Andy Carvin cites Dan Gillmor's concern for the difficulties of creating an informed public:
> Dan Gillmor at the Berkman blogger confab today just made the comment > that the public will have to learn to do "a little more work" if they > want to stay informed. "It's not just going to show up on their > doorstep" the way it used to be, he said. It takes more effort to stay > informed now, he noted. So what can we do to streamline the process? This matter suggests to Andy the need for RSS literacy, so that finding and moving current information of matters of importance are in a very real sense automated. Like most matters of importance this one has another side--and in this other view RSS becomes part of the problem rather than the solution. Cass Sunstein of the University of Chicago calls his important little book "republic.com." His first chapter is called "The Daily Me," and deals with ever increasing ability of the new communication technologies to allow their users to personalize what they receive, tailor what comes to them so that they only hear and see what they want to hear and see. The book was published in 2001, well before RSS technology made it even more possible for me to receive only those messages I want to receive. That is: if I want to watch only sports on television, or rock and roll, or crime shows, I can so arrange my "Daily Me" to make that possible. I do not have to spend a moment on terrorism, or tsunamis, or global warming, or the digital divide. RSS technology, of course, increases my ability to receive messages only on those topics I choose to learn about. Sunstein build a case for holding that for a free democracy to function well two conditions must be met: "First, people should be exposed to materials that they would not have chosen in advance. Unplanned, unanticipated encounters are central to democracy itself. Such encounters often involve topics and points of views that people have not sought out and perhaps find quite irritating. They are important partly to ensure against fragmentation and extremism, which are predictable outcomes of situations in which like-minded people speak only with themselves... Second, many or most citizens should have a range of common experiences. Without shared experiences, a heterogeneous society will have a much more difficult time in addressing social problems...." So: RSS feeds will insure that I have the latest and best information on terrorism or tsunamis. . . But only if I decide to let that information come into my computer, and my awareness, and my life. Does the Sunstein position have merit? If so, are there ways to allow for the filtering and the personalizing of information that RSS epitomizes with the common and unanticipated experiences and encounters that Sunstein thinks are central to a functioning democracy and an informed citizenry? Steve Eskow [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
