Essay

Q. What are the uses/limits of the internet in terms of politics and/or democracy? Should we rethink the nature of the political? What happens to the nation/state in the age of networks that have the potential to span the whole planet? What has happened to the idea of "community" in the age of networked digital media? Discuss with an example.

Politics has been greatly influenced by the internet with the emergence of political forums, blogging sites and various other political based online communities. Access to these sites has extremely enhanced democracy in the political field as it offers people to have a say and voice their opinions in a domain where they can give and receive feedback. One concern that has occurred due to this is the fact that it may change the way society views democracy and politics in general. There is however the concern that people may be persuaded into different views due to the influence of others on such sites. Stockwell (2008) suggests that the threat of new media toward the grass-roots of democracy is growing. He also suggests that the growing global society may lead us to lose touch of the niche issues and focus purely on the universal. This could occur as people will be influenced by global issues and become less focused on issues within our nation that need attention.



With references to various political websites, networks and thorough research into in internet, this essay will discuss the following topics. The uses and limits of the internet, the effects on the nation or individual states in an era of global networks, the idea of a digital media community and whether society should rethink the nature of politics.



Online communication has been defined by Michiel Backus (2001) by a term called “E-Governance” which is the use of all online communication, apposed to phone calls, letters or face to face contact. E-Governance has emerged with the growth of online political sites which gives options to sign things such as e-petitions and comment in political message boards. There are many examples of E-Governance including YouTube videos from premiers and politicians. Every political speech made can be found on YouTube and this gives people all over the world the ability to hear political speeches in various countries. Anna Bligh has even taken online communication one step further and announced an election via YouTube in March 2009 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzjnJ5wRYJk). This form of communication has become popular for politicians as it gets messages out, quick and fast to their target groups. The way society views such videos has however led to the question of whether society needs to rethink the nature of the political. The political sector on the internet is growing and using the internet is becoming more common to provoke political actions.



Bikson and Pannis (1996) have stated that people whom use digital media communications are generally more informed on political, organisational and professional concerns than those who don’t. This obviously therefore enhances democracy in politics and the internet is educating people and encouraging them to raise political issues with their local, state and national governments. Digital media is largely responsible for many peoples interest in politics, as the information id far easier to obtain than it has been previously. This not only helps to build a much more well informed society in political issues but also promotes peoples ability to understand the importance of democracy. This is achieved as online users of digital media become involved in e-petitions and various other political activities that enforce democracy within our nation.


As mentioned earlier, the large amount of political networks available to people may begin to alter their political views and opinions. This could inturn change the way people vote. There are many sites which promote online voting, one example is http://www.e-voting.cc/ which encourages users of the site to post their opinions and comment on others. It also gives users the ability to see different views from others and helps them to understand their reasoning for their opinions. Arge (2002) said that “voting is a central ritual of democracy, as well as a process of information capture and aggregation, so it seems natural to use digital networks to facilitate the voting process”. People changing their political views are most likely due to communities that they join online. Online communities generally consist of people with similar interests. Thomas Bender (1982) said that “a community involves a limited number of people in a somewhat restricted social space or network held together by shared understandings and a sense of obligation. Relationships are close, often intimate. Individuals are bound together by affective or emotional ties rather than by a perception of individual self-interest. There is a “we-ness” in a community; one is a member”.


The idea of “community” has changed as there are many more networks available with few restrictions on the content within them. A great example of an online community is “Cool Vegan”. (http://www.coolvegan.com/comm.html).This site consists of a message board, links to other similar sites, recipes and encourages communication between other vegans around the world. The message board displays political views of individuals and this is a prime example of being persuaded into political views whilst participating in an online community. This site in particular pushes for environmental issues to be raised to our governments and aims to get others on board through by providing links of detailed information on their environmental concerns.


There are also many other ways people can communicate such as online chat rooms, Skype and MSN (http://windowslive.ninemsn.com.au/messenger.aspx). Political issues can be raised in all communicating technology and this is an example of how the internet has led to a better educated society regarding political issues. Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/) and MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/) are two other social networks which enable companies, politicians and individuals to promote their ideas or products to people all over the world. Many nations also use these sites to promote tourism and relay messages to users of these sites.



In relation to these social networks, digital media has in fact changed the way communities are viewed. The Australian Communications and Media Authority states that “Developments in digital technology have had significant effects on the way individuals interact with communications and media services. An increasingly wide range of sources of information, ways of doing business, services (including government services) and entertainment are now commonly made available and accessed online and/or through digital media”. Online communities have a much different way of operating due to new media and they are growing continuously. In this sense the uses of the internet have risen substantially and it is no longer purely used for work, it is now widely used for networking, researching and communicating (ACMA, 2009).



