Bytes that Bite: The Internet and Deliberative Democracy
Bytes that Bite: The Internet and Deliberative Democracy
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咬人的字节：互联网和协商民主
DOI：
10.1111/1467-8675.00052
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发表时间：
1997
期刊：
影响因子：
0.7
通讯作者：
Hubertus Buchstein
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hubertus Buchstein
纵观历史，技术影响了政治沟通的模式以及民主决策的结果。无论我们考虑早期民主国家的面对面交流，“文学共和国”，印刷书籍、传单和报纸的发明，还是电话、广播和电视，很明显，所有这些都对政治互动的模式和结果产生了影响。新的计算机技术的出现，特别是因特网的出现及其自1990年代初以来向更广大公众的推广，是政治工具技术演变的又一步骤。这种最新的技术发展可能会在未来几十年内伴随我们。在过去五年中，互联网参与者的增长率是巨大的。不仅科学家和企业，而且政治组织、政党、讨论圈和游说者最近也加入了互联网。尽管欧洲和亚洲也开始了类似的发展，但大部分活动都在美国。美国的基层政治运动已经在网络上工作了近20年。但到了1993年，专业的政治机构、政府和大企业也开始将网络用于政治目的。1996年秋季，在美国经常使用万维网的1400万人中，超过三分之一的人访问它以获取政治信息。在1996年的总统竞选中，互联网是一个战场。大多数竞选管理人员都认为，这一趋势将继续下去，2000年将出现一场严重的网上斗争。互联网对民主意味着什么，实际上，计算机民主究竟意味着什么，还不清楚，也有争议。有些人认为互联网是一种信息收集工具，另一些人则赞扬它的审议潜力。有些人强调它在政治意愿形成过程中的作用。还有一些人想把它作为决策的工具。比尔·盖茨设想选民“能够在家里或钱包里的个人电脑上投票，而错误计数或欺诈的风险更小。”因此，一些人认为网络是对现有代议制民主的补充，而另一些人则认为电子媒体将克服许多规模问题，这些问题使直接民主成为一种不切实际的理想。对他们来说，希望是电子城镇会议和按钮
Throughout history, technology has affected the modes of political communication as well as the outcomes of democratic decision making. Whether we consider face-to-face communication in early democracies, the “republic of letters”, the invention of printed books, leaflets and newspapers, or telephone, radio, and television, it is clear that all had and have impacted upon both the modes and the results of political interaction. The emergence of new computer technologies, in particular the Internet and its extension to a broader public since the early 1990s, is one further step in the technological evolution of political tools. This latest technological development is likely to remain with us for decades to come. The growth rate of participants in the Internet within the last five years has been tremendous. Not only scientists and businesses, but political organizations, parties, discussion circles, and lobbyists have recently joined the Internet. Even though similar developments have started in Europe and Asia, most activity is in the United States. Grass-root political movements in the United States have been working the net for nearly twenty years. But by 1993, professional political agencies, government, and big business had also begun to use the net for political purposes. In fall of 1996, of the 14 million people in the US who regularly used the World Wide Web, more than a third accessed it for political information. During the 1996 presidential campaign, the Internet was a battleground. Most campaign managers agree that this trend will continue and that there will be a serious on-line battle in the year 2000. What the Internet means for democracy, indeed, what, exactly, computer democracy might mean, is unclear and controversial. While some regard the Internet as an information-gathering tool, others praise its deliberative potential. Some emphasize its role in the process of political will formation. Still others want to use it as a tool for decision-making. Bill Gates envisions voters as being “able to cast their ballots from home or their wallet PCs with less risk of miscounts or frauds.” Thus, some view the net as complementary to existing representative democracy, while others argue more radically that electronic media will conquer many of the problems of scale that made direct democracy an impracticable ideal. For them, the hope is that electronic town meetings and push-button
影响因子：
7.9
作者：
STEUER, J
通讯作者：
STEUER, J