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Benkler Question

Page history last edited by Leslie Chan 11 years, 4 months ago

Question 11 from the second quiz/survey

 

A recurrent theme of this course centers around Yochai Benkler's question: "What has Wikipedia got to do with the 49 percent of the population of Congo that lacks sustainable access to improve water resources?" (Benkler, 2006:321). Drawing from the course materials and discussions, how would you address Benkler's question? (10 marks out of 30)

 

Below are a few selected answers from the class. These are answers I considered to be exemplary in that they are able to identify the proper context of the question, make connections between concepts, provide arguments that show the complexity of the issue, and thus give meaning to Benkler's statement.

 


 

Yochai Benkler explored the benefits of “open knowledge production” for education and democracy.  He explained how individuals are now very able to “by-pass” mainstream media and take an active role on creating, changing and exchanging information. This is relevant for democratic processes, as it opens up new possibilities that broaden citizens’ political participation.

However, in the context of development, the concept of open knowledge could be deemed mere rhetoric. It may seem that the creation of information and knowledge in online platforms that are not widely available for all is disconnected from the issues that are perpetuating poverty and inequality: access to health and education services, adequate infrastructure, gender empowerment, ethnic and cultural divisions, etc.

Nevertheless, open knowledge production creates new channels and spaces of expression, where these issues can be brought to the forefront. As Benkler said, the mere creation of knowledge is already challenging the neoliberal assumptions of information creation. Individuals are not exchanging information just to benefit themselves, but other motivations are coming into play, such as the right of free expression and with it, a re-evaluation of our role as a proactive citizen, and the issues we should be advocating for. 

Hani Morsi explored the implications of technology and social media for the meaning of citizenship, as he elaborated on the connections between mobilization and social activism. Connecting this to Benkler’s ideas: Open knowledge production is a mechanism through which mobilization can be organized and planned. Ideas can be shared simultaneously by different actors that are now connected by this platform, overcoming logistical challenges of the past.

As examples we have, the January Uprising in Egypt explained by Morsi, or the Chilean youth protests of last May I have been researching for my case study. Both are examples of how creating decentralized information, -free of state control-: either by adding new ideas, or expressing old oppressed ones: inspire, empower and encourage citizen participation. If this participation, and these ideas are channeled towards bridging poverty and inequality, by inciting public pressure to challenge global leaders, and creating a horizontal collaboration between citizens, institutions and state, then Congo is one step closer towards getting attention and proposals to overcome its unsustainable access of adequate water resources. The responsibility of the content and how it is distributed is now on the citizen.

 


 

Vertical to Horizontal movement

Benkler's question addresses the idea of how technology can foster development. Technology enables empowerment of civil society, allowing people to solve their own problems with their own solutions. Instead of a top-down process, development has now become a bottom-up process - a grassroots level initiative- partly through the help of a digital platform which is open to all people. In Benkler’s “The Wealth of Nations,” he examines how technology has fostered shift from tradtional laws that have become outdated (eg. Copyright laws) towards neweconomic laws that allow individuals to feel as if they are equally important in their participation, as their larger “industry giants” are.

 

Technology has allowed societies to move away from the industrial information economy into a networked information economy. In the traditional industrial information economy, there is a high entry cost, focus on turning raw materials into goods, vertically organized hierarchy; it is firms-and-corporation dominated characterized by centralized decision making and standardization. On the other hand, a networked information economy has a relatively low entry cost. Knowledge is the raw material; there is distributed production, horizontal organization, flexible decision making, customization. All of these aspects in a network economy allow

developing countries, such as the Congo, to have "equal-playing" field in the global scene today.

 

Open access

Benkler further characterized this shift as non-market based commons based, peer production. This new type of market that has developed as a result of technology has challenged conventional market views including the idea that price is determined by supply and demand. This traditional view has been replaced by the idea of open access to information without monetary compensation because there is alternative self interests. An example of the benefits of this new networked economy is the rise of Wikipedia. In the past, the market had a way of determining value of goods and services. However, Wikipedia is produced by so many people for no pay or benefit, but purely motivated by self-interest. It is open, collaborative, and non proprietary. No one person controls how this resource is used and it has allowed the traditional power-dynamic to shift. This open access to information can also help countries such as the Congo get the help and support needed to solve problems such as sustainable water resources.

 

There is a lot of research being done around the world, including in the agricultural biotechnological industry. However, the research is predominantly controlled by the private sector which prevents many developing countries from getting access to them because they are unaffordable. Many scientific journals have high costs to gain access to their databases. With websites such as Wikipedia, second life, NASA clickworkers, there is a hope that more scientific research can be shared and reach the developing world, a place where it is needed most. There is also hope that with an open access website, developing countries can also share their research and their ideas which is highly valuable because it allows the people to take charge on their own problems.

