Some people want us to do the wrong thing. They would have us destroy ourselves, as long as it benefited them. The easiest way for these power-mongers to control us is to limit our access to information. We, the people, need to develop a communication system that provides us with the best information possible; we need as much information as possible, we need it to be as accurate as possible, and we need it to be presented in usable form. To create a system that serves us well, we must make sure that it is controlled by us and not some special interest that could seek to undermine our decision-making ability.
Our communication system has radically changed in the past few decades. I suspect that the core communication technologies (transmission, storage, etc) will soon be practically perfect, so that change may slow down. However, the way that we use these technologies is still changing rapidly and will continue to do so for quite awhile.
I will repeatedly return to this theme while writing for this blog. In fact, Eternal Vigilance itself is an experiment in communication. I don't know where the "information revolution" will take us, but am going to try to make something good out of it. This will affect every aspect of our society--commerce, politics, and even religion--so we need to pay attention to it.
What we can do:
Directly: Start producing and consuming citizen-centered media.
- Learn how to use web syndication tools. It's not hard. Try the Thunderbird mail client.
- Find independent information sources that you would like to hear from. Find their XML feed, and sign up. Sign up for the Eternal Vigilance XML feed. I would like to collect a list of feeds from websites that produce a low volume of high quality content regarding specific issues that relate to the focus of Eternal Vigilance. Please let me know of any.
- If you care about some issue, educate yourself and start a blog here at Blogger. Post a comment here, and tell anyone who you think might be interested.
- You may enjoy this video from the Museum of Media History, speculating on the future of our media systems. (Slashdot article)
- Check out the WikiMedia foundation: Wikipedia is their flagship project, while Wikinews is their newest and most ambitious project. (Slashdot article)
- Pay attention to manipulative techniques used in media. A common technique is to distort the meaning of words, or use words in an ambiguous way. This can have particularly strong effects on the meaning of statistical information. Media producers may also include non-verbal cues or unspoken assumptions.
Remember to tell me about any blogs that complement Eternal Vigilance.
Related topics:
Thinking aids, Citizen-centered media, Media Manipulation
No comments:
Post a Comment