There is no doubt that the internet is in a constant state of evolution. Ten years ago no one had heard of Twitter and ten years before that a very small number of people were logging on to the internet via a company called Mosiac and had never heard of Googling anything. Twenty years ago, the White House didn't even have a website and services like AOL and Prodigy, which came to dominate the use of the Web weren't in existence. It has continually become more intuitive to use, more convenient, cheaper, more portable and much much faster. As it has entered into our social lives it also crept into our political world. Today the internet is a nearly limitless source of information that affecting our economics, politics and the very nature of communications and community. I would like to start this blog with an open ended conversation about where we are today and what have been the most consequential results of the evolution of the internet up to this point. You can use the history of the internet (which can be found
here and interesting versions
here and
here) and the following prompts to start your dicussion but please react to your classmates comments.
- What have been the most important ways in which the internret have affected our social and political world?
- Have the changes in our lives brought about by the internet been more positive or negative?
- What do you predict the internet might look like in five, 10, or 20 years?
The most important way that the internet has affected our social and political world is through the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring began in January of 2011, where middle eastern countries were starting to record political changes in their country. They utilized Twitter, Youtube and Facebook to spread their message out for the world to see. Another important way that the internet has affected our social and political world is through political campaigns. In 2008, President Barack Obama was the first candidate to gain support through social media outlets. To this day Barack Obama keeps the public up to date through his weekly video blogs on the White House's website. I think the internet has brought more positive changes in out lives in terms of the amount of unlimited information that we receive from it.
ReplyDeleteSocial media has definitely made the organization of the masses much easier. There is no doubt about that. It is interesting to note though how much credit we are willing to give to social media when discussing the products of the Arab Spring. (side note: I just want to clarify that I am not saying Christina is giving too much credit to social media but rather in my experience with discussions on the Arab Spring in other classes and with friends who are not political science students). For me, when the discussion went towards the internet's affect on the Arab Spring it seemed to devalue the movement itself- alot of students Winter/Spring Quarter 2012 discussed the internets role in classes more than they discussed the issues themselves. The majority of my friends that did not take political science classes were unaware of the reasoning for these populations uprising. They all knew Facebook had a role though.
DeleteIt is disheartening to know that Facebook had become more associated with the Arab Spring then the problems, names of protestors, or countries themselves. Facebook was an unprecedented tool for citizens of these countries and this is interesting to take note of. However, the people had a much larger role in these protests and uprisings but in my eyes were overshadowed.
As I mentioned in class, after seeing the course title, Internet and Politics, I immediately thought: Arab Spring. I kind of agree with Tyler, in that the almost impulsive linkage of Facebook to the Arab Spring as opposed to the people themselves in a way takes away from the social and political issues masses of people risked their lives to challenge. However, I don't think that such a connection is intended to take away from their efforts. It's a fact that social media played a huge role in creating an outcome such as the Arab Spring -the way student protestors communicated and spread the word about these demonstrations was through Facebook. Even earlier than the Arab Spring, in 2009 after the Iranian elections thousands of Iranians fled the streets of Tehran, Isfahan, and Mashhad expressing their dissatisfaction with the results. The way they communicated locations was via Facebook -not the smartest way to communicate, for after the protests this made it easier for the government to track down who was at the protests, and thus imprisoning them later on. Some students were smarter, texted friends, and later destroyed their SIM cards, making it impossible for anyone to find out about their whereabouts.
ReplyDeleteFor me, personally, the internet has definitely had a positive impact on my life. I am able to access information faster and easier. I especially take advantage of Youtube because I am a visual learner and during the 2009 elections in Iran, I wanted to see and try to experience what was going on in my country as best as I could and if you just type into Youtube 2009 Iranian elections or protests you can see the shooting of Neda Agha-Soltan who became the face of the green movement. I can go onto Vice and watch real footage of the bombings of hospitals in Syria -as horrific as they are, such videos and access to these videos gives us a clearer and realer image of what is going on overseas, because you can't always trust what they show on CNN and local news channels definitely don't devote enough time to international social or political issues and events.
