Democracy
Brenda Laurel links technology and democracy through the development of Internet users’ skills as both consumers and originators of web content. She emphasizes the critical skills needed for citizenship and the potential of the Internet for democratic self-expression and dialogue. Learning to read the Web critically allows users to examine media, the news and government sites for bias. Reading news from multiple, and non-U.S. sources, informs our understanding and participation in the political process. Creation of websites that invite dialogue and participation teaches active, not passive, citizenship, particularly for voices outside the official media and government that claim to speak for our society. Laurel encourages the use of technology as means of activism and a refusal to accept the political and social status quo.
Links to Brenda Laurel’s writing on democracy
Chip Bruce presents a double assessment of the possibilities we, as citizens, enjoy to effect change on the large scale. On the one hand, he outlines a process of participatory inquiry aimed at responding to human needs through democratic processes. This process recognizes the diversity of learners and trusts them in their own learning. It places in the hands of learners the initiation of questions to be investigated and the means of carrying out their inquiries. It places equitable relations first, ahead of the accomplishment of tasks. Bruce proposes a critical and methodic examination of problems and their solutions as a means to democratic inclusion. On the other hand, in brief comments at the end of his talk, he expresses concern about the degree to which government and large institutions control Internet content in the name of security and protection.
Links to Bertram (Chip) Bruce’s writing on democracy
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New technologies and social change: Learning in the global cyberage. In Liora Bresler and Alexandre Ardichvili (Eds.), Research in international education. New York: Peter Lang. (In Press)
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How worldwide is the Web?. Bruce, Bertram C. Journal of Adolescent & Adult
Literacy v. 42 no5 (Feb. '99) p. 382-5
Links to Nicholas Burbules’ writing on democracy
