Full Circle Associates

Live right now on the public Well Vue conference, Jon Lebkowsky and Mitch Ratcliff are being interviewed about the book they recently edited, Extreme Democracy. You can check it out at inkwell.vue, Topic 248. Jon is a great online and F2F friend and I admire his work and tenacity. I finally met Mitch just this year, even though we live in the same neck of the woods! I'm glad their book is now out and available at Lulu.

Here is a snippet from the conversation, which YOU can join! Jon noted these three issues:

Freedom to connect: net-based democratic technologies depend on open and accessible networks. Corporations and/or governments that operate networks might restrict access and use, constraining speech and stifling innovation.

Digital divide: when civic engagement and participation in the political process require access to technology, those without access are potentially excluded. We're talking about people who don't want to
fiddle with a dang computer, can't buy one, can't get an Internet connection, etc.

Echo chamber: if we're just forming cliques where we talk to folks we agree with and ignore other ways of thinking, we're missing the debate that's an important element of democracy (IMO). Some are trying to address this problem, e.g. Let's Talk America
(http://www.letstalkamerica.org/).

The first one, freedom to connect, is particularly on my mind these days with media ownership. I think the third, echo chamber, is a bit more complex that it might look like at first blush. The internet has opened many possible connections, but I believe it has destroyed some as well, particularly from a cultural perspective. So while I do NOT advocate groupthink, I think there is a place for "a space of our own."