Questions on citizenship and the Internet

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#1

Hi Audrey, I am Gwenyth Wang, Taipei-based PhD candidate researching on the notion of citizenship in a digitally connected society. Grateful your insight on my following questions:

  1. The Internet and technologies have created a new public space for politically oriented conversation. When the Internet provides people with an environment that is both privately public and publicly private, what is your take on whether this environment can offer today’s citizens a digital public sphere?
  2. When the privatisation of media and growing home-based entertainment are dominating today’s converged media environment, how can the government ensure that the concept of citizenship will not become too far away or irrelevant to people’s daily lives?
  3. A virtual space does not guarantee democratic and rational discourse. As Taiwan prides itself as one of Asia’s democratic beacons, do you think that the Taiwanese society can utilise the democratizing potential of the internet and facilitate greater, but not necessarily more diverse, participation in political discussion?
    Many thanks in advance for answering my questions. Best regards, GW
#2
  1. Instead of “whether”, I would like to ask “how inclusive/diverse can we make this space?” It is all too easy to make an isolated space of a “token” public sphere that actually prevents stakeholders from building up mutual empathy — or indeed from meaningful participation. This is the focus of my work.
  2. Public participation is akin to a game with a purpose — i.e. it can be made a home-based entertainment too, and indeed need to incorporate social technologies developed in the private sector, and re-purpose it for public use.
  3. Why not more diverse? Please see http://goo.gl/3t8Uv9 ( a sketch of my colleague LÜ, Chia-Hua’s upcoming talk https://en.ogpsummit.org/osem/conference/ogp-summit/program/proposal/247 ) for an example in adopting assisted civic tech for public deliberation to increase diversity.
#3

Thank you so much for answering my questions patiently. :slight_smile: May you have a lovely day.