internet - openDemocracy (Page 55)

BBC beta – Any better?

The latest incarnation of the BBC website is a revealing insight into the institution's changing priorities. But what does the new, stark layout reveal about the influence of Government policy on public service broadcasting in the UK?

By Sam Caleb

/ 13 Jun 2012

Global, independent, watchdog media is good for business. And enlightened business should support it

Independent media throughout the world - but especially in the emerging world - is having to re-invent its business models. At the same time, the business sector benefits directly from the honest public sphere that watchdog media creates. There is room, therefore, for imaginative business solution

By Mark Lee Hunter

/ 10 Jun 2012

Trust, universalism and funding the BBC: video highlights of a debate with Greg Dyke

Video highlights of a debate over the future of the BBC with Greg Dyke, Lis Howell, Liz Forgan, Helena Kennnedy, David Elstein and Anthony Barnett, on trust, legitimacy, universalism and how to pay for them regarding Britain's public service broadcaster.

By Anthony Barnett

/ 9 Jun 2012

The BBC must join the fight for internet freedom: an open letter to the new DG

In an open letter to the BBC's future Director General, Nick Fraser, editor of the internationally renowned documentary series Storyville, calls for an embrace of online resources as the focus for a renewed strategy to defend liberty and assert long term vision.

By Nick Fraser

/ 7 Jun 2012

The age of impatience: towards a democracy of instant gratification?

By definition democracy is a permanent deception, as imminent problems are made manifest and no immediate response is offered to them. Moreover, pressure of this sort can only become stronger as the grass always looks greener on the other side of the web.

By Ivaylo Ditchev

/ 5 Jun 2012

Twicktivism: could the illusion of power be potent after all?

The criticism of clicktivism may be well founded - that it is a substitute for action, a feel-dummy that makes life easier for the perpetrators of injustice. The author reflects on his participation in recent bicycle activism to offer the optimistic twist that an illusion of power could give peopl

By Julian Sayarer

/ 24 May 2012

Fukushima: rumours, emotions and Rousseau’s general will in the digital age

In the digital age, how does government deal with rumour in a crisis? After Fukushima, the anti-rumour strategies of the Japanese government led some to question which party, the masses or the government was more involved in the dissemination of rumours. Dominant political thinking considers rumou

By Fabian Schäfer

/ 17 May 2012

Biopolitics, territories and signs of crisis in multinational network companies

There is still a solid social cushion in France if we compare it to other European countries. But the pressure for work-hour productivity – one of the highest in the world – oppresses generations of digital cognitive workers.

By Giorgio Griziotti

/ 10 May 2012

Motorman: Britain's other massive press scandal

As well as the Murdoch affair another huge scandal of illegal press intrusion in the UK has been exposed but not publicised. Will it take off? Or will the many vested interests kill it off? An exclusive, clear description.

By Brian Cathcart

/ 10 May 2012

The cost of knowledge: open sourcing and the ‘academic spring’

Academic publishing in the UK has conventionally been channelled through by a small number of companies who maintain high fees for journal subscriptions. But as open source software continues to provide high quality free alternatives for autodidacts and beyond, the lifespan of this model is increa

By James Appleton

/ 7 May 2012

Journalist or Citizen?

A short extract from the VociGlobali panel discussion at the Perugia journalism conference. Framed as an answer to James Curran's question: "Why has the Internet changed so little", the author proposes that the culprit was an optimistic confusion and causal reversal between Citizen and Journalist

By Tony Curzon Price

/ 6 May 2012

Global Civil Society and the rise of the civil economy

The last thirty years has seen the re-emergence of a civil economic challenge, side by side with the advance of globalisation, as a distinct strand in the development of global civil society. Don’t underestimate its longterm significance in the glacial shifts now taking place in the world economy.

By Robin Murray .

/ 3 May 2012