Second Renaissance

Proposed by Douglas Rushkoff

Discussion

Presentation by Vasilis Kostakis:

"Rushkoff (2003, p. 63) demonstrates that the current political structures can be changed:

- Transparency in media makes information available to those who never had access to it before. Access to media technology empowers those same people to discuss how they might want to change the status quo. Finally, networking technologies allow for online collaboration in the implementation of new models, and the very real-world organisation of social activism and relief efforts. The good news, for those within the power structure today, is that we are not about to enter a phase of revolution, but one of renaissance. We are heading not towards a toppling of the democratic, parliamentary or legislative processes, but towards their reinvention in a new, participatory context.

He considers the modern information age (2007) as a second Renaissance:

… printing press, perspective, extended metaphor, circumnavigation of the globe, re-invention of the ‘individual’, the beginnings of calculus all find their modern parallels in the internet, holography, hypertext, orbiting the globe, re-invention of the collective, the beginnings of systems theory…. old, repressed ideas, like the value of collaboration and cooperation, are being reborn in the next context of connectivity. These are ideas that have been pretty well squelched since the first renaissance, which celebrated individuality and the power of competition.

During the first renaissance people were transformed from passive recipients into active interpreters of the world. In the current renaissance people are playing a new role, the role of author, the role of creator (Rushkoff, 2003). The ICTs, or what Rushkoff calls interactive media, give us the tools to develop collective narratives while connecting to each other. In a network, information based society (see Castells 2000, 2003 for an apt analysis of the network society and Bauwens, 2005; Bell, 1976, 1978; Benkler, 2006 concerning the movement towards post-industrial society) in which a participatory, open and free culture is emerging, societies aspire towards “a highly articulated and dynamic body politic: a genuinely networked democracy, capable of accepting and maintaining a multiplicity points of view” (Rushkoff, 2003, p. 51). The promise of this ‘networked democracy’ lies in encouraging broader participation and taking advantage of the collective wisdom and the intelligence of the crowds. According to Jenkins et al. (2006) the ICTs induce the participatory culture that contains low barriers to civic participatory engagement and activism as well as new forms of social connection, solidarity and collectivism."

Source

From the draft version of:

THE ADVENT OF OPEN SOURCE DEMOCRACY AND WIKIPOLITICS Vasilis Kostakis, Institute of Public Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate Tee 5, 19086, Tallinn, Estonia

References:

Rushkoff, D. (2007) “Commons: Creating an Alternative Value System”, Republic Journal at http://www.re-public.gr/en/?p=85> (retrieved 3 December 2008).

Rushkoff, D. (2003) Open Source Democracy. How Online Communication is Changing Offline Politics, London: Demos.