Citizen participation is booming, especially the number of urban bottom-up initiatives where information and communication technologies (ICT) are deployed is increasing rapidly. This growth is good news for society as recent historical research shows that the more citizens actively and persistently interfere with public issues, the more likely a society will be resilient. And yet, at the same time, a growing number of scholars argue that due to the unprecedented impact of ICT, the public sphere is at stake. How to understand both trends? How do the anti-‘public sphere’ developments relate to the growing number of citizens’ initiatives using ICT? And if these citizen initiatives can indeed be understood as manifestations of public spheres, how can ICT foster or hinder the development of these public spheres? These questions will be explored by analyzing a Dutch citizen initiative called ‘Buuv’ (an online ‘market’ place for and by local residents) from a ‘public sphere’ perspective. The author will turn to The human condition (1958) of Hannah Arendt in order to elaborate a ‘public sphere’ perspective. An Arendtian perspective (as any perspective) highlights, however, some aspects and underexposes other aspects. Furthermore, chances are that Arendt’s thoughts are somewhat outdated, in the sense that we now live in a world where the online and the offline life intertwine — an experience that is referred to with the term ‘onlife’. Bearing these remarks in mind, the author will elaborate on the value of Arendt’s ideas to 1) the endeavor of understanding current trends in society—more urban bottom-up initiatives and anti-‘public sphere’ developments due to the broad uptake of ICT—and 2) the endeavor of revitalizing the public sphere in an onlife world. IEEE copyright
MULTIFILE
Stichting SURF, de ict-samenwerkingsorganisatie van het hoger onderwijs en onderzoek, organiseerde in november 2003 de SURF Onderwijsdagen 2003. De SURF Onderwijsdagen zijn bedoeld voor iedereen die betrokken is bij ict in het (hoger) onderwijs. Naast uitgebreide sessies was er een informatiemarkt waarop bedrijven en instellingen voor hoger onderwijs hun producten en diensten presenteerden. Het thema dit jaar was 'Voorbij de vernieuwing'. In zes parallelsessies vonden meer dan vijftig presentaties plaats.
ICT is niet goed, slecht of neutraal, maar hoe ICT wordt ingezet maakt een wereld van verschil. Het is daarom essentieel dat studenten niet alleen worden opgeleid tot vaardige systeembouwers, maar ook tot kritische professionals die de bredere impact van hun diensten en producten meewegen in hun voorstellen en keuzes. Joris Gresnigt, Marlies van Steenbergen en Elwin Salvelsbergh laten zien hoe dat binnen een ICT-opleiding kan.
LINK
