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SUMMARY:The Fifth Estate of the Internet Realm - Professor Bill Dutton\, D
 irector of the Oxford Internet Institute
DTSTART:20110224T170000Z
DTEND:20110224T190000Z
UID:TALK29942@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Anne Alexander
DESCRIPTION:Professor Bill Dutton\, Director of the Oxford Internet Instit
 ute speaks at a lecture organised by the Cambridge Digital Humanities Netw
 ork.\n\nThe lecture is free to attend and open to all\, but please email D
 r Anne Alexander raa43[at]cam.ac.uk to book a place.\n\nSceptics have chal
 lenged utopian perspectives on the role of the Internet in democratic poli
 tical processes. These critiques can be useful\, but often fail to underst
 and the very real impact of enabling individuals to network in new ways. T
 he rise of the press\, radio\, television and other mass media created an 
 independent institution: the ‘Fourth Estate’\, central to pluralist de
 mocratic processes. However\, the growing use of the Internet and related 
 technologies enables the networking of individuals in ways that create a n
 ew source of accountability not only in government and politics\, but also
  in other sectors. How does the Internet create a space for this new form 
 of social accountability? Is it indeed enabling a ‘Fifth Estate’?\n\nT
 he Internet is a platform for networking individuals in ways that can chal
 lenge the influence of other more established bases of institutional autho
 rity\, and that can be used to increase the accountability of the press\, 
 politicians\, doctors and academics by offering networked individuals with
  alternative sources of information and opinion. Questions about the gover
 nance of the Fifth Estate are likely to become more prominent as people re
 alize that the Internet is a social phenomenon with broad and substantial 
 implications for political and social accountability\, as illustrated by t
 he crisis over WikiLeaks. The development and vitality of the ‘Fifth Est
 ate’ rests less on new policy initiatives than by responding to the stra
 tegies of its enemies -- the other four estates\, and the mob\, of the Int
 ernet realm.
LOCATION:CRASSH 17\, Mill Lane
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