Week 5 Citizenship in the Digital Age

Civics

I stepped out of the required readings for Week 5 blog on the subject of digital citizenship and added a related subject. Throughout the journal article Changing Citizenship in the Digital Age by W. Lance Bennett in 2008 the words civic, civic engagement, and democracy resonate for me because I lived through the 1960s as a young adolescent and that time frame was the demise of “civics” as I knew it. I realize the following except from a presentation may seem lengthy and dated but very appropriate to this topic.


“Sometimes referred to as "pressure cooker" civic education, these early initiatives tended to be catechistic and dull, but they carried on for more than half-a-century sustained by the patriotic euphoria of two world wars and the "circle the wagons" mentality of the early years of the Cold War. The 60s, of course, meant a "goodbye to all that." Vietnam and then Watergate brought disenchantment, rebellion, experimentation, a loss of faith in traditional institutions and traditional leaders, the break-up of consensus, weakening of the core culture, the advent of heterogeneity, multiculturalism, etc. One of the great ironies of America’s civic culture in this century, is the fact that it has been so victimized by its success.” (civiced.org, Quiqley, 1999)

 Cultural Change

“The future of democracy is in the hands of these young citizens of the so-called digital age. Many young citizens in more economically prosperous societies already have in their hands the tools of change: digital media, from laptops, pagers, and cell phones to the convergences of the next new things. These new media reposition their users in society, making them both producers and consumers of information.” (Bennett, pg.9) This great example of participatory culture the power of the people is in their hands to create changes sometimes for a better world. Citizenry is important to a nation’s survival.

 References:

Bennett, W. Lance. “Changing Citizenship in the Digital Age." Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth.Edited by W. Lance Bennett. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008. 1–24. doi: 10.1162/dmal.9780262524827.001

http://www.civiced.org/papers/papers_quigley99.html

 

Week 3 Culture Convergence (Free Culture)

The internet has opened the flood gates to total freedom of the press—in this case the electronic press. More than ever before self-publishing is available to millions of people around the world with the click of a mouse and at little or no cost to produce whatever one wants to share on the internet. At least in the United States as long as one does not impinge on another’s reputation, harm, or inflict any harm we as citizens are protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.  This leads us to one of the contributor’s writings in the book Networked Publics “At the beginning of our history, and for just about the whole of our tradition, noncommercial culture was essentially unregulated.” (Lessig, pg. 56) This quote resonates that free speech is alive and well and hopefully continue into the future.

Varnelis, K.(2008).Networked Publics
http://site.ebrary.com.library.esc.edu/lib/empire/reader.action?docID=10251680