There are several discussions and musical performances taking place at the New Museum in conjunction with “The Generational: Younger Than Jesus.” Posts labeled “Advance Prep” offer suggested reading, listening, or watching that might help set the context for the events.
“Networked Equality,” a conversation between Farai Chideya and Ethan Zuckerman that will be moderated by Brian Sholis, will take place on May 30 at 3PM. Both speakers have websites worth visiting: Click here for Farai Chideya’s homepage and blog, and click here for Ethan Zuckerman’s blog.
Related reading includes “Texting Toward Utopia?” in the March/April 2009 issue of the Boston Review. In this article, author Evgeny Morozov asks whether the Internet spreads democracy:
Could it be that changes in the Web over the past six years—especially the rise of social networking, blogging, and video and photo sharing—represent the flowering of the Internet’s democratizing potential? This thesis seems to explain the dynamics of current Internet censorship: sites that feature user–generated content—Facebook, YouTube, Blogger—are especially unpopular with authoritarian regimes. A number of academic and popular books on the subject point to nothing short of a revolution, both in politics and information (see, for example, Antony Loewenstein’s The Blogging Revolution or Elizabeth Hanson’s The Information Revolution and World Politics, both published last year). Were the cyber–optimists right after all? Does the Internet spread freedom?
The answer to this question substantially depends on how we measure “freedom.”
Morozov has also launched a new blog for the website of Foreign Policy magazine, called Net Effect.
Another article, titled “Africa, Offline: Waiting for the Web,” was published July 22, 2007, in the New York Times:
Attempts to bring affordable high-speed Internet service to the masses have made little headway on the continent. Less than 4 percent of Africa’s population is connected to the Web; most subscribers are in North African countries and the republic of South Africa.
A lack of infrastructure is the biggest problem. In many countries, communications networks were destroyed during years of civil conflict, and continuing political instability deters governments or companies from investing in new systems. E-mail messages and phone calls sent from some African countries have to be routed through Britain, or even the United States, increasing expenses and delivery times. About 75 percent of African Internet traffic is routed this way and costs African countries billions of extra dollars each year that they would not incur if their infrastructure was up to speed.
Click through to the article to see a chart depicting the number of mobile phone and Internet users in Africa.
