The internet is comprised of millions of minor networks that send and receive data at very high rates. The internet transmits information at very high speed, in large amounts and without boundary limitation. It has expanded the variety of reception; data sent via the internet can be accessed by many people provided they are connected though the internet. The internet has eased the flow of information and messages; it has increased flexibility in information transmission and access; and has eased retrieval of any information at any time people may please. (James 2002)This is because the internet is not limited by time or distance. It allows people to send and receive large amounts of data from wherever they are located.
The internet has improved sending and reception of information, how people form relations and how they participate in politics. There is no limitation or unnecessary control on the content like it happens with other media. People are no longer restricted to newspaper, radio and television which select their stories based on internal and external influence. The internet merges the audiovisual characteristics of the traditional types of mass media like television and newspapers with the interactivity and rate of telephone and mail. The internet has been utilised politically in relation to acts of politicians and to having national and international political matters on the public agenda. The internet has also brought people closer together forming a global village (Rodgers 2003).
Internet and politics
Internet and politics
News stories are no longer a thing for media personalities only. With a computer and internet connection, any person can come up with news stories that can be availed to any other person who has the connection. This has led to a lot of unbiased news about events and occurrences in many fields. The internet has made every person to be his ‘brother’s keeper.’ This has led to enlightenment, putting governments on their toes knowing too well that it is not only the media personalities who are keeping watch. Other media are subjects to influence that can lead to biasness. This is not the case with the internet. In this case it is correct to argue that the internet has contributed to safeguarding democracy (Srader 2006). The internet has also contributed to democracy by informing citizens of their rights in so far as politics is concerned. The internet has enabled people to know and understand when things are not going the right way. It has allowed people to measure democracy in their countries in relation to others in the world and also to watch governance of other nations. The public is in a position to assess the performance of the government. In democratic countries, governments have put in pace websites that can allow free exchange of ideas, information and complains. The public is encouraged to register to these websites in order to share their ideas and air their complaints. They are in a position to discuss issues with other citizens, and to have a chance to study the political issues in order to become better citizens (James 2002).
Distinctive politics has been enhanced by the internet in two ways, directly and indirectly. Directly by isolating and weakening the local sphere which encourages sub-regional and trans-regional tribes or other groupings to come together for a general goal. Indirectly, it achieves it by counter reacting against dissolution of boundaries established by the Net as a way of re-establishing stronger boundaries. The counter-reactions are expected to control the sphere in the 21st century politics (Saco 2002).
The internet has created an avenue where the citizens can gather in objection to injustices by the use of blogs. In this case people do not have to gather physically, which in the past proved dangerous as law enforcement tried to dismiss them. The blogs have the capacity to give anyone a voice by being central hub for activist. This has enabled citizens to plot against social injustices through the internet (Miller & Slater 2000).
The internet is making its promise a reality. It has been able to provide vast amount of information on politics, political parties and political campaigns. In fact, it is increasingly becoming one of the major sources of information on political campaigns. Youths derive a lot of enjoyment in accessing the internet. This way they are able to access a lot of information on political campaigns. This has enabled them to participate in politics more than before (Weare 2002). In the present time, internet is greatly influencing the results of elections. Politicians and political parties can either gain or lose votes due to the internet. While using the internet one is in a position to seek clarification in case anything is not clear. The users are also in a position to send feedbacks on political matters. This way the internet has enabled details on political issues and also enhanced public participation. The internet influences political decisions. This is because it is interactive, has a rapid transmission speed and is not limited by political and geographical boundaries. Information about politicians and political parties flows freely and fast through the internet reaching a lot of people. People getting this kind of information have sufficient time to read and analyze the information making informed decisions (Owen & Davis 2008).
From the recent past, politicians began to use the internet in seeking donations. This has proven to be a more powerful in providing finances than other ways that were used in the past. This can be proven from the case of Howard Dean in the United States presidential campaign of 2004. Dean’s case became the most famous in generating most finances through the internet. The ability to tap the fans and funds from voters through the World Wide Web has been on the increase. The advantage of online donation is that information automatically gets transferred to the database, simplifying the process of accounting and reporting (Miller & Slater 2000).