That's not to say however that I am always online catching up with the news or watching Youtube videos of people being shot at or tear gassed. I use it to talk to my family overseas. I mean, I remember watching the Disney channel movie Zenon and she'd be video chatting with her friend on this hand held device and I would be thinking "Yeah right, like that's ever going to happen" and now we have Face-time and Skype and Oovoo. All of which I am extremely thankful for. I can talk to my grandma whenever I want or to my cousins whenever I want -I don't always have to wait a couple years to see how much they've grown or changed in person. But again, a lot of people will argue that our growing use of online chatting or texting disables us from engaging in face to face contact and negatively impacts our social skills. I agree with that, because I know a few socially awkward kids who can say so much via text or chat but are completely silent in person. That's messed up and I think those kids need to get help.
I think that one of the most important ways that the Internet has affected our social and political world, aside from previously mentioned social revolutions such as the Arab Spring, is through its extensive use in the election cycle. I think that this has huge implications for the way in which political conversation takes place in this country, the way that we communicate with our representatives and leaders, and for the way in which we elect such representatives and leaders. Even ten years ago, I don’t think there were very many social media directors on political campaigns whose primary job would be to reach out to voters through Facebook, Twitter, etc. But as we’ve seen in the past two presidential elections, having a web presence on such websites is crucial to any viable election strategy. The lowest age bracket of voters historically has the lowest turnout – but when candidates start to make themselves known to these groups on social media sites, obviously there’ll be a higher turnout for young voters.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Internet has had a largely positive impact on our lives, especially in the United States. I can’t even begin to imagine what the U.S. (or even the world) economy would look like without reaping all of the benefits that the Internet has brought to it. The Internet allows us to communicate with people who are halfway across the globe, it lets us look up virtually any piece of information we could ever want to know within seconds, and hearing the horror stories of my parents having to go to a reference library and check out actual, physical books as their only sources for research in college (gasp!) makes me glad that the internet exists so I may research things in the comfort of my own home. Still, many argue that the Internet is contributing to the downfall of communication or traditional education, but nothing comes without its disadvantages, and I think that the benefits of the Internet outweigh these. In five, 10, or 20 years, I think that the Internet will probably be a lot more accessible (hopefully) to everyone in the world. I could also see a lot to do with security or freedom of speech and similar issues being put on the legislative agenda as they relate to the Internet.
It is really interesting to see how far the Internet has come since it was first established. Then initially intent for using the internet was primary for military use and another form of communication in case of a disaster. The internet as it has progressed over the years has changed our world for the better because of the extensive amount instant information that is available for our use. Even our social and political values can be influenced from the content that we see on the internet. Also being able to express your thoughts freely on a forum can lead to many great ideas and innovations. Social Media has really made the world a smaller place. Connecting with people all across the globe from many different countries we can learn from different perspectives and constantly be updated on any events that are occurring.
ReplyDeleteI feel like we still haven't reached the full potential for the Internet. Just this past year cloud computing started to get popular as you could save all your files on the internet and access them on any device. Right now we use the internet for research, communication, education, and much more. YouTube has made a tremendous impact in peoples lives because we can appreciate the creativity of ours and inspire people. There are over 4 billion videos watched per day and 8 years of content uploaded everyday! People from all different backgrounds can share there experiences which is an amazing thing.
So overall the internet mostly has had a positive impact. Even though there may be some negative aspects overall it has enabled us to bring our visions to life. I think 20 or 30 years from now the internet will be deeply integrated in our society and will be our main source of communication. Something interesting to think about is the concept that google is working on right now called "google glasses" once we put them on we will instantly be connected with everything around us while we are walking. It will be like second nature. The internet has so much untapped potential and in the years to come there will be even more innovations that will change the world forever.
