Follow up: Web 2.0 creating world peace
I have posted before musing if Blogging could create world peace. Another weekend rolls around and am prompted to ask a similar question. Can Web 2.0 create world peace?
Check out WikiLeaks (referred to me by Cass!).
From the homepage:
Seems like they can't wait for Web 2.0 platforms to create organic and measured transparency in government institutions - they are going to force it by providing an anonymous platform.
We often say that new forms of media lower the barrier to entry for participants to have a voice and therefore strengthens democracy. And it's clear that this latest iteration of our media platforms is the most democratic of all. So does democracy include complete transparency?
This is a philosophical question as much as a logistical one. There have been books written about total transparency - and what such a world would look like. Some paint a very rosy picture.
Interesting Concept. I can't decide if it will result in anarchy or the end of corruption (or the beginning of new ways to hide corruption!).
What do you think?
Check out WikiLeaks (referred to me by Cass!).
From the homepage:
Wikileaks is developing an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. Our primary interests are oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to those in the west who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their own governments and corporations. We aim for maximum political impact; this means our interface is identical to Wikipedia and usable by non-technical people. We have received over 1.2 million documents so far from dissident communities and anonymous sources
We believe that transparency in government activities leads to reduced corruption, better government and stronger democracies. Many governments would benefit from increased scrutiny by the world community, as well as their own people. We believe this scrutiny requires information. Historically that information has been costly - in terms of human life and human rights. Wikileaks will facilitate safety in the ethical leaking movement.
Seems like they can't wait for Web 2.0 platforms to create organic and measured transparency in government institutions - they are going to force it by providing an anonymous platform.
We often say that new forms of media lower the barrier to entry for participants to have a voice and therefore strengthens democracy. And it's clear that this latest iteration of our media platforms is the most democratic of all. So does democracy include complete transparency?
This is a philosophical question as much as a logistical one. There have been books written about total transparency - and what such a world would look like. Some paint a very rosy picture.
Interesting Concept. I can't decide if it will result in anarchy or the end of corruption (or the beginning of new ways to hide corruption!).
What do you think?
Labels: democracy, Media 2.0, transparency, wikipedia, world peace
2 Comments:
The largest scale corruption is in the so-called US (see the billions of dollars missing in Iraq) and UK (see the BAE corruption of billions which investigations have now been "closed" by the government, the latest in a long series of decades of such closing of any investigation that reveals corruption at highest levels of Britain.) When a "Media 2.0" site produces something aimed at other regions, and simply tags on "but we also expect to be of assistance to those in the west who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their own governments and corporations" one has to wonder whether it is either correct priority in terms of scales, or the xenophobic polytrickally correct emphasis on the blacks and browns and yellows as being corrupt (where corruption is visible and more equitably dispersed in levels of society) rather than the whites (where corruption is much higher and way way bigger and has more impact on world economies).
How the US sent $12bn in cash to Iraq. And watched it vanish
Britain censured over decision to drop BAE Saudi corruption inquiry (note this is just ONE of the many corrupt deals of BAE).
What we need is a new kind of politics. Democracy isn't quite what it looked like in the brochure.
Bring on Democracy 2.0
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