from Government Information in Canada: http://library2.usask.ca/gic/v1n3/moll.html Morozov, E. (2009, March). Texting Toward Utopia. Retrieved September 21, 2009, from Boston Review: http://bostonreview.net/br34.2/morozov.php Neumann, Lin A. (2001). Press Freedom Reports. The Great Firewall http://www.libertyparkusafd.org/lp/Hale/Special%20Reports/Communist%20China/The%20Great%20Firewall.pdf Newcombe, E. (2009, Jan 6).Government Technology. From Kennedy to Obama: Inaugural Technology. http://www.govtech.com/gt/595234 Nie, Norman H. and Hillygus, D. Sunshine (2002). IT & Society. Internet And Mass Media: A Preliminary Report. 1(2): 134-141. http://www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/itandsociety/v01i01/v01i01a01.pdf Nie, N., & Erbring, L. (2000). Internet and society: A preliminary report. http://www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/Press_Release/internetStudy.html Peel, C. (2008, July 30). Pambazuka News. An African Perspective: Is Cyber democracy possible? Issue 391. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/49780 Picard, A. (2009, March 5). RichardDawkins.net. The internet has changed the nature of scientific debate. http://richarddawkins.net/article,3645,The-Internet-has-changed-the-nature-of-scientific-debate,Globe-amp-Mail Rainie, Lee (2008, August 23). Pew Internet and American Life Project Changing News Audience Behavior http://www.pewinternet.org/Commentary/2008/August/Changing-news-audience-behavior.aspx Salla M. (2009, Feb 24). Examiner.com. Obama's Chief Technology Officer and the X-Files. http://www.examiner.com/x-2383-Honolulu-Exopolitics-Examiner~y2009m2d4-Obamas-Chief-Technology-Officer-and-the-XFiles Shah, Dhavan V., Cho, Jaeho; Eveland, William P.; Kwak, JR.,Nojin.(2005) Information and Expression in a Digital Age http://www.journalism.wisc.edu/~dshah/CR2005.pdf (p16-23) Smith, Aaron ; Schlozman, Kay L.; Verba, Sidney; Brady, Henry (Sep 2009) The Internet and Civic Engagement http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/15--The-Internet-and-Civic-Engagement.aspx Tian, Dextin; Chao Chin-Chung (2007). Global Media Journal. International Communication: Continuity and Change, Volume 6, Issue 11. http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/fa07/issuebookreview/gmj-fa07-bookrev-chao-tian.htm Thornton, Alinta. (2002) Does Internet Create Democracy? http://www.zipworld.com.au/~athornto/index.html Trippi, J. (2009, January 28). Do You Really Understand? Why the Internet has Changed Politics Forever http://blogs.msdn.com/augovtaffairs/archive/2009/01/28/do-you-really-understand-why-the-internet-has-changed-politics-forever.aspx Westen, Tracy (2001) “Electronic Democracy” (Ready or Not, Here It Comes) Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus http://www.netcaucus.org/books/egov2001/pdf/edemoc.pdf Weigand, M. (2009, August 10). Korea IT Times. The internet has changed us. http://www.koreaittimes.com/story/4407/internet-has-changed-us White, Amy E. P. K. (2006-2007). The Internet and College Students' Motivation to Vote. NASPA Journal of College and Character . Morris, D. (n.d.). Direct Democracy and the Internet. Retrieved December 2, 2009, from http://llr.lls.edu/volumes/v34-issue3/morris.pdf Zogby, J. (2009, July 30). Forbes.com. How the internet has changed polling. http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/29/global-economy-depression-interactive-polling-internet-media-opinions-columnists-john-zogby.html Zeledon, Max (2009, September 27) Why Social Media Should Welcome Location-Based Services http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2009/tc20090927_138649.htm
The Open Government Inititive http://www.whitehouse.gov/open Censorship of China internet access by the Chinese government http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hE0dCE8fs8
America's Civic Health Index 2006- National Council of Citizenship http://www.ncoc.net/index.php?tray=content&tid=top5&cid=278 Change.gov (2009, September 27). The Obama-Biden plan. http://change.gov/agenda/technology_agenda/ Elon University/ Pew Internet and American Life Project (2005, January 9). “Imagining the Internet”. Retrieved December 12, 2009, from The Experts Survey: http://www.elon.edu/predictions/q7.aspxHanselmann, Calvin (2001, April 21). “Electronically Enhanced Democracy in Canada” Canada West Foundation http://www.cwf.ca/V2/files/200101.pdf No.100, S. o. (2005, December). Internet and Democracy - Analysis of network-based communication from cultural aspects. Retrieved September 21, 2009, from Tab: http://www.tab.fzk.de/en/projekt/zusammenfassung/ab100.htm NPAction.org (2005). Online Voter Education