As many of my classmates have already said, social media is creating tremendous changes in our daily lives. Many websites now forgo having you create accounts with them in lieu of logging in with your facebook account, and as soon as you do that they can immediately look up all of your information quite often without the internet user realizing it. The way that everything is becoming interconnected seemingly overnight will cause privacy concerns and violations because most people simply do not know what they are getting themselves into by linking so much of their personal lives to online accounts. Some states have already attempted to integrate the internet into the voting process, it is only a matter of time before this becomes a more widespread phenomenon and the internet truly invades every aspect of our lives, regardless of how personal.
ReplyDeleteFor the most par these changes have been positive. But every major breakthrough makes us more dependent on technology, for instance had a teacher asked students to post their homework assignment to a weekly blog as recently as ten years ago all but the most technologically advanced students would have appeared dumbfounded.
Going forward I tend to think that the internet will become even more specialized, much like the Apple model as was discussed in today's class. People will go to specific things for specific functions, rather than taking the time to track them down using more vague services such as Google or Bing.
The internet has been able to change the way people are able to get a hold of information. The ways it has affected the social and political world is that it is able to be connected to everywhere 24/7. As a social aspect we have social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube being some of the biggest. The political aspect kind of is the same thing. You are able to get political news, not just from the U.S., but around the world. You have hundreds of websites that are dedicated to being a news outlet and you have existing news outlets, like newspapers and cable news channels that have gone and put out websites to keep up with this internet age.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that this change with the Internet has brought about a lot of positive things. For me personally, I am able to always get a hold of information, whether that be for school or just entertainment. It is much easier to search on Google a term or question and get an answer right away than it would be to go to a library and research for an answer. That is not to say that Google is more reliable than scholarly research, but it is much more convenient. There are also negative things that go along with the internet.
For the future all I can think of is that the Internet will continue to grow and expand to a much more larger base than it has today. I know we have talked about in class that there are still millions and millions of people and homes that don't have access to the internet in the present day in the U.S. alone. I see that gap closing little by little in the future.
I agree with much of what everybody has already mentioned in that the internet played a large role in the Arab Spring in terms of spreading the message of protestors through Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. People across the world were able to see the protests and people gathered in the streets fighting for what they believed in. The Arab Spring reminded me that the internet has such a priceless role in connecting the world. We are now able to instantly connect and see what is going on in almost any place in the world. As we mentioned in class, the internet has become a part of politics to the point where what happens on Twitter or YouTube is now reported on. The internet has made news even more immediate then it already was by Facebook statuses and Twitter posts detailing the breaking stories before even news outlets on television even have the chance to. Furthermore, political candidates have utilized social networking sites with President Barack Obama being the most notable. It has allowed normal citizens to connect to their candidates and learn about what they stand for in a faster and more efficient way.
ReplyDeleteThe changes that the internet has brought have been more positive than negative in my opinion. The internet has allowed me to access news information from multiple outlets in an efficient manner. Also, the internet allows the average citizen who may not have the most knowledge about politics to try and engage himself or herself with a preliminary amount of information. One of the most positive advantages of the internet that I feel is the possibility to break down physical borders and connect with other people across the world. Whether a person joins a Facebook group or comments on a news article, he or she is opening a dialogue with other people from around the world. We are now able to learn more about other countries and the ideas and views that make up its people.
I think that in the future the internet will continue to grow with more and more people having access to it. Also, the internet will continue to become a larger part of the political realm with more political officials using it. The internet will continue to get even faster and possessing even more information than it does today. The internet tends to go through different phases of evolution and I believe that a new program or invention will drastically change the way that we use the internet today.
To begin, I agree with my fellow class mates when we say we did not think we would be this advanced in technology with advancements such as face time and Skype as Roya mentioned. An important way these advancements are utilized in politics is as Christina mentioned through social media. During the presidential elections it was especially odd for me to hear debates showing twitter comments below the screen and I myself do not utilize Twitter so to think these political candidates over the age of 40 were so heavy into the social media really highlighted where the power of the internet has moved.
