[DOWNLOAD] "Democracy in the Age of the Internet (Forum: Democracy & the Internet)" by University of New Brunswick Law Journal " eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Democracy in the Age of the Internet (Forum: Democracy & the Internet)
- Author : University of New Brunswick Law Journal
- Release Date : January 01, 2007
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 267 KB
Description
INTRODUCTION As access to the Internet and the World Wide Web expanded in the early 1990s there was considerable optimism that an age of low-cost information production and egalitarian public conversations in cyberspace would transform and deepen democracy. The hope was that technological advances and improved access to the means of producing, distributing and receiving information would allow ordinary citizens and organic civil society groups to become broadcasters and publishers capable of sidelining the once powerful barons of the mass media. The unidirectional broadcast model of mass communication would give way to more interactive and democratic forms of public communication. Citizens would have access to a greater diversity of information and opinion as new voices found expression in a more vibrant and inclusive virtual public sphere--indeed, the term netizen was coined to conjure up notions of politically engaged Internet citizens coming together online to identify and deliberate upon the issues of the day. Governance would also be transformed as communications technology improved access to information and enhanced the state's capacity to engage in formal dialogue and deliberation on matters of public policy. In short, the new media would invigorate democracy by creating new egalitarian public spaces, empowering ordinary people with better means of communicating and organizing, and allowing governments to pursue more open, transparent and consultative relations with citizens.