Three warnings

Rheingold's coverage of the major risks associated with developments in communciation technologies (in a spirit of "know thine enemy") identifies three main schools of criticism:

1. commodification of the public sphere

Here he draws on Habermas & Baudrillard to argue that the "public sphere" as the place where democracy happens ("People can govern themselves only if they communicate widely, freely, and in groups - publicly") is especially vulnerable to being changed for the worse by advances in ICT. Not just by direct censorship, but by "the corrupting influence of ersatz public opinion". The PR industry & the packaging of policies & politicians as commodities are both facilitated by new technology. ("What used to be a channel for authentic communication has become a channel for the updating of commercial desire").

2. the Panoptic school

Using the analogy of Bentham's proposed prison architecture, where all cells could be viewed from a central point, this is the "Big Brother" argument - that the digital traces we leave, as we interact online, lays us open to malicious surveillance by commercial, criminal or controlling forces of various sorts. This is where we need to exercise a healthy amount of cynicism. 'I do nothing wrong, therefore I have nothing to fear' only stands up as long as I'm not in conflict with my government.

3. the hyper-realist school

A logical outgrowth of postmodernism & therefore difficult to refute (because ICT utopians are hardly in a position to deny the power of symbolism) this criticism raises the possibility that cyberspace is a place of illusion, replacing reality with a "slicked-up electronic simulation" that deludes us into believing we still have authentic relationships with each other & with those who exercise the real power. Rheingold cites Debord's 1968 Society of the Spectacle allegation of a "worldwide hegemony of power in which the rich and powerful [have] learned to rule with minimal force by turning everything into a media event".

Now, whilst I'm quite prepared to accept that I'm being disempowered, spied on & generally conned (& that online communities in education may all be part of the same Evil Plot) I have to ask myself: does it matter? I'm with Rheingold in thinking that it's only "when we forget about the illusion that the trouble begins". If it's war, the Internet provides weapons for both sides.

These are only notes - not how a blog should work, but if I stop to seek out appropriate links, it will be even further into tomorrow than it is now....