Information technology has been regarded not only a midwife for new democratic processes, but a handmaiden of the Truth … Inequitable access to these technologies at present and in the foreseeable future profoundly diminishes the diversity of opinions that are vetted electronically. Electronic communities may provide genuine benefits to isolated individuals, but if these communities are to be presented as providing global rather than partial access to political discourse, this promise may be squandered. Finally, although freedom of information may hamper some dangerous actions, more information alone is not a substitute for the development of critical or compassionate faculties. Data may reveal the existence of injustice, but data alone rarely generate the political will either to make difficult trade-offs or to discover creative solutions to perennial problems.
Predictor: Hall, Barbara Welling
Prediction, in context:In the July 1994 issue of The Network Observer online newsletter, Barbara Welling Hall writes about networking, democracy and computers: ”The assumption that electronic networking (or, more broadly, information technology) and democracy are logical partners is a product of the modern belief that knowledge is power … A corollary … is a fundamental precept of American freedom of speech, that in the marketplace of ideas, the Truth will win out. Thus, by providing greater access to the marketplace, i.e. electronic networking, information technology has been regarded not only a midwife for new democratic processes, but a handmaiden of the Truth. Finally, the assumed correlation between electronic networking and democracy may be attributed to a byproduct of information technology that is quite visible to this observer. Electronic networking provides heretofore unavailable (or unattainable) social fora for the isolated individual, the introvert, and the hyperliterate … Electronic communications does indeed remove some of the barriers to public speech that are known to intimidate many speakers … Despite understandable enthusiasm for new technology and the tremendous achievements of GLASNET, … there are problems ahead that will be only aggravated if they are not acknowledged … Inequitable access to these technologies at present and in the foreseeable future profoundly diminishes the diversity of opinions that are vetted electronically. Electronic communities may provide genuine benefits to isolated individuals, but if these communities are to be presented as providing global rather than partial access to political discourse, this promise may be squandered. Finally, although freedom of information may hamper some dangerous actions, more information alone is not a substitute for the development of critical or compassionate faculties. Data may reveal the existence of injustice, but data alone rarely generate the political will either to make difficult trade-offs or to discover creative solutions to perennial problems.”
Date of prediction: July 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: Democracy
Name of publication: The Network Observer
Title, headline, chapter name: Electronic Networking and Democracy
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/people/pagre/tno/july-1994.html#augmented
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney