Well put, but can we have a "constitution" for the internet doing away with the chaos of an "articles of confederation" so that we can do both, have freedom and some sense of direction to the whole? Maybe through checks and balances of some sort?
Ray Evans Harrell ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 11:41 AM Subject: [Futurework] blogs and elections > > 10. The New Road to the White House > When they write the account of the 2004 campaign, it will include at least > one word that has never appeared in any presidential history: blog. Whether > or not it elects the next president, the blog may be the first innovation > from the Internet to make a real difference in election politics. But to see > just why requires a bit of careful attention. Politics has always been about > engaging people to act. It is still that today. But for the past 50 years, > the most efficient tool for engaging people to action (however lethargic) > has been broadcast media. The key to victory has been mainlining a message > through as many outlets of media as possible. Broadcasting is the drug; the > bigger pusher usually wins. Yet over time, we grow immune. Surrounded by > images pushing every passion imaginable, the only sane response is to > develop increasingly thick walls to block them out. One result: Broadcast > has become increasingly weak. Still, candidates compete using the tools of > broadcasters, since victory is always just relative. But the weakened power > of broadcast politics creates a strong incentive to develop an alternative. > John Hersey Enter the blog, a space where people gab. As implemented by most > campaigns, it is a place where candidates gab down to the people. But when > done right, as the Howard Dean campaign apparently is doing, the blog is a > tool for building community. The trick is to turn the audience into the > speaker. A well-structured blog inspires both reading and writing. And by > getting the audience to type, candidates get the audience committed. > Engagement replaces reception, which in turn leads to real space action. The > life of the Dean campaign on the Internet is not really life on the > Internet. It's the activity in real space that the Internet inspires. None > of this works unless the blog community is authentic. And that requires that > members feel they own their gabbing space. A managed community works about > as well as a managed economy. So the challenge is to find a way to build > community without the community feeling built. (Source: > <http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.11/view.html?pg=5?tw=wn_tophead_4> ) > > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