Any information on political matters flows very fast, capturing the attention of very many people. Politicians are always afraid that negative information might spoil their campaigns through the reach of the internet. This new technology has also become an opportunity for attacking, ridiculing and criticising politicians. Such information being so spicy, politicians have been on their toes to project a good image to the public. This has also made the predominance of political campaigns by internet to change elections into repute competitions. It has led the politicians to try very much to behave positively towards the public (Gibson, Paul & Ward 2003).
The internet has enhanced public participation in politics. The citizens have gained more control due to the information at their disposal and can have their voices heard into the political arena through bulletin boards, websites and listservs. The internet has led politicians to have more reason to communicate directly with the voters. In this case it has made political campaigns more sincere and transparent. Internet has increased partisanship. People use it to assist them in establishing and joining groups that share their ideologies and political preferences. Internet has impacted on voter turnouts during elections because it has increased information about aspirants and political parties. The internet can also increased voter participation by inspiring their attention in the elections (Jain 2003)
The internet has raised awareness on different political views not only regionally but internationally. The internet opens doors to not only local but international politics. Politics is changing globally very fast but the internet has enabled majority of people to keep track with the changes. Just like many other issues affecting the society, politics is becoming global. Political issues are comparable and whatever is happening in one country affects the other. The days when countries used to operate as separate entities are long gone. In the current world political decisions in a nation are closely checked by the whole world (Gibson, Paul & Ward 2003).
As all other issues affecting the society, economy, social etc, have changed as a result of networking, there is need to adapt politics to the networked computer era. The increase in use of the internet has necessitated all the changes and politics cannot be left behind. It is apparent that changes in technology affect politics and electoral behaviour (Boldt 2001).
Transformation in the concept of ‘community’ in networked digital era
Times have changed very fast from the time when social relations were formed on geographical considerations to a time where geographical location and distance no longer matter. The traditional idea of community limited to distance and location has been affected by social networking. It has changed the physical communities to online communities of individuals who can share interests and activities regardless of physical location. In the online community people can speak with anyone regardless of the distance. Social networking has also led to coming up of new forms of social relations and interactions. Social networking has allowed people to have new friends, dates, business connections and chat buddies. It can be likened with the traditional ways of entertaining like going to a club, going for business parties, and participating in social activities (Jain 2003).
Social networking has enabled people to establish personal home pages within a particular network that can connect them with other like-minded persons It let the users to get a large circle of existing relations, particularly for sites like Facebook that allows people to use their own names. It has also enabled interactions among large subsisting groups of people. For example, such websites as meet-up.com have transformed the traditional ways of meeting to discuss certain issues (Boldt 2001).
Internet and globalization
The idea of global village has been brought up by the increase in the internet use. There has been globalization in economy, culture and business. In the current period, business can be conducted at any level without any limits. The internet has led to reduction in costs while improving the rate of transmission of “information goods”, enabling the world to move from industrial to information economy (Shane 2004). There is increased access to world wide communication infrastructure caused by the founding of new businesses and economic opportunities. The improvement in the internet use transformed the traditional framework of the factors of production that is, capital and labour being the sole determinants of economy. Nowadays the strength of economy is measured through the ability to manage and direct information (Shane 2004).
Although the technology has been global for quite some time, the economic and business matters have been cast in the viewpoint of the existing national institutions. The internet is currently challenging the existing institutions and powerful personal interests. In such countries as Germany, the United States, France, Japan, India, South Korea, Japan, and Sweden, the increase in the internet utilisation has transformed national institutions. The impact of the broad cultural transformation on the entrepreneurial objectives is clearly apparent in countries like India and Sweden (Owen & Davis 2008).
Conclusion
The world is transforming into a small community as the use of the internet increases. It is apparent that internet is a world- changing technology that has improved at a very high rate. The world is about to completely change to a digital global village in which solutions will no longer be more than a search and almost everyone in the world will be just a click away.
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