Civic Engagement In The Digital Age

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Civic Engagement in the Digital Age Any innovation is bound to have proponents as well as detractors. This holds true for the communication technology, which, since the dawn of time, has been constantly shaping both the medium and the manner of communication. It is, of course, quite hard to imagine the ancient people debate the necessity for and relative merits of spoken and written word in earnest. The usage and the popularity of new media tools, on the other hand, continue to be a controversial topic, argues Damien Cave in his article “Generation O Gets Its Hopes Up”. Cave asserts that, although they had a profound impact on the civic engagement and the results of the 2008 presidential election, the popularity and use of new media tools in the political process — as done by the Barack Obama presidential election campaign — is actually a mixed blessing. Cave admits that the younger voters attracted by the Obama campaign were a significant force behind his eventual victory in the election (59). A major advantage and reason for the continuously increasing popularity and effectiveness of the media tools, Cave says, is the casual, informal and direct style of communicating through e-mail and Facebook. The style and tone of communication through blogs, MySpace, Facebook or Twitter that is seen by some as “dangerous exhibitionism” is to the others a means to achieve “open-mindedness and consensus” (Cave 60); in the words of Mik Moore, it indicates “a willingness to communicate with large numbers of people in your network about what’s important to you” (qtd. in Cave) (60). It was this style that made Ellen Steiner feel that she “really was part of something great” and people like Reid Johnson “take ownership” in the cause due to the ability to relate (qtd. in Cave) (60). Barack Obama cemented the notion in his election night e-mail message that read “All of this happened

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