<br>Aldo reminds us of important, if not controlling at times, aspects of communications, and how media or mediated structures fundamentally affect the nature and quality of discourse that results from those structures. An email is different than a letter in numerous respects (while similar in more respects), and those who are concerned with the quality of discourse and communication do well to keep these differences in mind. This all seemed to more or less start with the work of the Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan ("the medium is the message") and learning in this area of media studies has continued to expand since McLuhan's seminal work around the 1960s or so. <br>
<br>There is a quite proper concern with anti-censorship, i.e. NOT having the government-as-master. But particularly here in the USA, and I suspect elsewhere as well, there's a palpable over-reaction via cases like Citizens United, holding that the government has no power to structure, much less restrict, corporate speech on campaigns. This prevents the government from exercising what I would call SERVANT-leadership (as opposed to "master" leadership). Servant leadership would "impose" quite neutral structuring devices, such as perhaps the Chinese university example, or a western "dialoging" structure, in which the collaboration is designed to ensure that all the voices can be heard so that a wise decision is more likely to result from all hearing all the voices, concerns and perspectives. <br>
<br>Thus, based on the overriding (when in conflict) need of the listeners to be properly informed, just as with presentations to governmental bodies, time might be somewhat limited for each speaker so that they do not impinge on the rights of other speakers to be heard. In the USA via Citizens United's case, that ability to impose a neutral, structuring "servant"-type style to the discussion or debate has been eliminated out of the fear of government-as-master and unlimited corporate speech has been constitutionally protected. But this means that a corporation or rich person with enough money can completely dominate the discussion on television by buying up all or most of the available television advertising time, leaving no room for other speakers. The inability of the government to impose any limits on corporations emanates from a fear of government as master, but in throwing out the government as master bathwater, they have also thrown out the government-as-servant baby, and chaos reigns.<br>
<br>The real trick is how to ensure that those in a position of leadership and thus able to structure discussions or debates do not abuse their servant-authority and reach into the area of being "masters" instead of servants. I agree with Aldo that in numerous cases, imposition of limits to the length of comments to ones equivalent to tweets is overly restrictive and systematically strips out nuance. <br>
<br>This is an interesting area and what is to be valued are real servants of public dialog who specialize in teasing out the wisdom of the group via appropriately structured dialog processes. This can happen online at times, but ultimately there are some things that are much better done in person. (Obviously that can not always be achieved due to expense and distance)<br>
<br>Paul Lehto, J.D.<br><br>paul<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 8:30 AM, Ginger Paque <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gpaque@gmail.com">gpaque@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Hi there,<br><br>Aldo, Diplo's resident contrarian, criticises Diplo's webinars and modern communication, asking 'Is the medium the twitter?' at <a href="http://deepdip.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/the-medium-is-the-twitter/" target="_blank">http://deepdip.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/the-medium-is-the-twitter/</a> He argues that
the way in which the Chinese 'Party universities', among others, discuss issues, is
conceptually and practically more effective (and congenial) than modern webinar/Twitter-technique communication. Personally, I disagree, because when an online communication gets 'too interactive', we have chaos, and I think that short, pithy comments or questions are preferable in a webinar. Bandwidth limitations must be taken into consideration as well. This is one advantage to an email list like the IGC: it allows for full multi-party discussion.<br>
<br> Please let us know your views about
this dilemma as we both try to improve our communication, and explore the topic as a concept for improved e-participation. You can also join us for the next webinar and see the
potentials and limitations of this medium, as we discuss SOPA, PIPA and the recent online blackout activities: <a href="http://www.diplomacy.edu/calendar/copyright-infringement-sopapipa-megaupload" target="_blank">http://www.diplomacy.edu/calendar/copyright-infringement-sopapipa-megaupload</a><br>
<br>Personally, I am wondering if the push to stop SOPA has strengthened ACTA.<br><br>Best, Ginger<br><br><br clear="all">Ginger (Virginia) Paque<br><div><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:small">Diplo Foundation<br>
<a href="http://www.diplomacy.edu/ig" target="_blank">www.diplomacy.edu/ig</a><span style="padding-right:16px;width:16px;min-height:16px"></span><span style="padding-right:16px;width:16px;min-height:16px"></span><span style="padding-right:16px;width:16px;min-height:16px"></span><div>
<a href="mailto:VirginiaP@diplomacy.edu" target="_blank">VirginiaP@diplomacy.edu</a><br><br><b><i><span style="font-size:10pt">Join the Diplo community IG discussions: <a href="http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org" target="_blank">www.diplointernetgovernance.org</a><span style="padding-right:16px;width:16px;min-height:16px"></span><span style="padding-right:16px;width:16px;min-height:16px"></span></span></i></b></div>
</span><br></div><br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Paul R Lehto, J.D.<br>P.O. Box 1 <br>Ishpeming, MI 49849 <br><a href="mailto:lehto.paul@gmail.com">lehto.paul@gmail.com</a><br>906-204-4026 (cell)<br><br><br><br><br>
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