phd Isaac Newton/Wk4-2

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Clay Shirky: Transforming government through the internet

As we look at various scholars and journalists who investigate the effects of social media and other digital technologies, you’ll notice that some folks are more worried about the negative influence on human interaction while others focus on the possibilities for progress of various kinds, including enhancing democracy.

Clay Shirky is one of the observers who lands squarely in the latter category.  While not ignoring the potential for misuse, his study of history leads him to believe that the societal changes that occur when new media are introduced are initially chaotic because there are more ideas out there for people to disagree with – and this is not a bad thing.  In fact, he describes the study of social media – what we’re doing in this course – as “watching people argue.”  He’s interested in the development of technological tools that facilitate “better” arguments.

What does he mean by this?  What else struck you in his talk, and what connections do you see with what you’re reading in Kovarik’s book? 

(Like many TED talks, this one has a lot of information and ideas packed into a short presentation, so it merits either a second watch or a review of the transcript.)

http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_the_internet_will_one_day_transform_government

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