This week’s readings were centered around Government and Politics with relation to the internet. I myself really enjoyed reading for this week since I am myself a Political Science major. I especially enjoyed the read on the impact of the internet on politics. It talked of how the internet has been used to further political campaigns for example. I think after reading this article one might as themselves, does the internet present more of a threat, or more of an advantage to politics. I believe it is both, the internet helps to raise campaign awareness through a more broad audience; it helps to raise funds for campaigns. It also helps to raise campaign funds and get more word out to the voters and general public. It brings new voters to the polls and acts as a general conduit for all political activity across multiple cultures and societal levels. The internet also has its downsides, it can sometimes bring false information to light which may lead into mass publication, it may cause great security concerns for some. I think the greatest concern is what’s next? If the internet is already doing this much with the power given (the campaign awareness and funding, the mass media publications), what will become of the internet and politics in the future with more power? The article talks of something called the “googlebomb” which in concept is a great idea for debates, but I believe that it could be bigger than that, much bigger. What if there was a general “online only debate” where candidates compete in a online chat with a selected number of voters, sort of an open playing field with no scripting, no set questions, kind of a “answer to the people” type of discussion. I would like to hear your thoughts and an idea on what you think is next for politics and the internet.
Here is an article I found. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/business/la-et-cnn15jun15,1,4845386.story?coll=la-headlines-business-enter
2 comments:
I'm not being on politics, however, I do vote. From reading "The New Politics: E-Government" by Shneiderman, he mentioned in the chapter about the citizen to government relationship over the Internet by improving the government services so that citizens can get an better insight of the Gov't interactions and information. We need these websites because they are part of life in which which can protect our lives from danger like Homeland Security. Also the websites can allow us to give our opinions through politic discussion online. As far as the idea of candidates debating online, I don't think that would happen in a million years. Also, I would want the debating to be kept as is on the t.v. because I would whether see the candidate in person. Debating online may make the candidate look bad and may have citizens doubting his position in office in the sense he will not do a good when communicating face to face
i certainly agree with you on the issue of using the internet as a form of advertising media. It sure reaches out to youth who are the more computer literate and the most populated in terms of people who can vote. But for the cons of using the internet media as way of spreading out your words you might have to be very careful about that because information sent on the internet can be retrieved for futher use, which if it is something a politian said that he/she didn't mean to say, it will surely come back and haunt him/her. So as easy as the use of the internet is for politics, it is also very complicated. But debating online is something i really think is unnecessary because it might be recorded on TV then published online, a more easier and less questionable way.
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