[Editorial Note: The following paper was presented in July 2010 at the Association for Heterodox Economics (AHE) Conference in Bordeaux, France. It was originally written to look at the lessons for economics that can be learned from the building of the Internet. I welcome comments, and debate on the issues it raises. Ronda]

Part I – Preface
In this paper I want to explore a paradigm different from that of the market, as the motivator of economic development. This model is a model that is scientifically oriented and based on the practices developed in technical and scientific research. It is a model that is open, collaborative and directed toward an evolving vision or goal.

I will call this model the Internet socio-economic development model. It is a model very different from the neo-liberal capitalist oriented socio-economic development model. It is a model based on grassroots participation and feedback. Its… weiter lesen

Part I – Netizen Journalism Panel: The Internet, Netizens, and Journalism

[Note: In October, 2008 there was a panel about Netizen Journalism at the 9th annual conference of Internet researchers (IR9.0 is the tag) which was held in Copenhagen. Following is an abstract for the panel, and then a summary that Axel Bruns posted on his blog of the session. A slightly edited version of one of the talks at the panel, my talk about Candlelight 2008 in South Korea as an example of Watchdog Journalism, is online in an earlier post on my blog.]

In his pioneering research about the impact of the Internet, Michael Hauben recognized that the nature of the Net made possible a new form of citizenship, a participatory form that is oriented toward a public purpose. He called the people who were developing this new form of citizenship, netizens.(1)

What would be the… weiter lesen