Grouping

Clay Shirky’s article reveals the ability of the Internet to empower everyday users like Evan. Several people brought up the point that Shirky’s story may also reveal a ‘digital divide’ between Evan and the poor teenage girl from Queens. Sasha did not have the technical knowledge to mount a defense of her actions on the Internet. She was at the mercy of a man with expert knowledge and experience in the numerous resources provided by the Internet, like Digg. Evan’s technical advantage made it possible for him to consolidate the power of the media, the public and eventually law enforcement to his side. But I’m not so sure I agree that the treatment of Sasha was unfair or unwarranted. It is true that probably thousands of phones are lost in New York City every year. It also probably wasn’t much of a burden for Evan’s fiancée to obtain a new phone (and get the important content off of her old phone). That doesn’t change the fact that Sasha had taken something that wasn’t hers. “Finders keepers” may have standing on the playground, but not in the real world. The Internet provided new channels for a wronged individual to have a situation righted. It doesn’t really matter that Sasha was in a less beneficial situation than the victim. How far do we take the sympathy reasoning? Do we let the carjacker have his BMW just because he would probably never be able to buy one of his own? A $300 SideKick is not a BMW, but it was the property of someone else, and we shouldn’t feel bad that is was taken back from a pitiable thief.

On a lighter note, the ability of the Internet to organize users doesn’t always have to take the avenue of law enforcement. There are plenty of examples of people organizing over the Internet to effect change that they believe in. It is now second nature for any political figure, ballot measure or cause represented on the Internet to proudly include organizing features like Facebook, Twitter and Flickr on their main-pages. I think that these tools can represent active, organized members of a movement, but there are reasons to be skeptical. The organizers are motivated to inflate their “rolls” and make it look as though they have the support of the majority. Organizers will also frequently include “man on the street” quotes of supposedly random people supporting their initiative. From previous work experience, I can tell you that many of these “random” interviews are in fact staged interviews with employees of the organization. So “Michael S. from Washington, DC” may in fact be a much more involved supporter than a random citizen. It is easy to “join” or “support” causes and candidates through Facebook and other sites. I think it remains an open question as to how effectively these masses can be mobilized considering the relatively loose ties and feeble support they maintain with the organizers. A good example of more mobilized group is on The Huffington Post’s College Page which allows students from across the country to post pictures of themselves holding posters with the amount of debt they have incurred during college. Students can share their stories with each other and the large audience of the Huffington Post. With enough support, perhaps the movement could reach critical mass where its voice is heard in the larger media landscape and eventually Congress in order to enact legislative changes for debt-ridden students. That remains to be seen.