Having so much information is often overwhelming

Creating and updating new information instantly online themselves, youth have more at their fingertips than ever before. We are better informed about the world, giving us more information to make better decisions. Such information is hardly cut and dried facts and data, its interactive learning with other real-time users about both current and historic situations. While this decreases the amount of paper information, the influence of this instantaneous access is extraordinarily wide. With the dissemination of information happening around the globe in less than a second, it has both positive and negative repercussions.

Having so much information is often overwhelming. Deciphering what is true and legitimate and what is not is often the hardest part of the process. The freedom of information act, and ownership of the information on the Internet are both highly contentious issues that are currently being debated.

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We’ve arrived in Eibar and we’re treated with football tickets from the Mayor

Can participatory culture shape public opinion?

The 2008 presidential campaign in the United States was full of examples of parody used to spread a message of change and mobilize voters. But average citizens are also now more aware of the possibility to modify and circulate images and related messages also when it comes to protest against politicians … read more

Youth culture, democracy and the media

Media (il)literacy in youth culture is important for many reasons, and a light-hearted treatment of the effect of the mass media in the educational sector can lead to undesirable outcomes.

The following paper talks about  how two teacher-educators use the mass media in their teaching to stimulate reflection and engagement on the part of present and future teachers.

http://www.rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/cho4255w9.htm

Some funny videos about democracy

I think that we have to bring in some funny things in the discussion. It´s  funny but on the other side
there is also a serious side about democracy in the videos.

Add yours and feel free to comment:)

Related News: The importance of multilingualism

Are representative democracy and participative democracy mutually exclusive?

Certainly not! Representative democracy is a necessity. It is simply impossible to imagine a system in which everybody would decide everything. Therefore, the decision making power invested in each individual must be delegated to a “representative”. The correlation is that the person who gives the mandate must control how his/her representative acts on his/her behalf. The mere act of controlling would already imply “participation”. Most people shy away from involving themselves already at this stage. Indeed, controlling implies understanding, formulating and discussing ideas, creating and maintaining a relationship between oneself and the person (Councilor, MP, etc.) to whom one gives a mandate. Participative democracy appears therefore as an ideal, which everybody talks about but very few are prepared to take seriously.

Go through this!

Please have a look to these interesting documents with comments about:

Creating Publics With Search Engines
The problem with “civic”: a snapshot of young people’s civic engagements in 21st century democracies
Divided Youth in the Digital Age: Two Paradigms of Citizen Identity and Civic Education
Citizen Calling – Unlocking the role of mobile phones in the parliamentary process

War to win over Britain’s first-time voters

Click here for the recent Agence France-Presse report on young people and democracy. In the latter part I was interviewed regarding digital media and democracy. Let me know what you think and let’s get some interesting coversations started.

Participating requires being informed

Participating in a democratic process means being informed. Most people do not bother informing themselves. For my part, I have chosen to follow closely what the European institutions are up to and how they impact our lives. Here are a few websites that provide news from a European perspective:

- EurActiv: general news about the EU

- EUObserver: general news about the EU and national news relevant from a broader European perspective

- VoteWatch: this website tracks all activities of all members of the European Parliament – a very nice tool to inform oneself about what our individual MEPs are up to

- Notre Europe: a think tank founded by Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission – many interesting and thoughtful contributions (for French speakers!) – a list of think tanks throughout Europe is available here.

- The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS): another European think tank