W12: W11 Unsymposium

The ideas I took away from this weeks unsymposium were mostly to do with the idea of the web being democratic…

Elliott said he thought the difference between democratic and not is mediation vs. protocol. He claims everyone has access to protocol so yes, in that sense it is democratic. A mediator would have to exist for it not to be democratic, such as the Great Firewall of China, but that’s not what Galloway is referring to.

Jasmine thought Galloway was trying to say that the internet isn’t as chaotic as people think it is, it’s organised through protocols and if these protocols were centralised and hierarchised they would fail. But they’re not and thus they are adaptable and that’s how things work.

Adrian thinks the web has never been democratic, because it was made by a bunch of wealthy white peeps in Cali (first world), but it is flat e.g. you can send emails to anyone, any time, anywhere.

I think there’s something in both arguments. The internet is designed as sort of a ‘people’s medium’ in that we can access it – but I agree with Adrian that this is more about flat-ness rather than democracy, as there are still issues of accessibility that link to privilege which keep it from being truly democratic or non-hierarchical.