Sergio Amadeu da Silveira - Cidadania e Redes Digitais
Sergio Amadeu da Silveira - Cidadania e Redes Digitais
Sergio Amadeu da Silveira - Cidadania e Redes Digitais
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eng<br />
c i t i z e n s h i p a n d d i g i t a l n e t w o r k s<br />
No one had the consciousness of being Italian when the path from Venice to Naples<br />
was arduously trod by walking or by horse. One could be Venetian or Neapolitan,<br />
but not Italian. When the trolley car shortened the distance between the cities,<br />
national consciousness started seeming natural. The world is reduced when time is<br />
shortened. And this transformation of time in space is much more radical nowa<strong>da</strong>ys,<br />
due to two fun<strong>da</strong>mental reasons.<br />
The first one is broadly known and accepted. Marshall McLuhan created the<br />
term global village to refer to this polis in which the dialogue is universal. Little<br />
knowledge is, nowa<strong>da</strong>ys, hidden from the worldwide public opinion. The telecommunications<br />
allow this dialogue, in which the figure of the “prosumer,” producer<br />
and consumer, appears, at the same time the knowledge flows through the Network.<br />
If the voice of the citizens is extended beyond the boun<strong>da</strong>ries of the polis, there is no<br />
reason to maintain a wall through which digital flows get past as easily as ghosts go<br />
through the walls of Scottish castles.<br />
The second reason refers to the qualitative transformation caused by the proliferation<br />
of peripheral knowledge within the Network. But, in addition to McLuhan,<br />
the most relevant phenomenon is not the possibility of everybody knowing what<br />
occurs on the other side of the planet. The novelty is that the situations occur in real<br />
time and place. The deed of instantaneously propagating the information of what is<br />
happening converts the receptors in spectators. As such, they have a role in the moment<br />
of defining or modifying the course of the occurrences. We saw, a few months<br />
ago, the popular proposals in the streets of Tehran in face of the polemic results of<br />
the latest elections for president. The international communication media was censored<br />
and the freedom of the movements of foreign reporters was reduced to their<br />
minimum expression. However, the results of police violence against demonstrators<br />
ran through the social networks. The movements of the students happened in an<br />
almost organic manner, when counting on such real time information. It is the birth<br />
of the digital ecosystem.<br />
The Network as an ecosystem and procommons<br />
Benkler (2003, 2006) defines the new surroundings as a digital environment<br />
formed by digital species (computer applications, operational systems, communication<br />
protocols, online services, business models etc.) mutually related by symbiotic<br />
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