Issue 1: Definition
What does the phrase “democratization of information” mean?
Democratization
Pronunciation: \di-mä-krə-tə-ˈzā-shən\ noun
- To make democratic
Democratic:
- of, relating to, or favoring democracy
- often capitalized; of or relating to one of the two major political parties in the United States evolving in the early 19th century from the anti-federalists and the Democratic-Republican party and associated in modern times with policies of broad social reform and internationalism
- relating to, appealing to, or available to the broad masses of the people (democratic art)
- favoring social equality : not snobbish
Source: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary - www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary
Study Questions
- What are the principles we use to define democratization?
- How do other societies define democratization?
- To what extent is there a democratization of information?
- How has the democratization of information determined the course of history?
- How have people acquired information through the generations?
- What are some historical examples of the democratization of information? What are some contemporary examples of the democratization of information?
- To what extent has the democratization of information been a force for change in the modern world?
- How might the definition of democratization of information have changed over time?
- To what extent has social networking altered the definition of the democratization of information?
- What factors affect our ability to process and understand information?
- To what extent is the democratization of information a prerequisite to leadership?
- In what ways have the methods with which people disseminated information changed over time?
- Does access to information ensure democratization? Are all citizens invested with equal power and do all enjoy legitimate liberties and freedoms?
Honors in Action
Around the World in Eighty Clicks
Investigation of the Honors Study Topic (Research): Choose six nations that you would like to “visit.” Research those nations and learn about their language and culture and the ways in which information is disseminated. Investigate the climate, economy, food, clothing, and media of the nations to determine the ways in which those factors influence the democratization of information. How do these nations define the democratization of information? What can we learn from the different ways they define it? What is the power, peril, and promise inherent in better understanding cultures that are different from our own?
Leadership Role(s): Organize a “Virtual World Tour” and offer opportunities for chapter members, students on campus who are not members of your chapter, fellow Phi Theta Kappa members at other colleges, faculty, and community members to tour with you. Lobby your college administration to offer credit courses involving international travel. Discuss the possibility of your college offering credit courses with a virtual travel component.
Leadership Development: Organize a workshop on articulating a vision for your virtual tour guides, so they can effectively encourage college and community members to join the chapter’s tours. Plan a training session about professional presentations before speaking with your college administration about developing credit courses that highlight travel.
Action: Organize a “Virtual World Tour” and, for your virtual visit, decorate your location to reflect the nation you are visiting. Serve local dishes and play local music. Invite a citizen of the nation to which you are virtually traveling to share his or her experiences with your group. At the first virtual destination, distribute “passports” that you will stamp each time a student takes a virtual trip with you. Organize an essay contest for students who travel with your chapter to the nations you researched. Formulate an essay topic that asks students to reflect upon their virtual travels, paying special attention to what they learned and how the virtual trips have inspired them to conduct either more virtual trips or to engage in real-time travel.
Collaboration:
- Chapter members
- Students on your college campus
- Fellow Phi Theta Kappa members beyond your chapter who participated in the virtual tours and the essay contest
- Staff of your college or local newspaper
- College administrators who discussed international education with the project’s leadership team
- Community members from nations selected for your virtual tour
Reflection: At the end of each virtual trip and at the end of the project, discuss the idea of virtual travel. How much information were you able to glean from your virtual travels. Did virtual travel encourage you to engage in actual travel? What was lost that can only be experienced through real-time travel? What did you learn about the democratization of information from your virtual travel? What would you change if you were to organize the project again?
The Great Debate
Investigation of the Honors Study Topic (Research): Organize a research team to explore issues related to the Honors Study Topic to determine which topic or topics best represent the ways in which students are affected by the democratization of information. What do we mean by the democratization of information? Which issues most affect the lives of students? Which issues are most likely to garner interest among students? What are the intersections between the issues that most affect and would most interest students on your campus? Develop a bibliography of potential sources for debaters to consult.
Leadership Role(s): Organize the elements of the debate, including articulating your vision, inviting students on campus and fellow Phi Theta Kappa members beyond your campus to participate in the debate, forming research teams to work with debaters as they prepare for the event, securing permissions from college administrators and support from campus faculty, and promoting both the debate and the panel discussion. Work with local middle school officials to share your results and organize a discussion of your topic and the concept of civil discourse with their students.
Leadership Development: Invite a faculty member from the Speech Communications Department and one from the Government Department to conduct a workshop for chapter members and debaters on research and debate methods. Ask them to help you better understand ways to organize an effective debate and to ensure the panel discussion afterwards furthers your appreciation of civil discourse.
Organize a workshop for your debate leadership team on goal setting and planning a major event. Work on a timeline that will help your team work on the elements of the project in a timely manner that allows members opportunities to enhance their leadership skills.
Action: Announce a debating competition to be held at your school. Select a timely and controversial topic, and draft a position statement concerning the topic. Debaters will then sign up to argue the pro or con position of the statement. Contact participants and tell them that they have been accepted to participate in the debate with one caveat: They must take the position opposite from the one they originally selected. Based on the number of debaters who accept, organize debating teams and use what you have learned in your research of the democratization of information to help them prepare for the event.
Hold and film the debate. Arrange to share your findings with middle school students. Discuss civility with these students. Model civil discourse to them and strategize on how they can become civil participants in society. Assist the middle school students in writing a pamphlet on civility that they can share with others.
Collaboration:
- Chapter members
- Students on campus beyond the chapter
- Fellow Phi Theta Kappa members from other local chapters
- Campus faculty and administrators
- Middle school students in your community
Reflection: Have the debaters ask themselves: Did my methods of evaluating information change once my position had to change? What preconceived notions do we bring to the table when evaluating information? Can we ever approach information from a “value neutral” perspective?
Afterwards, hold a roundtable discussion and talk about the process of preparing for the debate. How did the debaters gather their information? Did they find it difficult to research a position they did not hold? How many debaters who originally signed up to debate did not go forward with the project? Did anyone change his or her mind about the issue because of the research? How uncomfortable is it to argue for a position one does not hold personally? Focus the discussion on the idea of civility. Did the debate remain civil or uncivil? Did the twist thrown at the debaters increase or decrease the level of civility?
Compare your debate with the debates that take place on cable. Was your debate more or less civil than the typical television debate? Are television debates unnecessarily uncivil? Request to go on a local television news broadcast to share your results with others.
Bibliography
Stross, Randall. Planet Google: One Company’s Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know. 2008.
Stross takes a look at Google’s plan to organize the known information in the world for access by Internet users and raises questions about ambition, access, copyright, privacy, and the power of the company’s technology and vision.
Sunstein, Cass R. Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge. 2006.
Sunstein’s work is a good synthesis of the history and promise of the Internet and the ways in which the worldwide web has exceeded early expectations in terms of the democratization of information.
Weinberger, David. Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder. 2007.
Weinberger explores the ways in which the new digital order is reworking what we know and learn about the world.
Winters, Paul A. and Mary E. Williams. The Information Revolution: Opposing Viewpoints. 1998.
In this edition of the “Opposing Viewpoints”® series, the editors provide the “for” and “against” arguments to information–age dilemmas such as the right to privacy, the constitutionality of banning indecency on the Internet, and if the information revolution creates or eliminates jobs.
Zittrain, Jonathan. The Future of the Internet – and How to Stop It. 2008.
Zittrain examines the power, peril, and promise of the Internet and how its limitations may be overcome by users who have made a success of sites like Wikipedia.
