[A] potential barrier to electronic democracy using CMC is considerable concern in established power structures that direct citizen participation would be a dangerous weakening of the “representative” system of government on which the U.S. structure is built … The possibility of more political groups being able to organize, perhaps to the point of getting specific referenda instituted (and thus bypassing the traditional legislative and administrative branches of government), is quite frightening to those who believe that citizens cannot be trusted with this power. And of course, it is a direct threat to those who hold the jobs in the legislative and executive branches of government.
Predictor: Hiltz, Starr Roxanne
Prediction, in context:In a 1992 paper they presented at a workshop titled “Rights and Responsibilities of Participants in Networked Communities” for the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council, researchers Starr Roxanne Hiltz and Murray Turoff say: ”[A] potential barrier to electronic democracy using CMC is considerable concern in established power structures that direct citizen participation would be a dangerous weakening of the “representative” system of government on which the U.S. structure is built. This system is built on indirect participation; the citizens elect representatives, who then actually make the laws and decisions as they see best. The possibility of more political groups being able to organize, perhaps to the point of getting specific referenda instituted (and thus bypassing the traditional legislative and administrative branches of government), is quite frightening to those who believe that citizens cannot be trusted with this power. And of course, it is a direct threat to those who hold the jobs in the legislative and executive branches of government.”
Biography:Starr Roxanne Hiltz, the co-author of a seminal book about the electronic frontier, “The Network Nation: Human Communication Via Computer” (MIT Press), was a professor of computer and information science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the author of many Internet research studies. In 1994, Hiltz received the “Pioneer Award” from the Electronic Frontier Foundation for her “significant and influential contributions to computer-based communications and to the empowerment of individuals using computers.” She was among the first to note that computer conferencing could form the basis of new kinds of communities. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: November 1, 1992
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: Democracy
Name of publication: Rights and Responsibilities of Participants in Networked Communities Computer science and Telecommunications Board National Research Council (NRC)
Title, headline, chapter name: A Normative View of Networking Applications
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.njit.edu/~turoff/Papers/dcgov.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney