Product Description

Digital technology is changing our politics. The World Wide Web is already a powerful influence on the public's access to government documents, the tactics and content of political campaigns, the behavior of voters, the efforts of activists to circulate their messages, and the ways in which topics enter the public discourse. The essays collected here capture the richness of current discourse about democracy and cyberspace. Some contributors offer front-line perspectives on the impact of emerging technologies on politics, journalism, and civic experience. What happens, for example, when we increase access to information or expand the arena of free speech? Other contributors place our shifting understanding of citizenship in historical context, suggesting that notions of cyber-democracy and online community must grow out of older models of civic life. Still others consider the global flow of information and test our American conceptions of cyber-democracy against developments in other parts of the world. How, for example, do new media operate in Castro's Cuba, in post-apartheid South Africa, and in the context of multicultural debates on the Pacific Rim? For some contributors, the new technologies endanger our political culture; for others, they promise civic renewal.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #577308 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 397 pages

About the Author
Henry Jenkins is Provost's Professor of Communication, Journalism and Cinematic Arts at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California. He is the coeditor of From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games (MIT Press, 1998).

David Thorburn is Professor of Literature and Director of the Communications Forum at MIT.

Customer Reviews

Solid book on democracy and new media from a humanist tradition
This is a solid book on democracy and new media written from a humanist tradition. If you are look for empirical work on the subject, look elsewhere. The book is a compilation of articles comprising the top scholars in the field. The authors philosophize about the relationship between democracy and new media from a variety of perspectives: The first section of the book explores whether cyberspace is democratic or not and seems to suggest that democracy on the Internet may not come with a capital D. Some of my favorite chapters in this section were Philip Agre's "Growing a Democratic Culture," Amitai Etzioni's "Are Virtual and Democratic Communities Feasible," and Nolan Bowier's retrospective view from 2008, which was published in 2004. Some of the projections in these chapters have been proven quite accurate over time. The second section is of special interest for it explores global developments on new media and democracy. I say "of special interest" because even today there is scant theory on the subject, so the consideration of this subject was useful. I particularly liked the chapter on Cuba by Cristina Venegas, who is becoming quite prolific on the subject. The final section explored the relationship between news and information in the digital age. Not surprisingly, the predictions are somewhat bleak for the media establishment: The role of the expert is being eroded by the grassroots journalist.