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

“INFORMATION IS THE OXYGEN OF THE MODERN AGE. IT SEEPS THROUGH THE WALLS TOPPED BY BARBED WIRE, IT WAFTS ACROSS THE ELECTRIFIED BORDERS, THE GOLIATH OF TOTALITARIANISM WILL BE BROUGHT DOWN BY THE DAVID OF THE MICROCHIP.”

JUNE 1989 AUGUST 2007“IT IS TIME TO STOP THE ANARCHY ON THE INTERNET. WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS GREAT TECHNOLOGICAL ACHIEVEMENT OF MAN TO BE TURNED INTO AN INFORMATION GARBAGE HEAP.”

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 Debateshttp://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: Videobloggerhttp://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 Presidenthttp://techpresident.com/

New Election Metrics

They Work For YouUK-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 Projectswww.newschallenge.org

To Conclude:Fear Factor Versus Tipping Point