Web 2.0

Web 2.0 has changed a lot of things.  As mentioned in the previous blog post, the media and journalism as a profession has had to adapt and shift in order to meet the demands of the internet and its 24 hour nature.  Social media is at the heart of web 2.0 and has cause significant changes particularly in the political sphere.  There are many debates surrounding social media, the internet, censoring and transparency with many differing views presented.  I will discuss some of these views in this blog post and how the web 2.0 has helped and hindered the political sphere.

Transparency has been a key issue on the internet in the political sphere.  Lawrence Lessig in “Against Transparency” , as the name suggests, questions transparency on the web especially regarding monetary contributions and results and that the wide availability of political documents.  Importantly Lessig believes that this transparency will not spur reform, but disgust amongst the public.  This concept of transparency is beginning to show in Australian Politics with websites such as My School and My Hospital .  These sites are not depicting the transparency of the government directly, but the importance of the public knowing how their local schools and hospitals rate and compare to others, helping the public to make informed decisions.

Social media is another core factor in web 2.0 and has had numerous effects in the political sphere.  In Egypt, the blogosphere, as well as other forms of social media, caused a political uprising.  The Kifaya movement was one of the most successful Egyptian movements overcoming institutional barriers and coordinating movements between 2004-2007; its succes was in its ability to organise a large group.  This movement was successful due to the way it exploited the potential of the internet, now with thousands of political activism blogs.  Read more here.

Technology has expanded the power of the individual especially those individuals who exploit the power of the internet.  The question then remains will the state consider pulling the plug on technology, shut off mobile connection and censor the web?  This is a worry for Paul Mason in his article ’20 Reasons Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere’.  In many Asian countries there is censorship of the web, for example in China, where monitoring for political activists against the current government occurs.  On the Australian front, there is debate around the introduction of an internet filter which has been discussed by the Australian Labor Party since 2008.  This debate has seen anti websites pop up including ’No Clean Feed’.

It is clear that web 2.0 has caused many issues for debate in the political sphere, with individuals exploiting the internet and calling for transparency.  This call to arms as shown above in the Egyptian example is causing uprisings and significant political shifts.  The worry is whether or not the state will pull the plug on the internet to stop these situations from occurring.