16 April 2010

Edge: THE REALITY CLUB: "DIGITAL POWER AND ITS DISCONTENTS"

Edge: THE REALITY CLUB: "DIGITAL POWER AND ITS DISCONTENTS":
"It seems apparent, alas, that Facebook, Twitter, etc. have not improved American democracy, and yet we expect these tools to promote democracy elsewhere.

The basic problem is that web 2.0 tools are not supportive of democracy by design. They are tools designed to gather spy-agency-like data in a seductive way, first and foremost, but as a side effect they tend to provide software support for mob-like phenomena. There are some nice mob effects, but the intensity of the failures is more profound than the delights of the successes."