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Day two of the Convergence and Society conference in South Carolina starts off with an early panel on the internet and political engagement.

The first presentation on the political power and the web, by PhD student Laurel Gleason at the Ohio State University, raises more questions than answers.  But they are all valuable questions.

Gleason looked at how researchers and academics tend to view the internet as a democratic vehicle. She approaches this by using the concept of empowerment.

In other words, does the internet give power to citizens and does it redistribute power?  So power has two dimensions. Citizens need to have the “power to” do something and they have to have “power over” policy makers.

What Gleason found is that much of the research looking at the internet and democracy focuses of how the web gives citizens the “power to” do something, such as take part in an online discussion or donate money.

But there is little research into whether the internet gives citizens “power over” policy-makers by holding them to account.

This is all thought-provoking stuff for an early morning panel. It raises all sorts of questions about whether the internet can foster democracy.

People can certainly access a wide range of political news and information but Gleason argued that this is not enough to say someone is active in politics. Similarly, she questioned whether signing an online petition was little more than perceived interactivity.

There are some web initiatives, such as WhatDoTheyKnow in the UK, that seek to empower citizens by providing easy to use tools to put in Freedom of Information requests to the authorities.

These tools fall more under the “power over” idea – giving people the power to hold policy makers to account. Perhaps we need more sites like this, rather than sites that fall under the “power to” concept.

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