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The Political Economy of the Web 2.0

This article by John Naughton, professor at the Open University, is one of the most comprehensive ten-page articles you can get on new media. Naughton very well describes some of the characteristics of what he calls the “emerging media ecosystem”: user-generated content, cooperation and sharing. Referring to Neil Postman, he draws a relevant analogy between the media and ecology. The media ecosystem is extremely historically unstable. Just like newspapers had to find new formats with the advent of television, TV networks will have to adapt to the arrival of participatory… Lire la suite »The Political Economy of the Web 2.0

Could the Internet End Up Killing the Public Sphere?

A few weeks ago, the French Journal Le Débat published a compelling piece by Benjamin Loveluck entitled « Internet: Toward a Radical Democracy?« . The author, who is writing a Ph.D thesis on « the hypermodern individual and the genealogy of contemporary media regimes” (sic), successfully locates the recent developments of the internet within the history of liberal-democracies. He demonstrates that although the internet is based on humanistic and democratic ideals, it could also undermine some of the very tenets of our societies, such as the positive role the media plays in organizing… Lire la suite »Could the Internet End Up Killing the Public Sphere?

Facing the Crisis, the European Union Should Imitate Obama’s Reliance on New Technologies to Bring About Change

Determined to act swiftly to pass an $825 billion stimulus package, US President Barack Obama used his weekly address (on a revamped whitehouse.gov website) to give more details about this recovery plan. As it stands now, the proposal includes public spending programs in three high-tech areas : computerization of medical records; creation of smarter, high-tech enhanced electrical grids; expansion of high speed internet lines in undeserved areas. House Democrats and Obama’s economic team, who conjunctly designed the stimulus package, see these investments in digital technologies are an enabler for economic… Lire la suite »Facing the Crisis, the European Union Should Imitate Obama’s Reliance on New Technologies to Bring About Change