On 09/08/08 19:45, charlesarmstrong wrote: > hallo everyone Good to hear from you!
> this is my first post to the list so to introduce myself i'm ceo of the > software company trampoline systems (trampolinesystems.com) and founder > of circus foundation (circus-foundation.org). i'm organising an informal > workshop on emergent democracy on tuesday 19th august at the trampery in > shoreditch (details below). jonathan gray suggested i should circulate > details to the list. please get in touch if you'd be interested to talk > about something you're working on or thinking about at the moment, and > feel free to pass the details on to anyone else you think might be > interested. there are slots for 3 more contributors available at the > moment. > > i'll be presenting part of a session i did at foo camp last month on the > relationship between technological innovation and social structure. This seems a fascinating event and I'd really to come -- unfortunately I don't think it likely I can make it down to London on Tuesday. Given that I may not be down in person I'd like to take this opportunity to make a couple of comments. To start with there was one item in the blurb that particularly struck me. This was the quote which went: > Depending on who you listen to we’re either on the brink of an explosion > of new democratic models or the wholesale abandonment of democracy in > favour of more tyrannical structures. This got me thinking because last September I gave a talk at a Society for Computers and the Law event about 'Openness and Sharing' [1]. In it I had a section (3.2) entitled "The Dictator and the Anarchist". [1]:<http://blog.okfn.org/2007/09/18/talk-at-law-20-openness-web-20-and-the-ethic-of-sharing/> In essence, this argued that the combination of 'nonrival' (digital) goods and openness make new, especially efficient, organizational forms possible, or, more accurately, changes the effects of existing ones. As is also clear the argument does crucially hinge on the 'nonrival' nature of information goods, with this situation contrasted with the situation of human societies. If I have understood your event directly it is more about the causation in the other direction: that is from technology -> governance of human societies (rather than from nature of digital goods -> governance of information development projects -> production of information). On this score I should probably class myself as something of a pessimist, or at best a cautious optimist. To my mind, the main difficulties of effective governance arise from classic free-rider type issues, particularly in relation to collective decision-making and action (especially in relation to sanctioning/rewarding those agents who are appointed to positions of authority). While technology can clearly help with the substantial communication and information processing activities such coordination and decision-making involve, it can only do so much. For example, individual citizens still need to actually read and evaluate information themselves even if the 'Net or computers make it easier for them to acquire that information. Furthermore, while technology makes it easier to participate it also mutiplies the ways not to participate -- why spend my time reading up on the latest local planning applications or writing to my MP when I can play Grand-Theft Auto or wander around World of Warcraft? Anyway, to close, in my view, even with substantial advances in technology, the main difficulties of democratic participation will remain the cost on people's time and the associated free-rider issues these create. Given this, while it is clear that technology can help, we should be fairly sanguine about its likely overall impact. [2] Regards, Rufus [2]: For more cautious realism along similar lines see this earlier email which arose out of a discussion of the different viewpoints associated with 'Free/Libre' and 'Open': <http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/okfn-discuss/2007-September/000572.html> _______________________________________________ okfn-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.okfn.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
