The Real ‘Twitter Revolution’

Now that citizens all around the world have access to efficient and cheap communications technology, we have entered an age where anyone can get their message out, however small, however ambitious, and get the attention of those that they may previously have been ignored by. We have new tools which flatten the media landscape, and …

Cyberspace: the Safe Harbour

Cyberspace has become a safe harbour; a welcoming place for most, where the possibility of  anonymity facilitates the expression of desires, needs or actions which are too hard to express or simply prohibited by society or law in real life. This 'safety' can cause problems for lawmakers and gatekeepers, whose traditional view of networks and …

Why Networks Matter

We are all caught up in multiple networks, even if we don't know that's where we are. Social networks connect us through who we know, and what we do with those people, a pattern of connection lain over life linking us through friends and family. Online, we are freed by constraints such as distance, and …

Changing Forms of Participation: Part 5

Informative and organizational function is facilitated by both Twitter and Facebook, combining to generate a forum for young people to express their political beliefs. For example, a group of young individuals have used Facebook to stimulate debate about current major party policies towards immigration and change the attitudes of the general public towards migrants and …

Changing Forms of Participation: Part 4

The transformation of communication and entertainment technologies into predominantly social forms of engagement and socially conscious political expression throughout the 1990s to the 2010s has provided young people with new and innovative ways to engage in what Gotlieb and Wells call ‘lifestyle politics’ (2012). Generation Y are incorporating their political and cultural beliefs into their …

Changing Forms of Participation: An Essay

As the populations of democratic countries across the world become disillusioned with their political leaders, within governments that rely on short-term policies and dishonest, uninspiring representation, it is no surprise that the youth are similarly disillusioned and finding that their thoughts and feelings are either misrepresented or ignored. Young generations have started voicing their dissatisfaction …