E-democracy - Digital & Media Democracy

Digital & Media Democracy

In the era of globalization democracy has changed drastically because of the use of technology. The idea of digital or media democracy refers to the idea that everyone should have access to electronic communications and other devices, public funds should be for the public use of media centers, and give people access to all forms of electronic and digital media. Digital Democracy and the impact of technology on governance and politics: New Globalized Practice. Political pluralism and dialogue, are new meanings of democracy which have been forged by the emergence of new public decision-making policies in the internet. The evolution of modern technology has changed classic understandings such as political dialogue and political accountability. Americans are drastically moving to their mobile devices for updates on the news. A survey that was released with this years report finds that nearly half of all Americans (47%) now get some form of local news on a mobile device or cell phone. Americans are now turning to mobile devices mostly to access news that serves immediate needs such as weather, movie times, information on local businesses and traffic in their area. Today the web news is beginning to increase. Cable news and news platforms are starting to shrink and decline. More people are saying that they get their news from the web than newspapers. The internet now follows only television among American adults as a destinations for news. Local mobile ad revenue is growing fast, stations in 2009 made 29 million from mobile devices. "I expect that figure to skyrocket into the billions within two years as the transition from desktops and laptops to hand-held devices takes off," said Gordon Borrell. With the recent SOPA and PIPA bills, many Americans have shown their support for an open, free, and easily accessible internet. SOPA and PIPA were bills that were trying to restrict internet use and many websites, including Google and Wikipedia, found this as a threat to Digital Democracy and protested these bills. A new alternative too these two bills is the OPEN Act which is much less threatening to democracy, and is actually supported by major internet corporations (Google and Facebook). The OPEN Act is one a great example of what media democracy can become. The OPEN Act website Keep The Web Open states that the bill includes user-generated improvements and provides full access to the bill. GOOD Magazine argues that this bill is revolutionary because of its Wikipedia-like input. Over 150 changes have been made to this bill by users; it may not seem like a lot, but the idea of random people getting their own input into legislation is pretty radical. This new bills shows the ability of how people can have a positive effect of politics through the use of digital and electronic media.