Panel Discusses Influence of Internet on Democracy

"Now everyone gets a say, and that's a good thing."

The Mass. Humanities' Eighth Annual Fall Symposium entitled "Cyberspace & Civic Space: The Influence of the Internet on Our Democracy," was held in Robsham Theater on Saturday, to question the validity of statements like this, made by Boston Globe Technology Reporter Hiawatha Bray.

Mass. Humanities describes itself as a "programming and grant-making organization that receives support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and private sources." The organization "supports programs that use history, literature, philosophy, and the other humanities disciplines to enhance and improve civic life throughout the Commonwealth."

Saturday's symposium brought together 10 panelists, including Bray, as well as three moderators for three separate conversations about the Internet's impact on politics, society, and culture. The general questions addressed at the event were "How can we ensure that cyberspace allows room for a safe and robust civic space?" as well as "Is the Internet's potential to educate and empower citizens being thwarted in deliberate and unintended ways?"

The afternoon opened with introductions from Mass. Humanities board members, including Ben Birnbaum, who is also the executive director of Boston College's Office of Marketing and Communications. The three conversations followed. Each was 75 minutes long, and included 20 minutes for questions from audience members at the end, though the conversations of passionate panelists often cut into the time allotted for audience participation. Each session followed a similar format. Once the moderator and panelists had taken their seats on Robsham's stage, the moderator would launch into introductions of the panelists and then give an opening statement that was designed to raise questions about the influence of the Internet on either democracy, society, or culture. Each panelist would then respond to this opening statement and present his or her views on the subject in general. The moderator would then ask questions of the panelists until time ran out.

The moderators and panelists represented a variety of fields, with members of the group containing scholars, writers, activists, and technological innovators. Moderators included the award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker, Callie Crossley, and Cullen Murphy, author of Are We Rome?

Panelists included Eli Pariser, board president of the progressive political action committee and the website moveon.org; Virginia Heffernan, a writer for The New York Times; and Chris Csikszentmihalyi, cofounder of the Center for Future Civic Media at MIT.

Despite the separation of conversations into the subjects of politics, society, and culture, there were many common threads that ran through them. Bray summed up one of these links.

"Are we going to be civil decent people? This is not a question the Internet can answer," she said.

Many panelists brought the conversation back to the idea that the Internet's potential influence stems from its technology, but in the end its influence is controlled by how human beings decide to use the technology.

Jonathan Zittrain, a law professor at Harvard Law School, pointed out an inherent problem with the public's use of the Internet.