The Internet and Democracy Project
December 10th, 2007 — inanafricanminuteThe Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School announces the Internet and Democracy Project, an initiative that will examine how the Internet influences democratic norms and modes, including its impact on civil society, citizen media, government transparency, and the rule of law, with a focus on the Middle East. Through a grant of $1.5 million from the US Department of State’s Middle East Partnership Initiative, the Berkman Center will undertake the study over the next two years in collaboration with its extended community and institutional partners. As with all its projects, the Berkman Center retains complete independence in its research and other efforts under this grant.
The goal of this work is to support the rights of citizens to access, develop and share independent sources of information, to advocate responsibly, to strengthen online networks, and to debate ideas freely with both civil society and government. These subjects will be examined through a series of case studies in which new technologies and online resources have influenced democracy and civic engagement. The project will include original research and the identification and development of innovative web-based tools that support the goals of the project. The team, led by Project Director Bruce Etling, will draw on communities from around the world, with a focus on the Middle East.
“Around the world, citizens are using the Internet to affect democracies in intriguing and important ways,” said co-Principal Investigator John Palfrey, Executive Director of the Berkman Center. “But we don’t have a precise view of how this dynamic works. With the Middle East as our primary focus, our goal is to shed light on this phenomenon in constructive ways.”
“We want to help develop and test simple, lightweight tools for civic engagement online – tools that facilitate coordination among people who share a common cause, and good faith dialogue among people who disagree,” said co-Principal Investigator, Jonathan Zittrain, co-founder of the Berkman Center and Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford University.
This project is building on the experience of diverse Berkman Center initiatives aimed at examining the extent to which the Internet is fostering or undermining democratic institutions and processes around the world. Through the generous support of other donors, the Berkman Center has undertaken projects that include: the H2O Project, which promotes the wide accessibility of academic discourse and teaching materials online; the Citizen Media Law Project, whose mission is to provide legal training and resources for individuals and organizations involved in citizen media as well as provide research and advocacy on free speech, newsgathering, intellectual property, and other legal issues related to citizen media, and; the OpenNet Initiative, which analyzes and documents Internet censorship and surveillance regimes worldwide, jointly with the University of Cambridge, the Oxford Internet Institute, and the University of Toronto.
Click Here
May 30th, 2008 at 6:16 am
People o Internet and Democracy.
Please look below. Mexico is crumbling on a fratricide war. Mexican government is suposedly against drug- trafic, and for that sake, thousands of soldiers and militarized police agents perpetrate de public space. The constant is “violence”, we are getting closer to the Colombian experience of society. Since all this happens, the US Administration tries to hold a bi-lateral agenda with the mexican president, to enhance our government with more weapons and war clauses.
The problem is that we are getting on a warfare panorama with no signs of relief. Normal people at Mexico has not any opportunitiy for change. This is the reason why thousands go to your country to find some decent job. The other people choose between starving and moral stagnation. Drug trafic becomes a social engine in a place with no opportunities.
So please, for the sake of democracy: people in the Senate, in the Congress, among the institutions of the civil society: we all have to talk about the retorics of American Government and the consequences in warfare scenarios on other countries.
It would be healthy for our moral standars that at least admit the reason of many people who reject the wardrobe rethorics on the Amercian Administration, and the devatating consequences on other countries.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Hi,
This is one of the project that really captured my attention, since the middle east is facing the democratization effect through the world of the internet, I myself did a research about democracy in the UAE, the past, present and future, if you are interested, I will be glad to help with any research needed.
October 20th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Yes, the middle East may be a good target to focus your research on. But there are some very interesting occurings happening in my country pertaining to the democracy and the Internet. Amazngly, since www was introduced here, it has literally changed the way people view freedom, and have significantly upset the governing party. we are expecting major upheavals in the enxt election and obviously the factor that brought about this change is the WWW. It is amazing since the ruling party has never changed ever since we attain independance.
In a world where democracy is proclaimed as the guiding proinciple and yet practices the dreaded ISA(Internal Security Act), the WWW gives poeple a new media to express their views and dissatisfactions.
October 24th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I copy your project release to my web site.
Please forget me what I did and I much ask permission from you.
I am sorry for this.
aung
Burma
May 2nd, 2009 at 5:28 pm
The really unique video for Human Rights
that goes around the globe those days :
http://www.vimeo.com/4324823