Week 4: Everyone Has Their Say!
February 17th, 2009 Ashwin
We had a great discussion about the social implications of the Internet this week, covering a range of subjects, from the OLPC to politics in the age of Obama.
Will the OLPC help bring about the changes that its backers hope it will? It well may; but our discussions suggested that it is difficult to anticipate the exact uses to which the device might be put. In addition, we surfaced the dangers of treating the OLPC as a unitary object, eliding away the complexities of the system that it is embedded within, speaking of it as a stand-in for many other issues that must be dealt with concomitantly (government policy, network infrastructures, teacher education, etc.).
The last election proved that the internet certainly can affect the political system. The extent of the changes, however, cannot fully be pinned down. The discussion raised questions of whether more people are contributing because of the internet, or if the same people are just contributing more. Whether the internet creates a greater plurality of viewpoints and better read populace, or if people are just sticking their heads in echo chambers.
This was a great discussion, and we’re already thinking about how we can facilitate more such!
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