Athens.
The politics session at WebSci '09 continues with Elias Athanasiadis. Following Dan Gillmor, he notes the promise of new media for (political communication), and describes this as a transition from a top-down broadcasting model which has engendered politica apathy, mistrust, and citizen disengagement - or what he describes as 'skin-deep politics' - to a bottom-up netcasting in which interactivity, interconnectedness, the compression of time and space, and the disintermediation through phenomena such as citizen journalism creates the potential for citizen empowerment and (re)engagement.
This means a transition from a hierarchical communication structure to decentralised communication in a vibrant, pluralistic public sphere, involving governments, citizens, NGOs, and advocacy groups. The challenge for effective citizenship in this context to achieve equal opportunities, widespread digital literacy, and an informed public. There may be a gradual progression here from bookmarking and tagging through rating, commenting and voting through social communication to social networking - and the power of such models is shown by the recent Obama campaign in the US.
Will information technology widen the gap between the politically active and inactive, then, or can the Net replace representative technology? Of course the Net cannot be a force for democratisation by itself, but it can be a tool which provides new opportunities for both politicians and citizens. It could force politicians to focus more on substance and less on image, and force the mainstream media to reprioritise their agenda. The key to this is how policies in favour of access and participation are implemented.
