POLIS 5027 - Politics of the Internet: Pluralism in Digital Age

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2014

The Internet has become the de facto medium for communication, both person-to-person, and on a broader canvas of publicity and mass communication. Social networking shows the power of the internet to blend these hitherto separate areas of activity into the one hybrid form: personal and yet impersonal. Convergence of technology has brought all manner of social engagement (music, film, even artistic installations) onto the Internet. With the advent of `smart-phones' and cheap Internet carriers such as Skype, telephony has become a crucial piece in broader puzzle. The global economy too has recognised the Internet's immense power, with platforms such as FaceBook gathering more customers than any business in history, and thereby creating a genuinely global market for services. These changes have enormous implications for the theory and practice of politics, citizenship, human rights, activism and policing. Changes are evident in communication between traditional politicians and their extended electorates, grass-roots social and political movements (GetUp!), the foundation of new forms of people-power in North Africa and the Middle East, or the spread of radicalisation for religious extremist causes. These disparate forms of politics co-habit in the one broad virtual world. This course explores the intriguing facets of the politics of the internet, bringing together scholars from Politics, Media and Intelligence Studies to do so.

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