With all this open communication demonstrating the way the internet can be used, there are however limitations on the internet that affect the nation. A prime example of limitations on the internet is a newly introduced concept of “clean feed”. Clean feed is a plan from the Australian Federal Government that will censor the internet to all Australians. The problem that arises with these limitations is that both illegal and legal material will be censored which not only hinders our rights to knowledge but also highly contradicts Australia’s freedom of speech policy. Filtering will be mandatory in all homes, even when no children are present. This means that as a society we will be limited on the information we can gain on numerous legitimate topics (A,Harrison, 2009). Global networks have the ability to span the whole planet and limitations on accessing information will change the nation as a whole. There are many issues with such limitations as the nation will be segregated from the rest of the western world. The United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art of through any other media of his choice" http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cpr.html#%2019.2.



If clean feed is brought into Australia, the nation will suffer immensely. Many online websites have enhanced democracy and made political issues much more accessible to a large number of people. A great example of an online political site aimed at educating youth on such issues is Free Child, http://www.freechild.org/politics.htm . This website gives in depth classifications of the different voting categories, lists many organisations that encourage youth voting and posts many issues online hoping to get youth interested in the world around them. If clean feed were approved, sites such as these would most likely be blocked and youth would be highly disadvantaged regarding access to political issues. This would take away our rights and utterly diminish democracy in this country. It has taken many political networks years of networking to reach the users they currently have. Government censorship will be devastating to online political groups and it could potentially lead to a generation of ignorant youths. There are also a vast amount of people whom join political networks to keep abreast of current affairs as they may live in much more restricted parts of the world, where information is not so easy to find. These sites are a life line to them and if censorship was granted in Australia many neighbouring countries could follow its lead, which would truly be total democratic disaster.


The internet has opened many doors to political debate and opinions. It has expanded interest among society and made political issues much easier to attain and understand. Communicating through digital media has become vital to the establishment of many private companies, government agencies, international trading and human interaction. The uses of the internet regarding politics have broadened with political networks. The nation has therefore changed dramatically due to democracy being strengthened with the added interest in politics among online users. The idea of a community has ultimately changed with the arrival of so many political networks available. The limitations of suggested internet censorship could however have large negative implications on digital media and the freedom we currently have to access any information we wish. Limited access to the internet will weaken democracy both online and more importantly in society in general. Online communication has improved democracy and society would suffer with such strict limitations on our ability to access community networks via digital media. The Internet has the potential to achieve greater imminence in society as online communication connects people of all types. The internet provides an area where we are free to discuss any issues we wish without limitations or restrictions. If limitations were put in place, the internet as a whole would be greatly affected and digital media would no longer be an affective way to promote political issues, or continue to comprise communication in any way. Digital media has become a very important part of society and the ramifications of losing such strong communication would be devastating to the ideals of democracy.



References
ACMA, 2009, Viewed 10 December 2009, http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_311470
Annablighandlabor, 2009, A clear choice on 21 March, Online video, accessed 10 December,2009,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woChI2ft92M&feature=player_embedded
Arge, P E. 2002, ‘Real Time Politics: The Internet and the Political Process’, The Information Society. Vol 11. pp311-331.
Backus, M. 2001, ‘E-Governance in Developing Countries – Research Report’, The Hague: The International Institute for Communication and development (IICD)
Cool Vegan 2001, Viewed December 10 2009
http://www.coolvegan.com/comm.html
Facebook!, 2009, Facebook, viewed 09 December 2009,
http://www.facebook.com/
· E-voting.cc (last updated 2009), Austria, accessed via http://www.e-voting.cc/topics/News/
MySpace, 2009, MySpace, viewed 08 December 2009,
http://www.myspace.com/
Ninemsn, 1997, Viewed on 10 December 2009,
http://windowslive.ninemsn.com.au/messenger.aspx
No Clean Feed, 2009, Viewed 09 December 2009, http://nocleanfeed.com/
Stockwell, S 2008, ‘We’re All Hackers Now – Doing Global Democracy’, AUC-Griffith University, Create World.
The Free Child Project, 2008, Viewed 10 December 2009,
http://www.freechild.org/politics.htm
· Thomas Bender, Community and Social Change in America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982 accesses via http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/IPPP/fall1999/internet_community.htmUnited Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Viewed 09 December 2009, http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cpr.html#%2019.2