Politics, Nation and Community in the age of Network

Introduction
On internet, it is considered to collect information from the whole world. Per internet, it is possible to read newspaper which published from all over the world, listen to broadcasting on line and watch programs, even and read official articles through government website, receive some information per internet forum, email and blogs. (Blog Survey) Moreover, it is convenient to participate in and publish own views at any time. It is generally accepted that network is the tool to broken limitation of societies and spaces. (Jennings etc. 1996) It is very significant on news transmitting and formation of public opinions and is regarded to play a special role in process of transmitting.
The uses of the internet in terms of politics
It is obvious that there are some advantages of internet transmitting in the process of building of national image. (James etc. 2005) Building of national image is considered to be a systems engineering which is depended on image of government and leaders. There is a good case: www. Whitehouse.gov. in this website, there are three aspects. Firstly, it is used to publish activities in the government including topics like Iraq matters, news, appointments, institutes and speeches. Secondly, there are information about parties and presidents including president and his wife, vice president and his wife, and council of ministers and policies. In addition, there are some ways how to contact the White House, such as Email, address, telephone etc. (www.whilehouse.gov)
Nowadays, electronic government has been acted as a foundation which prior to development in the world. (James Curran, Michael Gurevitch. 2005) For example, since 80s of 20th century, in Singapore, electronic government has been developed and now it is deemed to be one of the most developed countries on electronic government. It is possible to finish whatever intensions, such as license for new motorcycle, application for tax etc. (www.gov.sg) At the same time, it is necessary to recognize that network is also undemanding to be a tool to control the public for politicians. (Renckstorf etc. 1995)
Nation in the age of networks
With improvement of informationization and popularization of its application, lots of information is considered to get together on network. (Howard Tumber. 2000) Therefore, it is possible to support for social living and production by network in the world. Accordingly, it will be acted as a key place for globalization and good for development progress of economic globalization.
Thomas Friedman, who wrote the World is Flat, pointed out that flat world is the new trend of globalization. Its foundational reason could come down to three convergences. (Thomas Friedman, 2002) First of all, it is convergence of market between the East and the West. Then it is convergence of IT revolution and transformation of production mode. Finally, it is the most important convergence of the ten factors on network. Moreover, there are some representations of new communication technology, such as blog, research engine, upload, software.
In addition, In the process of development of ICT technology, especially improvement of network, it is possible to alter traditional social production and lifeway based on varied advanced services. In 2004, in Korea and Japan, conceptions of U-Korea and U-Japan have been developed for the goal of internet society in order to build an internet surrounding.
Community in the age of networked digital media
As a community, it is regarded as a relationship in colony among individuals, individual and group, groups. This kind of relationship is formed and held together by communication of members in colony. And it exists in special structure. Based on digital media, in this kind of community, there are real and virtual statuses. Virtual name is just as a different title of real status. (Howard Rheingold. 1993) There are two possibilities. One the one hand, one person could take participation in network from real world, such as community on line for relatives, mates, and classmates. On the other hand, one person could go back real world from network. He could find some virtual person with common interests on line. After communicating, it is possible to become acquaintance in real, meanwhile; they could contact each other on line.
Based on digital media, situation with interlacing of roles and behaviors in real and virtual community is more and more. Such as Secondlife, it is considered to redefine the conception of network. (http://secondlife.com) There are copies on line which include lots of situations, details and experience in real. Users could enter into these virtual communities through downloading client services. In these virtual communities, each user has a virtual status and can communicate, play games even and make some deals as same as in real world.
Conclusion
Founded on network, development of modern media technology is considered to impact on spreading ways and contents of politics. Compared to traditional media, there are more advantages for new communication technology. It is helpful to improve progress of globalization and convergence of the whole world is possible to come true per network. Moreover, community based on digital media is coherent essentially with community in real. Community on network is not only benefit for exploitation of thought, but also for development of social space in real.


Reference:
1. http://www.whitehouse.gov/
2. Howard Rheingold. (1993). The Virtual Community. Web: http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/
3. Howard Tumber. (2000). Media Power, Professionals, and Policies. Routledge, pp. 214
4. Jennings Bryant, Mary Beth Oliver. (1996). Media effects: advances in theory and research. Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 294
5. James Curran, Michael Gurevitch. (2005). Mass Media and Society. Arnold, pp.
6. www.gov.sg
7. http://secondlife.com
8. Blog Survey: Expectations of Privacy and Accountability,http://web.media.mit.edu/~fviegas/survey/blog/results.htm
9. K. Renckstorf, D. McQuail, N. Jankowski. (1995). Media use as social action: a European approach to audience studies. University of Luton Press, pp. 5510. Thomas Friedman. (2002). The World is Flat. Farrar, Straus And Giroux, p.

Essay Topic

I decided do the topic 4
What are the uses/limits of the internet in terms of politics and/or democracy? What happens to the nation/state in the age of networks that have the potential to span the whole planet? What has happened to the idea of "community" in the age of networked digital media?
I am interested in it, hope i can found something new during this essay.

Questions（Week 8 Tutorial）

Sign an e-petition.
Respond to a professional blogger at a major news site.
What is Barak Obama up to today?
Find out who your local, state and federal representatives are.
Look up the Queensland or Australian hansard to find the last time your local member spoke in parliament.
Let your local member know what you think about their last speech.
Read the lecture and the readings, pursue a couple of the topics that you find most interesting and then post your blog with your well-considered thoughts about the theory and practice of politics.
What do you think of the Australian Government's plans to censor the internet (the so-called "Clean Feed")???
What place does censorship have in a democracy?

Political Possibilities （Lecture 8）

To be frank, I don't think I got the concept of “politics”. I really do not have an opinion about it. But from the lecture material I got some idea about “Political Possibilities”.

The combination of politics and the media is an important phenomenon in the modern world. It reveals that the relation between media and politics.

Free Culture, Free Society (Lecture 7)

This lecture is really good，I really enjoyed it. Share wares and free wares are useful to me. It is like “a shared culture”, and share the information and things to the public.
Creative Commons is a new concept to me, through the lecture I have some idea about it now. And I know how the concepts of community, collaboration and choice underpin Creative Commons.

Creative Commons is a set of simple license agreement, and this license provides a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists, and educators. Nowadays, some people may not be aware that they need to retain all the powers of their own works (All Rights Reserved) resulting works could hardly be re-used for new creations by others, while Creative Commons allows your own work to retain only part of the power of the statement (Some Rights Reserved), and thus for their own works by others that might arise from re-used for new creations. From“All Rights Reserved”to“Some Rights Reserved”, it is progress in the course of “Digital Age” and “Free Culture”.

Life （Week 7 Tutorial）

This movie is about my perspective towards life. I think the illustrations are cleverly tied in with the text and background music. Haha… and I really try to make it better. Hope you like it.

Video production and consumption (Lecture 6)

This new century is an era with information reform and development, the application of IT and advancement of new technology make designer in this era faced with opportunity as well as challenge. Video production，though not exclusive to our age , has come to assume an unprecedented, importance. The emergence of the "video production" transforms the way people know the world, understand the world, receive information and communicate with one another. People can get information through computer, television, phones and so on.

As a kind of product, video production has been linked with consumption, and this kind of product trend to ascend straightly. The phone has played an important role in our daily life, we can use it surfing internet, watch TV or listen music. Such a good product provided us a comfortable life. Basically, I think the combination of new communication technologies (such as video production) and consumption is an inevitable trend. In this case, we should pay more attention to it with the effect of these productions on society.