The impact of the internet on politics means more than squabbling in the comments of your favourite partisan blog.
The internet fundamentally wants to democratise things. It wants to spread power as broadly and as accessibly as it possibly can.
Online campaigning, organising, and the ever-present social media are changing the way democracy functions.
This documentary, Grokking Democracy looks at the way “big data” has changed campaigning in American politics, and social media giving disenfranchised women in Pakistan a voice.
“If Franklin Roosevelt was the first to master radio, and John F Kennedy was the first president to master television, Barack Obama will be seen as the first to master the internet,” says one of the hosts Jonathan Alter “They were able to use digital technology and analytics – big data – for the first time to create huge new efficiencies in television advertising, online fundraising, and most especially, old-fashioned field organising and get out the vote organising.”
It also looks at electronic voting – which the New Zealand government is looking at for the 2016 local government elections. Next week, we'll look at civics education in New Zealand, and how parliament works.
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