1. Digital Democracy: Political Systems Kathy E. Gill 23 June 2012

2. Warm Up! How A Bill Becomes Law More Schoolhouse Rock

3. Lecture/Discussion Some Framing Statistics Digital Democracy Technologies/Terms Politics (or government) as “business” Message Customization Policy Issues Summary

4. Then And Now: Web Site Growth Source: isc.org/solutions/survey

5. Then And Now: Who’s Online, 1995 28.8 million people in the U.S. who are 16 years and older had access to the Internet 16.4 million used the Internet 11.5 million used the Web 1.51 million had used the Web to buy something. Source: ACMACM

6. Then And Now: Who’s Online, 2001 Source: Vint Cerf, 20 May 2002

7. Then And Now: Who’s Online, 2011

12. Then and Now: Summary 1995: 16.4M USA 2001 : 181M North Americans; ~700M globally 2011 : 273M North Americans; 2.3B globally 2012 : shift from fixed to mobile access

17. Why These Data Are Relevant: “The fragmentation of culture and the recurrent circularity of the hypertext leads to the individualization of cultural meaning in the communication networks. The … decentring of power, and the individualization of experience, are reflected, amplified, and codified by the fragmentation of meaning in the broken mirror of the electronic hypertext—where the only shared meaning is the meaning of sharing the network…” Manuel Castells as quoted in A new agenda for e-democracy, Oxford Internet Institute, Forum Discussion Paper No. 4, January 2005

18. Digital Democracy “Digital democracy is a kind of political culture, a political variant that must be treated as a complexly coded system for organizing and acting on public and private preferences.” – Howard, p 71

19. “Coded System” Social code Software code Legal code

20. Another Take: Democracy is defined by Webster’s as ‘a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation.’ Electronic democracy is simply the use of technology tools to facilitate democratic activities. Source: A new agenda for e-democracy, Oxford Internet Institute, Forum Discussion Paper No. 4, January 2005

21. Electronic Democracy “E-democracy (…) covers those arrangements by which electronic communications are used by those with power and the citizens they serve to interact with each other in order to inform and modify the way that power is used. e-Democracy is NOT about paying speeding fines over the Internet (that is e- government); it IS about consulting on whether the speed limit on a particular stretch of road should be raised, lowered or left as it is. It may, one day, be used as a way of empowering citizens in the process of making major national decisions.” Source: A new agenda for e-democracy, Oxford Internet Institute, Forum Discussion Paper No. 4, January 2005

22. Why These Issues Are Important “The new art or science which the electronic or post-mechanical age has to invent concerns the alchemy of social change…When information moves instantly to all parts of the globe it is chemically explosive.” - Marshall McLuhan

23. “Burningly Explosive” International Burn A Koran Day “Ground Zero Mosque” Links: – Twitter and the IBAKD Twitter and the IBAKD – Burning the Qur’an: Literally and Figuratively Burning the Qur’an: Literally and Figuratively – NYT Profile of Pamela Geller, who ignited the GZM controversy NYT Profile of Pamela Geller, who ignited the GZM controversy Where is the public sphere in this context?

24. Technologies/Terms Relational Database Data Mining Hypermedia Viral Gatekeeper Technological Determinism

25. Politics As A “Business” Discuss: What comes to mind when you hear this phrase? What judgments are you making?

26. Customization, Privacy Discuss: When and under what conditions should a commercial, private or governmental organization be allowed to gather electronic information about an individual? How can they use that information? What digital rights should reside with the individual? Let’s look at McCain and Obama 2008

27. McCain: Splash = Video

28. Obama: Spash = $

29. McCain: One-Step Sign Up

30. Obama: Two-Step Sign Up

31. McCain: Post-Sign Up

32. Obama: Post-Sign Up

33. Obama: Now See Dashboard

34. McCain: Not Logged In

35. McCain: Logged In

36. Obama: First Page, Not Logged In

37. Obama: First Page (Initial Account)

38. Policy Issues Lots of issues: – Net Neutrality – Privacy/Security/Digital Signatures – Cryptography – Trademarks, Copyright, Domain Names – Regulatory Framework – Censorship/Filtering See InterPlanetary Internet, Internet Society InterPlanetary InternetInternet Society

39. Summary “Digital Democracy” is an evolving concept – elaborate to make sure you’re being understood Technology matters. So does law. Disruptive technologies lead to pushback from the powerful. Don’t Be Evil should be our motto and the rubric we use to measure others’ efforts.