Document (#32442)
- Editor
- Schuler, D. u. P. Day
- Title
- Shaping the network society : the new role of civil society in cyberspace
- Imprint
- Cambridge, MA : MIT Press
- Year
- 2004
- Pages
- 433 S
- Isbn
- 0-262-19497-X
- Footnote
- Rez. in: JASIST 57(2006) no.5, S.724-725 (P.K. Nayar): "The network society (Castells, 1996) calls for radically new definitions of the public sphere. and this is what Shaping the Network Society's essays set out to do. The first section lays out the essential issues at stake here: human rights, the sociology of cyberspace. and globalization. Oliver BoydBarrett characterizes cyberspace as exclusive. Pointing to the almost total corporate control of the technologies of cyberspace. Boyd-Barrett argues that any attempt of huge corporate bodies to get into grassroots democracy should be viewed with suspicion. The institution of a public sphere. argues Boyd-Barrett, must begin with an assessment of how far the Internet at fords a space of contestation of elitist governing frameworks. Gary Chapman looks at Italy's slow food movement as a counter to the technoglobalist trends, and suggests that the globaltechnological imperative must not be allowed to occlude human values. Rather we need a social imperative here. one which thinks about technology as "malleable, as capable of serving human-determined ends" (p. 64). Cees Hamelink discusses how four rights-right to speech. democratic order, equal participation in social life. and cultural identity are threatened by what he terms the billboardization of society in the networked age. In the second section a range of case studies are presented. Kate Williams and Abdul Alkalimat survey every public computing facility in Toledo (Ohio) to map the parameters of public access to information and decision-making. They conclude that government public computing sites arc situated randomly, community sites are in economically rich or poor (but not middle-stratum) localities, and that commercial and university sites are influenced by market forces. They suggest that future research must necessarily focus on what forms of cyberpower emerge through such use of public computing.
Geert Lovnik and Patrice Riemens explore the digital culture of Amsterdam to show how. despite the techno-social idealism of the early years of the public sphere Digital City project. the culture ran into problems. Susan Finquelievich studies the practices of civic networks in Buenos Aires and Montevideo to demonstrate how local sociohistorical conditions have shaped the technology's development. Veran Matic focuses on the role of media in defending human rights in a hostile environment (former Yugoslavia). Media, she notes, need not necessarily he (or become) a tool of fascist forces, but can he used to generate resistance and to forge a democratic public sphere. Scott Robinson looks at Mexico's telecenter movement to argue that these cybercafes are likely to become an institution for the new Second World of immigrants and refugees. through socially relevant functions. Fiorella de Cindio looks at one of the worlds most significant community networks that of Milan. She demonstrates how local citizens have used information and communication technologies to build a viable. and potentially empowering, participatory public sphere in academia, computer-supported cooperative work, participatory design, and civil engagement (what she calls genes). The third section, -'Building a New Public Sphere in Cyberspace," pros- ides a series of suggestions and frameworks for the spacing of public space through information and communications technologies. Craig Calhoun argues that a global public sphere is indispensable to the formation of a global democracy. Public discourse can still fight commercialism and violence to form a more democratic civil society. Howard Rheingold the great enthusiast of virtual worlds-performs an intricate mix of autobiographical reflection and speculation when he writes of the role of the new technologies. Rheingold, despite his fetishistic enthusiasm for technology and online community, is cautious when it comes to crucial issues such as the creation of democratic public spheres, arguing that we require a great deal more serious thinking on matters of ownership and control (over the technology). He argues that if citizens lose our freedom to communicate, then even the powerful potential of the Net to create electronic democracy will be fatal illusion (p. 275). Nancy Kranich turns to public libraries as the site of potential democratic society, arguing that as sites of informationdissemination. public libraries can become a commons for the exchange of ideas and social interaction. David Silver compares the Blacksburg Electronic Village (BEV) to the Seattle Community Network the former funded by corporations and the state, the latter built essentially out of and through volunteer efforts. Silver, in characteristic style. looks at the historical archaeologies of the networks to show how sociohistorical contexts shape certain kinds of public spheres (and public discourse). going on to ask how, these networks can overcome these contexts to achieve their original goals. He warns that we need to uncover the histories of such networks because they inform the kinds of interactions of communities that exist within them. Douglas Morris analyzes the Independent Media Centre (IMO) Movement of antiglobalization activists to argue that alternative viewpoints and ideological differences can he aired, debated, and appropriated through the new technologies in order to fight corporate and commercial forces.
Peter Day and Douglas Schuler wind up the book by taking a close look at the sociotechnical context in the 1990s. They argue that utopian schemes for the development of civil society and/or the public sphere may entail a degree of risk. However. Day and Schuler argue that community networks should be ''networks of awareness. advocacy and action" with a high degree of grassroots involvement. This can be done through more responsive policies. Local citizens-the first beneficiaries or victims of policy-should he brought into the decision-making process via civic dialogue. Public funding must be provided for projects that enable dissemination of information about a variety of cultures and belief systems. Shaping the Network Society is understandably more cautious than earlier accounts of cyberculture in its reception of new information and communications technology. Haunted by post 9/11 security measures. increasing surveillance, the faster erosion of liberal humanist ideals, and the internationalization/ commercialization of the media, the essays prefer to be wary about the potential of cyberpower. However, the optimist tone of every essay is unmistakable. While admitting that much more needs to be done to overcome the digital divide and the (mis)appropriation of cyberpower. the essays and ease studies draw attention to the potential for public debate and alternative ideologies. The case studies demonstrate success stories, but invariably conclude with a moral: about the need for vigilance against appropriation and fascist control! What emerges clearly is that the new media have achieved considerable progress in opening up the space for greater citizen involvement, more locally-responsive policy decisions. and socially relevant information-dissemination. Shaping the Network Society, with a strangely messianic slant, is a useful step in the mapping of the present and future cyberspace as the space of new democracies to come of a justice to he worked and prepared for." - Theme
- Internet
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