1. In exploring the physical divides in urban life and how the connect to the digital divide, Graham shows how both monetary and infrastructure problems widen the gap. In the end he suggests that the problem might be solved by innovative regulatory and tax structures, but to me this seems to defeat many of the decentralized advantages to the operation of the network. I would like to discuss some (even more innovative?) alternatives like technological and open-source kinds of solutions. What do we have already at our disposal that can combat these physical underpinnings of the digital divide (activism?)?


2. Graham also addresses a potential power for “Asserting local control over content,” which also seems problematic to me. To what degree would this kind of local control create/maintain cultural divides? Are there free speech issues that might arise?


3. I am wondering to what degree the criticism of online organizing (which is taken to the step of offline meetings and protests) misses the idea that many of the networks were preexisting. While MoveOn was able to increase the scale of the anti-war protests, I wonder if this is just not a linking of a variety of local networks. If the groups are reflective of something that already existed, then is it really a problem?

-john