Knowledge is Power (Revisited): Internet and Democracy

According to the article, "Asia is still discovering the Internet and issues of access, in a larger sense of the term, of censorship and regulation, and of de-politicization and self-censorship still restrict the political impact of the Internet in Asia. The relative immaturity of Asian democracies themselves constitutes an important impediment to greater public and political debate, participation and the promotion of civil and political liberties. Notwithstanding these limitations, the Internet has, to an extent, provided for an expanded political and public sphere and the voicing of alternative political views. In a context where the mass media has often been strictly controlled by the state, the Internet offers a new channel of communication, a new voice, a new hope for those who have been marginalized and prevented from participating in the political process."

The article proposes that the internet has the potential to break down traditional forms of state control, such as censorship. The author discusses the changing concepts of information society and knowledge societies. He explores how the internet combines both the features of mass or broadcast media (the ability to reach massive numbers of people), and the features of personal or narrowcast media, stating that this combination could potentially turn every recipient into a broadcaster as well. The article also questions whether the internet is destroying the concept of local community, or shaping new connectedness through online communities.

The article suggests that knowledge is not just about access to information, it also relates to the ability to process and discuss this information. At the same time, access to information technology requires a certain set of skills that make it not available to all people. This digital divide may be considered to be a new form of illiteracy.

The article concludes that "opportunities must be taken, else they disappear and their vacuum is filled by negative alternatives. A properly defined democratic technology movement could actively develop democracy-enhancing tools. It would actively fight to broaden the benefits of technology to all potential have-nots. It would actively fight to preserve our hard-won democratic freedoms in this new dimension of life. In sum, Francis Bacon’s famous saying - Knowledge is Power - should be replaced by ‘the capacity and speed to access, retrieve, select and reproduce knowledge will determine power in the 21st century’."

Editor's note: This document is not currently online (2014). Please consult the WACC website.