Steve,
You touch on a central downside to the Internet, in general. Because we are
able to select information based on affinity we can get a lot more of what
we are interested in -- at the expense of learning about things we might
need need to know but are less interested in. To some extent, that is a
value of media outlets, who create "department stores" of information rather
than "boutiques". This is becoming increasingly challenged, though, because
of the intensifying melding of different media groups, which more and more
cater to society's "lack of time" and to political interests in presenting
information.
>From the beginning, email discussion lists and news groups made it possible
to spend our time on the information we found most interesting or relevant
without the messiness of stuff we didn't care about. RSS is just another
iteration of that.
It is a double-edged sword. Where, on the one edge, a free society is based
on the ability to have unfettered access to information of our choosing, on
the other edge, a free society's longevity is linked to common experiences,
common goals and common understandings, which requires some connection to
common information. As long as we continue to filter our experiences we run
the risk of becoming not closer or more connected but more fragmented and
disconnected as we share less and less in common.
Steve Snow
=======================================
Stephen Snow, MA, National Certified Counselor
[EMAIL PROTECTED] "Where love stops, power
www.commcure.com begins, and violence
704.569.0243 and terror." -- CG Jung
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Eskow" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 2:40 PM
Subject: Re: [DDN] RSS: The Next ICT Literacy Challenge?
> 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]
>
>
>
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