ReplyDeleteWe talked about in class how activists are increasing through the internet via donations and all the "causes" circulating through Facebook or Twitter and some class mates did make a good argument that although the increase the number of participants, perhaps it lowers the amount actual social action we see.
Overall I would personally venture to say the impact the internet has had has been positive. I believe it helps make everyone more aware on what is going on in the world globally, and to those that are still fighting to be able to freely have use of the internet it makes everyone aware of their situAtion as well. The internet of tomorrow as Arben mentions will most likely continue to become faster and more efficient and as we hope be used freely by all.
I have to agree with you completely Cynthia. I don't think anyone twenty years ago would have ever expected the numerous possibilities presented to us now with regards to political interaction. Before, the only interaction men and women really had with candidates was through media that actually required a wait in order to receive a response and face-to-face conversations. If something happened to a presidential candidate, the general public wouldn't find out until it was covered by some sort of news source. In addition, the public was not always connected to the political world like we are today. If someone wanted to enter an intellectual discussion with someone about a candidate, they had to wait until they met someone who cared enough about politics to actually talk. Today, however, one can simply hop on a message board to instantly chat with people around the nation about politics. The internet has so drastically increased our ability to converse with others not only faster, but on a greater scale as well.
DeleteHowever, I think the future holds more than just speed and efficiency. With the rise of tablets and iPads, I feel like this is the first big step toward innovating the way we interact with the political world. Although the internet originally increased the scope and speed of our interactions, I believe that it will soon allow us to interact in much more unique ways than we ever have. Based on the current path we've been headed on, the future could hold something as revolutionary as interacting with public officials through imagery instead of text. We could see a possibility of allowing individuals to directly address public officials through internet connections.
I think one important way the internet has affected our social and political world is through online activism/hacking. Various groups such as wikileaks, anonymous, etc. have been responsible for leaking information to the world, that had otherwise been hidden or considered classified. I believe that transparency is an extremely important thing to have, and since we can't trust our government to tell us the truth a lot of the time, it is nice to be able to rely on groups such as these. I'm not advocating for piracy or hacking, but I am saying that there is tons of information that should be accessible, free, and not covered up or hidden by the governments of the world. Anonymous and other groups also take part in online activism/cyber warfare which I think is going to play a HUGE role in the future. We've already seen these groups shut down government websites and attack various systems when those governments take part in oppressive behavior towards their people. It is extremely important to look at the future of warfare, and that we are already experiencing it. When our entire world is controlled by computers and information systems, what happens when a group hacks into that system and takes control of a country's resources. Unlikely this early on, but in a few years I don't see why it couldn't happen.
ReplyDeleteOverall I believe the internet is a very positive thing. Does it distract people sometimes, absolutely, but I think its a wonderful way to access information, communicate with other people, etc. The beautiful thing is that the internet isn't just controlled by one group, government, country, or idea. Its available to just about everyone, and that number of users is growing by the day. It allows everyone who uses it to have a voice.
The future of the internet seems limitless. Even the devices we use today are growing and advancing. Google is creating glasses that allow you to connect to the internet and use your lens as a screen. With the advancements in 3D imaging and projection, who knows, maybe in our lifetime we'll experience websites not just on a screen, but in person.
Some of the most important ways in which the internet have affected our social and political worlds is by allowing us to stay connected and updated from any place at any time. The advantages that the internet has created in order for news and information to get to us is remarkable; and also to the point where, like others said, one has no excuse not to know what is going on today, since the news finds its way to us due to the internets evolution throughout the years. Socially, we are more united and expressive about certain issues. Moreover, politically, we are more informed of what our government has to offer us and what it does for us. Overall, the internet is a good and bad thing all in one. Bad in he sense that everything is out there, therefore making it impossible to maintain the secrecy of anything in general. But, on the other hand, it provides us with the knowledge and accessibility to see what the world is really like. Moreover, the convenience of the internet and how it is implemented into our lives has definitely had a positive impact since we can get live newsfeed on our phones. Looking ahead, I perceive that the internet will definitely keep evolving and keep progressing at a rapid speed.
