Bursting the technology bubble
Throughout our experiment so far, we have been asking for people to vote on a number of issues on the website.
The internet and the use of online voting are often cited as the big solution to all problems with democracy, or so Stephen Fry believes.
He told the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's Digital Revolution programme that new technology will change things forever.
It used to be the ballot box was the way people expressed themselves... But I think that is the next challenge for democracy is to use the fact that [the internet] surely is the way that we can harness the will of the people.
On the same programme, internet technology expert offered a different opinion:
If by democracy... you mean the contending of political ideas - in such a way that an outcome is reached and it balances the rights of the minority with the rights of the majority - the web is not democratic at all.Because, the kind of democratic structures you need are things like 'everybody gets to vote but each person only gets one vote' [and on the internet] we can't even tell who anybody is.
We have spent some time with and a group of people without easy access to the internet. They wouldn't really participate with a vote happening online.
So far from the internet being the voice of the people, the internet is offering a voice to a specific section of society.
To polarise this view further, one just has to look towards those using Twitter.
and polling organisation YouGov recently tried to uncover the political make up of the British Twitter community.
This poll says those using Twitter are younger and significantly more liberal than an average member of the population.
If all homes can get broadband by 2012 - as set out in the report - then it seems obvious that the gap between the representation of different sectors online will grow smaller.
But Lord Carter, author of the report, that there would be 25-30% of the country where "there will be no economic case for building a next generation fixed network".
So, until everyone in the country has easy access to the internet, is it really fair to assume that democracy can flourish in a digital age where the playing field is far from even?
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