Pondering the Fate of Representation
December 28th, 2008 Posted in ObservationsWhen everyone is connected, why can’t everyone participate?
I am still reading Here Comes Everybody and thinking about the long-term implications of everyone being connected with little to no barriers to participation. I realize that many people still choose not to participate even though they have the tools but I think participation will soon be accepted as the norm.
If the above can be taken at face value, what does that mean for a representative democracy? Do we still need representation when everyone will have easy access to the information they need to make informed decisions? Will government be “run” by politicians or perhaps “coordinated” on an intelligent, semantic web that provides contextualized and personalized information on the pro and cons of pending issues? Certainly intermediates will be necessary on some level but should they be acting “for us” or should they be more akin to ombudsman that are charged with ensuring that information is openly and transparently shared?
No answers for me yet but I feel like I am on the right track. More to come…
