It is no surprise that, just like very
other aspect of our lives, education is now a large part of the online world.
As everybody is constantly online, it is only fair to say that a new way of
being educated has developed on this media platform as well. Not only do
children have access to programs such as Mathletics - “the next generation in
learning”, but have the freedom to be
able to search anything and have results in seconds. This technological
development has given us the opportunity to learn more from being able to
access information online. This can also be said in regards to the government
and how live broadcasting has given us an insight into what we may not have
known about before.
The readings this week link
specifically to the governments and how having online access to information has
led to people having a greater understanding of important issues. An example of
this is Gov 2.0 as a way of having digital interactions between a government and citizens. The Australian
government website for Gov 2.0 suggest that “agencies can use Government 2.0 tools to engage
with the public and publish more data online”. (http://www.gov2.com.au/about-gov-2/).
Having accessibility to such vital information in regards to the government has
been linked to the idea of a ‘transparency movement’, whereby personally and
once private data is published online and can be viewed by the public. This
transparency is what has pushed people into an era of not just being a by
standing, but being someone who can have complete coverage of a particular idea
( http://www.newrepublic.com/article/books-and-arts/against-transparency?page=0,0#
).
Another example of the media giving light to issues that may not have
otherwise been seen by the public is when protests and rallies are broadcasted
by the media for the world to see, eg the protests and political unrest in
Egypt. Without live broadcasting or online video streams, the general public
would not have complete access to who is protesting and what they are
protesting about. If there was not this online presence, the only way we would
hear about it would be via the news or newspaper, which not doubt has less of
an impact that if we were to be watching live either online of on a television
broadcast.
This type of ‘media event’ has been used by communications scholars
Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz as they “argued that certain events depart from news events, and instead become
ceremonial occurrences that are treated with reverence by broadcasters (and by,
today, the online community)”. As well as this, while media events are
cast so that we are more aware of what is happening, Dayan and Katz argue that media
events “intervene in the normal flow of broadcasting and our lives…Television
events propose exceptional things to think about, to witness, and to do.” With
the broadcasts of networks such as Al Jazeera and CNN, the images of protests
like the ones in Egypt have led to it being portrayed to the public as an ‘historic
moment’ (http://www.niemanlab.org/2011/02/how-egypts-uprising-is-helping-redefine-the-idea-of-a-media-event/
).
There is no doubt online media and live broadcasts have led us to be a
more active public in regards to how easy it is to be in contact with world
issues that are happening around us. It is a way that we can educate ourselves without
even leaving the comfort of our home. As technology progresses, it will incorporate
every remaining aspect of our lives. Whether we choose to embrace it or not is
entirely up to us.
Transversally
References:
Lessig, L, 2009, Against Transparency
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