and Participation Resources. Retrieved December 12, 2009, from http://www.npaction.org/article/articleview/143 Resigned. How computers/internet has changed our lives.5 Feb. 2009 http://maisestudio.com/rock/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=209&p=3745 Schaffer Library of Drug Policy (1935, March 22). Roosevelt asks narcotic war aid. http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/e1930/rooseveltasks.htm Schaffer Library of Drug Policy (1937, April 28). The marihuana act of 1937. http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/taxact/t10a.htm Schaffer Library of Drug Policy (1969, May 19). Leary v. United States. http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/e1960/learyvus.htm The Pew Reseach Center. (2008, January 11). Internet's Broader Role in Campaign 2008-Social Networking and Online Videos Take Off. http://people-press.org/report/384/internets-broader-role-in-campaign-2008 The Whitehouse.gov (2009, April 25). Technology. http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/technology/ Trophies of e-Democracy. (2009, May 1). Retrieved September 21, 2009, from eGovernance-Africa: http://ictd.undp.org/africagov/en/menu_info.php?table=eg_menu2 Toll Access
Bimber, B. (2001). Information and political engagement in America: The search for effects of information technology at the individual level. Political Research Quarterly, 54(1), 53-67 http://prq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/short/54/1/53 Bucy, E.P. and K.S. Gregson (2001). New Media and Society. Media Participation: A Legitimizing Mechanism of Mass Democracy, 3(3): 357–80. http://nms.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/3/3/357?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&author1=Bucy&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT Cohen, Jonathan, and Yariv Tsfati (2009). Communication Research. The Influence of Presumed Media Influence on Strategic Voting. 36.3: 359-378. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 28 Nov. 2009. http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/summary/47/1/1
Groshek, Jacob (2009, April) "The
Democratic Effects of the Internet, 1994-2003: A Cross-National Inquiry
of 152 Countries" Tolbert, Caroline J., Ramona S. McNeal, and Daniel A. Smith "Enhancing Civic Engagement: The Effect of Direct Democracy on Political Participation and Knowledge." State Politics & Policy Quarterly 3.1 (2003): 23. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24 Nov 2009. http://search.ebscohost.com/ Weare, Christopher (2002) "The Internet And Democracy: The Causal Links Between Technology and Politics." International Journal of Public Administration 25.5: 659. Business Source Complete. EBSCO. Web. 20 Nov. 2009. http://search.ebscohost.com/ Vargas, Jose Antonio (2008, January 11) For Young Voters In a Media Jungle, A Study Guide; Created by Students, VoteGopher.com Aims to Educate About the Issues The Washington Post,STYLE; Pg. C02 Zhang, LL. "Behind the ‘Great Firewall’" Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, Vol. 12, No. 3, 271-291 (2006) http://con.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/12/3/271 Other Sites of Interest
Kalathil, Shanthi and Boas, Taylor C. (2001, July). Media and Communications Policy. The Internet and State Control in Authoritarian Regimes China Cuba and Counterrevolution http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/vp01.cfm?outfit=ks&requesttimeout=500&folder=85&paper=164 Morozov, Evgeny (2009, June 20). Newsweek. Control Issues China's Internet Plan May Backfire. http://www.newsweek.com/id/202867 Qiu, Jack L. (2003, October 1). Annenberg Research Seminar on International Communication. The Internet in China: Data and Issues http://arnic.info/Papers/JQ_China_and_Internet.pdf Shasha, Deng (2009, June 22). China View. China to Amend State Secrets Law, Avoid Internet Leaks http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/22/content_11582526.htm Multimedia Resources Secret codes on China's internet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4JV0w5z9gcShaping China's choices http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbk4N0wSCZM The Chinese internet and civil society: Civic engagement, deliberation and culture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yA5vVvGUC8 Impact of the Internet and Social Networks on Political Affairs in Iran
