Big Brother and Empowered Sisters: The Role of New Communication Technologies in Democratic Processes

This article offers highlights from a conference held in April 2008 to explore the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in enhancing participation in democratic processes. Hosted by the Collegium for Development Studies, based in Uppsala, Sweden, in collaboration with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the 2-day workshop attracted more than 100 participants from civil society, academia, and professionals. Amongst the topics they explored are networking and action among non-state actors, as well as easy and low-cost publication, independent of traditional channels for communication and power.

As author Helen Belcastro explains, the conference's title (the same as the title of her article) alludes on the one hand to problematic aspects of ICT such as increased registration and control, surveillance, disinformation, repression, and propaganda. Participants in the conference also pointed out that increased use of blogs, wikis, and web communities raises questions regarding privacy and personal integrity. Another point that emerged is the transient nature of users, which leads them to often gather around single-issue causes; however, "global endurance and collective action depend on focus, interest and limitations." Another example offered by one of the conference participants points to the way in which ICTs can be used to incite violence, and can elude containment efforts. For instance, during post-election turmoil in Kenya in late 2007, the government's efforts to curtail bloodshed by banning local live news broadcasting was futile. The ban gave birth to the concept of "mobile reporters" - those using SMS and websites to publish incidents and update news. According to the presenter, the government countered what they considered instigating messages with their own blanket SMS messages advocating for non-violence and for peace, as did citizens.

On the other hand, she explains, the conference title refers to the potential and existing possibilities for individual citizens and civil society in terms of using the new technologies to foster democracy. Some of the examples she provides here involve communication, horizontal networking, protest, surveillance, mobilisation, interaction, and banking, among others. Innovative use of mobile phone and the internet in tumultuous situations has in some cases helped guarantee the right to freedom of expression and the right to information. Several specific initiatives mentioned by the participants highlight the uses of ICTs by specific "groups", such as the Women's Candidacy Initiative (Malaysian woman campaigning for increased women's participation in the parliament using ICTs) and Take Back the Tech (network inviting women to harness the technology so often used against them in order to promote non-violence) and as tools for social movements (e.g., Latin American migrant workers using mobile telephony in the United States to send out messages of collective action).

In light of the above-mentioned pitfalls and promises, one participant from the Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights urged caution in developing an information society, noting that it is not only younger generations who should take on the challenges of ICTs. Along these lines, Belcastro concludes that, "[d]iscussion during the workshop suggested that...to achieve effective use of ICT, it is people and the context in which we live which should determine factors in the application of technology, and not the other way around. ICT should relate to already existing needs and patterns of communication rather than impose new ones."

Click here for more information about the conference, including transcripts by the presenters.