Digital New World

by Rosemari


The impacts of digital technology has changed the way our society receives and participates with news and information on a daily basis. 

These developments provide the connected individuals access to an abundance of information and, for the first time, its dissemination is completely free. According to the Pew Institute’s Internet and American Life Project report, “In this new multi-platform media environment, people’s relationship to news is becoming portable, personalized and participatory.” 

The Center for Social Media at American University in Washington D.C. examines the deeper ideological roots of such theories. “A healthy democracy includes spaces and tools for members of the public to have informed conversations about issues of public significance and what to do about them.” 

Here Comes Everybody Cover

Digital optimists, including Clay Shirky in his 2009 book Here Comes Everybody,  tout that this that the new abilities to share information will harvest an evolved world based on this democratic standard. As long as an individual has access to the Internet, he or she can learn, share and grow, regardless of some of the socio-economic factors that have historically set limitations for specific individuals or groups of people.


And organizations like The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy have formed to level the digital playing field as part of this step towards social equality. “The advent of the Internet and the proliferation of mobile media are unleashing a torrent of innovation in the creation and distribution of information. Those who possess and know how to use sophisticated computing devices interact ever more seamlessly with a global information network,” according a report released in 2009. 

So, how does this impact a community? 

In the Aspen Institute report, The Rise of Collective Intelligence observes that “online communities often are rich sources of innovative ideas, specialized knowledge, timely and sophisticated market intelligence, and niche consumer demand…this decentralized value-creation is occurring online—and therefore is widely available—it is capable of diffusing rapidly and disrupting entrenched institutions and societal practices.” 

Shirky discusses the implications for political organizing, “The power to coordinate otherwise dispersed groups will continue to improve; new social tools are still being invented and however minor they seem, any tool that improves shared awareness or group coordination can be pressed into service for political means, because the freedom to act in a group is inherently political.” 

More recent research from the Pew from January 2011, found that “it is hard to underestimate the impact of social media and Internet use on group engagement.” This relationship is confirmed in regression analyses when other important factors such as age, education, income, personal efficacy, religiosity, and trust are controlled.
In fact, among all of these key predictors of online behavior and group involvement, being a social network site and Twitter user and daily Internet use are among the most powerful predictors of whether people perceive the Internet as having a major impact on their ability to find groups that match their interests, bring others into their groups, keep up with the groups they belong to, organize group activities, contribute money or volunteer their time, and even create their own groups.