Associated Press (2009, June 15). CBSNEWS. Twitter tells tale of Iran election amid media crackdown, young and liberal Iranians document voting, unrest http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/15/tech/main5090788.shtml Berman, Ari (2009, June 15) TheNation.com. Iran’s Twitter Revolution http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/443634/iran_s_twitter_revolution Boyle, Alan (2009 June 18) MSNBC: Cosmic Log. How Iran’s Internet Works http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/06/18/1970353.aspx Higginbotham, Stacey (2009, June 18). Gigaom. Iran’s Election as Seen Through the ISPs http://gigaom.com/2009/06/18/irans-election-as-seen-through-the-isps/Hafesi, Parisa (2009, MAY 27). Reuters. SMS, Internet Campaigns Prove Controversial in Iran Election http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE54Q2WS20090527 Iran OpenNet Initiative (2009, June 16) Iran http://opennet.net/research/profiles/iran Kaminsky, Ross(2009, June 18) HumanEvents.com. Iran’s Twitter Revolution http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=32350 Kmorris33 (2009, June 15). Purple People Vote. Following Iran Elections on Twitter – A Lesson in Freedom and Technology Lutz, Meris (2009, June 18).Los Angeles Times. Iran: Twitter under scrutiny as government continues media crackdown http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2009/06/iran-elections-protest-twitter-.html The Editors (2009, June 23) The York Times: Opinion. Behind the Protest, Social Upheaval In Iran http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/behind-the-protests-social-upheaval-in-iran/ Schectman, Joel (2009, June 17). Businessweek. Iran’s Twitter Revolution? Maybe Not Yet http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2009/tc20090617_803990.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_news+%2B+analysis Santana, Rebecca (2009, June 15) MSNBC: Technology + Science. Iran Election News in 140 Characters or Less http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31376704 The Huffington Post. (2009) Iran Election Twitter Feeds: Constant Updates http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/14/iran-election-twitter-fee_n_215330.html Rhoads, Christopher and Chao, Loretta (2009, June 22). Wall Street Journal: Tech. Iran’s Web Spying Aided by Western Technology http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124562668777335653.html
Kim Thompson's Personal Reflection From a personal perspective, the value of this project provided another good opportunity to work in a team setting. It was important to me to be able to play a role within a team and produce valued appreciated work. From a growth and career perspectives, my occupation calls for strong characteristics focused on team work and exhibiting leadership qualities. This project allowed me to function in various capacities as the team required. Each team member at some point was either a team player or a side line coach. The sharing of the leadership hat was encouraging and admirable. This is important and could easily be applied in a professional business setting. In the beginning of this project, I was not informed as to the degree in which the advancement of technology had on the political, and more specially, the voting process. However, after researching materials for this project, I was enlightened as to the various levels of impact and the future affect technology will have on the impact of internet and communication networks and technologies on concepts of and forms of democratic government and rule. In closing the most important learning that I took away from this project was again, it is critical to be able to make modifications to a plan as even the best plan is not 100% proof. This project allowed all team members to exhibit excellent crisis management skills, for a lack of a better term, which truly made me proud to be part of this team. Pete Gallagher's Reflection The project’s title drew my attention as it’s in keeping with my career in Telecommunications. I’ve been working in International Telecom for the past 9 years, and have delivered and managed services into some of the most remote areas of the world forging new relationships with partners and customers alike. Over the span of my career, I’ve always been focused on the technical aspect of the Internet and the supporting technologies. I’ve had some interaction with the political process in international locations, especially going through the proper government channels in the Middle East and China, but the social impact was never really on my mind globally and especially not locally. At the beginning of the research stage, I was categorically sure that the Hypotheses would absolutely be proven true. I was convinced in 2009 that the Internet had already changed people for the better regarding political activity. I suppose this was mostly due to the widespread media