Participatory Media,
Participatory Democracy
How national governments have responded
to the challenges of outspoken citizens

JUNE 1989 AUGUST 2007
“INFORMATION IS THE OXYGEN OF THE MODERN “IT IS TIME TO STOP THE ANARCHY ON THE
AGE. IT SEEPS THROUGH THE WALLS TOPPED BY INTERNET. WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS GREAT
BARBED WIRE, IT WAFTS ACROSS THE TECHNOLOGICAL ACHIEVEMENT OF MAN TO BE
ELECTRIFIED BORDERS, THE GOLIATH OF TURNED INTO AN INFORMATION GARBAGE
TOTALITARIANISM WILL BE BROUGHT DOWN BY HEAP.”
THE DAVID OF THE MICROCHIP.”

1979 - Participatory Media (USENET)

Archived, Persistent, Linkable

1984 BBSes - Precursor to Web Forums

1989 - The Hyperlink

Formatted ‘hypertext’ or HTML

Exponential Service Growth: Easier, Cheaper

Web 2.0 Easier, Cheaper, Faster ...

... and global.

Exponential Blog Growth

How Have Governments
Responded?

Egyptian blogger jailed for four years for
insulting President Mubarak and Islam

Two Thais arrested in Thailand for comments
posted about the Thai king

China: Over 50 known jailed cyber-activists

Myanmar: Internet severed to suppress
protests

Turkey: WordPress and YouTube Blocked

Thailand: YouTube Blocked for videos
ridiculing the king

Barbados: Calls for regulation

Malaysia: Discrediting Bloggers

City of Buenos Aires Official Blog - Bridging
the Blogosphere and City Government

Chile’s most popular blogger - Senator
Fernando Flores

Chile 2001 Elections - All Candidates Had
Blogs

Citizen-led Presidential Debates
http://www.youtube.com/debates

Iran: Even Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a
blog.

Cambodian King was his nation’s first
blogger. Since then ...

Cambodia gets publicity on CNN and
hundreds of other news outlets

Ecuador: President Rafael Correa has a
YouTube channel and blog

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa: Videoblogger
http://acuerdopais.com/blogs/rafael_correa/

Gilberto Gil: Brazilian Minister of Culture and
Free Culture advocate

State-owned Agencia Brasil links back to all
blogs discussing their articles

US Senators and Representatives with
weblogs. Also: Los Angeles Police Department

How Has Civil Society
Responded?

Mzalendo (‘Patriot’ in Swahili)
http://mzalendo.com/

Kenya: Explanation and commentary on
every bill

Tech President
http://techpresident.com/

New Election Metrics

They Work For You
UK-based watchdog site

Atina Chile: From Conversation to Legislation

Open Congress - US philanthropy
foundations are funding such projects

Campaign contributions and voting records
of every Californian politician

Incentives for
governments to support
blogging

Botswana Blog invited to the UN Global
Conference on ICT and Youth for Development

Investors are Blog Addicts

Next Step: Act

US $5 Million for Citizen Media Projects
www.newschallenge.org

To Conclude:
Fear Factor Versus Tipping Point