Page 46 - Information and American Democracy Technology in the Evolution of Political Power

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Plan of the Book 17:40
all kinds, including satellite systems, telephones, faxes, and cable. In the
political realm, these technologies facilitated targeted grassroots politi-
cal organizing and new kinds of campaigning. It had become apparent
twentyyearsagothatcommunicationandinformationtechnologywould
one day merge, but that day was still largely in the future.
Ten years ago that merger began, as the Internet took its place as the
central technological and conceptual feature of the information age. As
the center of an orbiting system of technologies, the Internet embod-
ies the vast pool of information now available by technological means,
the flexible ways that this information can be put to use, the many de-
centralized forms of communication that are possible, and the merger
of media from distinct forms such as television and publishing into a
flexible, multifeatured, linked system.
Ten or twenty years from now, the specific technological meaning of
“information technology” will have evolved even further in ways that are
difficulttopredict.Withsomeinformationhandlingandcommunication
freed from physical cables and connections, the traditional “computer”
willyielditsmonopolyover“computing”andinformationprocessingtoa
wealth of new appliances and devices that communicate, make decisions,
and process information.
Despite uncertainty about the state of specific technologies in the
future, one fact is clear: Technological evolution is moving in the direc-
tion of more information-richness and communication-intensiveness.
Whatever the details of specific technologies at a particular moment, the
large-scale trend has been and will be toward information abundance.
In the methodologist’s terminology, this is the independent variable of
interest.
In focusing on this major trend, rather than analyzing the details of
the web or chat rooms or e-mail, I proceed something like a biologist
interested in theorizing about mammals, who in particular seeks to ex-
plainwhatthepresenceofmammalsmeansforearth’secosystems,orhow
mammalsaffecttheirenvironmentdifferentlythanbirds.Suchabiologist
might reasonably be excused for failing to address differences between
coyotesandwolves,orbobcatsandlynx.Inthisbook,especiallyinthecase
studies, I occasionally discuss specifics of web sites in campaigns, their
differencesfromelectronicmail,andotherparticulars.Butthesespecifics
are always discussed as they relate to the larger theme of the evolution
toward information abundance and its implications for democracy.
Many observers have sought to divine the effectoftheInternet,asif
its consequences for any particular realm of activity must be consistent

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