Campbell, S., & Kwak, N. (2011). Mobile Communication and Civic Life. The Routledge Companion to Mobile Media.
It certainly can, and has, but not to the extent that it will. There are many examples of where civic engagement has been added in ways never before thought possible, especially with locative (or location-aware technologies). I have been involved in this fantastic project by Eric Gordon and Paul Mihailidis called Civic Media Project, http://civicmediaproject.org/works/civic-media-project/index, which offers many high-quality examples. I think these are just the beginning of the ways in which technologies will change how we (as members of the public) interact with governments and other institutions. There are four sections to this project: Play + Creativity, Systems + Design, Learning + Engagement, and Community + Action, all of which are filled with compelling examples. But I also think many, many opportunities are being missed. Part of that issue is related to the digital divide, and adoption issues (not everyone has access to the same tools), part of that is related to tech wars over proprietary systems (companies are trying to keep people on their systems, rather than operate openly), part of that is simply related to the newness of all of this, and how we are just starting to become aware of the possibilities.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Social Science
- Media