Democracy is first and foremost a cultural phenomenon, a set of skills for actively getting together to run the collective life of the community while respecting individual dignity. These skills include getting help, communicating across cultural boundaries, networking, organizing things, and so forth. None of these skills is innate. All must be learned, and all are in danger of disappearing when people are manipulated into passivity in the name of some supposedly higher good. We can use networks to alleviate this danger – and to help reverse the damage that has already been done – by sharing our experiences, information, strength, and good will.
Predictor: Agre, Phil
Prediction, in context:The March 1994 issue of The Network Observer, an online newsletter, carries an article titled “Followup” by Phil Agre, TNO editor, who was, at the time, working in the Department of Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles. He writes:”Democracy is first and foremost a cultural phenomenon, a set of skills for actively getting together to run the collective life of the community while respecting individual dignity. These skills include getting help, communicating across cultural boundaries, networking, organizing things, and so forth. None of these skills is innate. All must be learned, and all are in danger of disappearing when people are manipulated into passivity in the name of some supposedly higher good. We can use networks to alleviate this danger – and to help reverse the damage that has already been done – by sharing our experiences, information, strength, and good will.”
Biography:Phillip E. Agre was an associate professor of information studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, and has been the author of research studies on the Internet. He edited The Network Observer, an online newsletter on Internet issues. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: Democracy
Name of publication: The Network Observer
Title, headline, chapter name: The Internet as a Commons
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/people/pagre/tno/march-1994.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne