Political Possibility!

Todays lecture was on the influence the internet has over contemporary democracy, presented by Stephen Stockwell.

Stephen discussed the role of opinion polling in elections.... a point he made was that scientific opinion polling does serve a purpose in contemporary politics by informing politicians about public opinion and in the most desirable of instances persuading political decision making.

An interesting concept discussed was the idea of the Athenian experience..... which I presume alludes to a time when greek philosphers like Aristotle and Plato's themes of democracy dominated. The contemporary Athenian experience refers to utopian ideals of the ability of the internet creating a place where everyone has the opportunity to get online and voice their opinions. Logic however, informs us that this is not the case.

The internet has created a shift in the political experience, what used to be secret is now more transparent. Social media sites like Twitter provide insight into political party rooms, with constant status updates informing the public as decisions are made. New technology, like Twitter, has the ability to get between gaps of institution and create new possibilities in understanding how politics work!

Overall, the internet provides the public with alot more opportunities to voice their opinion.