My World

Given that we are in an election year, doing a presentation about online politics was very appropriate. Over the last several weeks I have looked more closely at this topic, and the power of internet keeps blowing me away. The discussion aspect of this assignment greatly contributed to this, as it offered other viewpoints I hadn’t thought of before. Everyone participated in the discussion, even though it took a little while to get things started. I thought this was a great way for people who are otherwise quiet in class to be encouraged to speak up, and voice their opinions.

I guess in a way what we did on Wednesday in class was a form of online politics; presenting a group of people facts and opinions about matters through a presentation that was posted online, discussing these issues, and participating in our democracy.

The article related to this week’s topic of online politics is that of Thierry Vedel about the idea of e-democracy. In this article, Vedel presents the different ages in which a digital democracy exist, from the 1950’s to today. The current age brought about a new age of politics and civic engagement, and made the internet more than an additional tool providing new solutions to the problems in a democracy. It created a new way of being together, without any boundaries. He presents three dimensions of an electronic democracy; information, discussion, and decision. Finally, he presents four assumptions on which the idea of an electronic democracy generally is based, challenging each of them for a variety of reasons, triggering these questions:

• What sort of information do we need to be truly informed, and able to make rational decisions?
• How would NOT having intermediary bodies make a democracy better (or worse)? 

http://www.slideshare.net/ymslot/dl-ppt-electronic-democracy

References

Thierry Vedel (2006). The Idea of Electronic Democracy: Origins, Visions and Questions. Parliamentary Affairs: UK Politics and The Internet – The First Decade, 59(2), 226-235.  Retrieved February 18, 2008, from ProQuest database. (Document ID: 1072719461).