coverage, and was surprised that the internet’s saturation may not be as deep as I thought. It’s certainly making inroads into attracting new constituents but I think we may need to go through a few more political cycles to really see the impact. From a logistics standpoint, the project was a little challenging, but manageable. I’m used to coordinating projects with clear roles and responsibilities, but in these types of settings, leadership roles need to change and remain fluid, of which I think we did well. The research material was distributed well amongst the group and everyone seems to contribute nicely. Jasmine Cintron's Reflection This project was a real lesson in teamwork before anything else. The collaborative efforts of such varied individuals are a life lesson on how to deal with others in a work environment. We were required to contact and communicate with each other about a topic that was foreign to me. I am a business major learning about communications and cultures while also being educated on democratic processes and political science to some extent. The rigorous research and long hours reading gave me a deeper understanding of our migration to mass communications media and technologies, mainly the internet. I also learned how Democracy (with a capital D) has become available through technology to parts of the world that accept a computer in their country before they allow their citizens to vote. It was all relatively new to me being that I am finance oriented with a mind directed to logic and reasoning with numbers. I don’t make myself available to current events. I had not even known about Obama’s web initiatives until this course. Yes, all true! The learning that took a place of significance to me was that I too am one of the masses. I am one of those people that should make it a point to learn more about who I am voting for. As for my career, the Capstone was a project that provoked collaboration and joint efforts. I am someone who does it all on my own and sometimes I felt it was difficult to give insight and input when I was in the learning phase. However, I am at my best when I feel I have learned and absorbed it all. I feel that showed at the end when we wrapped up all the months of research into one report. This was an overall positive experience for me as I feel I learned every single time I worked on my Capstone project on my own or with the group. It enhanced me as a person. Dominick LaRocca's Reflection
I have a career in education and I am
pursuing a role as a teacher. This project was a major eye-opener to me
as I had assumed that most people are in my position. Going into
teaching I come from a poor family that struggles to get by. I would
consider myself to be the lucky one in my family and by looking up
statistics I have come to the realization that I make lower than the
national average. going by that logic I assumed that since my family was
able to struggle and afford a PC (a couple in my household) and some
sort of internet service, then easily the majority of Americans are also
able to afford at the very least 1 computer per household. Now this
would then expand to people of other countries (aside from third world
countries) especially when dealing with them in MMORPG's such as World
of Warcraft which to me is proof of this. Taking this class I have been proven wrong on more than one assumption. Despite the majority of this country (other countries aside) have a higher income than my household the personal computer is not quite the commodity as I once thought it was. There is still a large percentage who do not have access to the internet or just do not wish to, even despite growing numbers to the contrary. Now with this realization in mind, there is a large number of people who do not spend their time on the internet as I do, since everyone has different interest group combinations. Therefore I learned that the percentage of Americans who utilize the internet as a proper social medium is much lower than I expected for the variety of factors. How does this affect my job? Well as the report says I am one of the people on the frontline of motivators for people to vote and otherwise take a more active stand in our country's democratic process. |
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Web Surfer's Caveat: These are class notes, intended to comment on readings and amplify class discussion. They should be read as such. They are not intended for publication or general distribution. ppecorino@qcc.cuny.edu @copyright 2006 Philip A. Pecorino Last updated 8-2006 Return to Table of Contents |
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