Week 11 Discussions
Bonjour! I am so swamped right now that I did not have nearly enough time to read the material in depth. I apologize if it seems a little broad.

Question 1: The book discusses how digital communication only really helps those engaged to engage. What barriers do engaged people have when using technology, and is it that all active political people engage with this new medium? If not, then why only a few active people and not all? Is there a way to make people active with this technology?

Question 2: We have seen a few instances where digital politics/activism has worked and hasn't (i.e., the Dean campaign vs. emails petitioning FCC regulations). Is there a formula that makes digital activism in political matters work? Such as, the action/situation must affect several groups of people that have an invested interest in the topic and are from the middle-class (most likely to use the Internet)?

Question 3: One thing we have seen and definitely seems to hold true, as the book stated "...this experience can be expected gradually to reinforce (italics) political attitudes..." Is there a way to build a digital political environment that does not reinforce just one aspect, but rather engulfs the interactor with global (maybe unbiased) information? Right now one must type in an interest in a search tool that pulls up relevant hits to that query, but is it truly democratic when the information search only pulls up information that reinforces instead of educates to the other possibilities? Is there any way to change this? (I know this has many implications, but I want to take an innovative approach to it rather than the skeptic's view.)