ReplyDeleteIt has effected the political realm in enormous ways. It gives individuals instant access to look up anything and almost everything about a certain candidate. However it is not always a positive tool, unlike news papers like the tribune or sun times alot of the information you find on the internet is flawed. This is not to say that all of it is however one must be careful to believe whats on the internet. As college educated individuals it is easier for us to differentiate between unreliable and reliable sources. However the majority of people in the united states do not have a higher level of education they are more incline to believe what they see on the internet.
ReplyDeleteThe internet has also changed how political campaigns are run. I personally saw this first had in the election. During the last election I interned with a political campaign. I was en charge of volunteer placement through our website. Individuals would apply on our website and then I would email them with the appropriate phone bank to go to. Without the internet it would be a lot harder for individuals to volunteer. Where do they go? Who do they contact? The internet has helped quell this problem through political campaigns having a website and somewhere for the individual to get information not only on the candidates stance but also on grass root volunteering efforts.
I would have to agree with my fellow classmates about how the Internet has entered our lives over the past 10 years, but especially in the last 5 years. Our current college students experience is far different from their parent’s experience. The students today were raised learning about computers at very young ages many of them started to learn how to type and surf the web at the same time they were learning how to read and write. Elementary schools started getting Apple computer products back in the 90s at discounted rates because Apple wanted younger generations to grow up on there products and know how to use them. “Today the Internet is a nearly limitless source of information that affecting our economics, politics and the very nature of communications and community.” This can be both a positive and negative at the same time. On one hand people today can do so much on the Internet from; shopping, school, banking, communicating, and entertainment, etc. All these examples can make our lives easier but at the same time harmless in the long run. For example, younger generations today don’t have to ever communicate face-to-face with anyone because of how easy it is to email or text a person. Over the last few years’ social media has really taken over the Internet. Making peoples lives viewable to anyone with access to websites like Facebook or Twitter. The first this might sound like a good idea connecting with old classmates or old friends but social media can have a dark side as well. There are people today making fake accounts using other peoples pictures and lives in order to gain there trust only to steal there identity.
ReplyDeleteI predict that in the next 5 years that the current Internet speeds are going to have to be faster and stronger to keep up with people’s demands. If you check this website out you could if out your current Internet Download and Upload speeds. Which is very important to how users use surf the web because the faster the connection is the more one can do. If you read this article it does a good job asking a major question, “Is your Internet speed too slow to keep up with your online needs? It may be time to upgrade your home Internet service.” These is important today because more people today go on the web to stream HD movies, stream music, and download their purchases.
1. http://www.speedtest.net/
2. http://homes.yahoo.com/news/what-is-your-internet-speed.html
The internet has allowed politics into our social lives. For example, campaigns now utilize social networking sites to interact with you on a personal level either directly or through your own personal network.
ReplyDeleteHow many political posts did we all see on Facebook during this last election? How many of us shared articles, statuses or information about candidates with our friends/family through Facebook? I know I was guilty of it this last cycle.
I think their have been both positive and negative changes. For example, I've read a number of articles specifically about how the internet is making it more difficult to find long term, committed relationships(http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/06/is-online-dating-destroying-love). On the other side of the coin you see online dating sites advertising their success stories. It reminds me of my favorite quote 'Happiness is not the absence of conflict but the ability to cope with it'.
We've seen this true throughout history. Whenever there is a new technology or advancement with the benefits comes a new series of challenges. I think we have to decide whether the positives out weigh the negatives.
With the rate at which the internet is growing and how fast technology is advancing I have no idea where the internet will be. I think major cities will have free streaming internet for all people. The internet will essentially become like public drinking fountains...