 

Providing accountability

In the 2010 world summit, there was great optimism that this technology would bridge the gap between the have and the have-nots. It allowed scientists to share and collaborate, and to empower people with information and knowledge. In addition to providing the tools necessary for people to mobilize themselves, open access websites such as Wikipedia has also allowed transparency into governments and high-level organizations. ICTs are putting people in charge allowing citizens to scrutinize and monitor their governments. It also allows people to communicate, exchange views and organize themselves to fight for unjust issues and bring awareness–all huge implications to economic and political progress. Manuel Castells, In this post-industrialized era, or this network society, a sociologist, envisioned a “social shaping of knowledge”, where social behavior and introduction of technology would be interwoven and both will develop together.

 


 

 

Benkler’s question can be interpreted as an attempt to discover the relational nature between today’s prevailing model of network-based, knowledge production – exemplified through websites such as Wikipedia – and the increasingly complex and serious issues surrounding development. In order to understand this relationship, we must understand the significance of this mentioned model of knowledge production.

 

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have enabled a new model of knowledge production to take shape in the form of non-market, common-based peer production. Knowledge production, once reserved for a handful of individuals with sufficient access to capital, has become radically decentralized and distributed (Peters, 2010, p. 75), facilitating new formations of social organization and activity.

 

This network information economy – characterized by social inclusivity, ambiguity, and openness – encourages participation and enables “bottom-up collaboration” (Thompson, 2008, p. 824). Not only has a “world of information” become accessible to ordinary citizens, but a platform with which they can easily produce, disseminate, and distribute information with little cost, has also been created. This platform facilitates the processes of virtual collaboration – where individual contributions (of information) have the potential to amount to an elaborate and complete knowledge base.

 

As Yochai Benkler suggests, ICTs have created fundamental changes in the way we make and exchange information, knowledge and culture (Peters, p. 76). This shift in knowledge production provides great potential for altering the means in which development occurs. The tools and information that have been made available through ICTs and common-based peer production have the extraordinary potential of expanding individual capabilities. According to Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach, freedom – defined by the capabilities with which one possesses – is essential to the process of development (Zheng, 2009, p. 70). In her article “Different Spaces for E-development,” Yingqin Zheng suggests:

 

The characteristics of ICT[s] – such as the functionalities for information , storage, processing, and dissemination, the facilities for instant communication across time and space, and the potentials knowledge generation and diffusion – provide the means to achieve, which can be converted into the capability set of the user. (p. 76)

 

The development of these capabilities increases individual agency; one is free to “set and pursue [their] own goals and interests” (Zheng, p. 71). The Egyptian revolution exemplifies this notion. The Internet in particular, expanded the capabilities of Egyptian citizens by allowing them to create a virtual space for discourse when it was prohibited to have one in physical space.

 

It is therefore evident that ICTs – and the non-market, common-based peer production of knowledge they encourage – are important to development issues as they play a significant role in promoting individual agency.

 

 

Bibliography

 

Peters, M. (2010). Three forms of the knowledge economy: learning, creativity and openness.

British Journal of Education Studies, 58(1), 67-88. doi:10.1080/00071000903516452

 

Thompson, M. (2008). ICT and development studies: towards development 2.0.

Journal of International Development, 20(6), 821-835. doi: 0.1002/jid.1498

 

Zheng, Y. (2009). Different spaces for e-development: what can we learn from the capability approach?         

           Information Technology for Development, 15(2), 66-82. doi: 10.1002/itdj.20115

 


 

 

"Benkler's question relates to a common thread of discussion around the use of ICT in development situations: does the Global South have any use for ICT when they may lack access to food, water, health care, or human rights? How can technology aid these people who seem to have much more immediate concerns than access to Wikipedia?

 

    The answer to the question differs depending on ones view of development. Looking at the issue in the short-term, medicine would be of more use to an epidemic-stricken area than a laptop or a mobile phone. But the establishment of social media resources like Ushahidi can allow for quicker discovery and responses to epidemics. Similarly, the work of organizations like the IRDC has shown that the dissemination of mobile use in developing areas has allowed for easier distribution of medicine and supplies. Therefore one must consider the institution of long-term, sustainable resources that will aid in the alleviation of suffering and contribute to the bettering of the quality of life for citizens of the Global South.

 

    The example of giving cheap laptops installed with Wikipedia to children in Nigeria illustrates a well-meaning attempt at aiding in the growth of the Global South, but one that seems misguided. It is similar to providing access to Western scholarly articles to Southern scholars. Instead of providing students and scholars of the South with information from the West as though it will solve their problems, citizens of the South would be better to learn from each other in a commons-based peer production environment. After all, the information relevant to students in the US is not necessarily information relevant to those in Nigeria. The South needs the ability to publish and distribute their own research about their area and their history, from a non-Western perspective. This would allow them to determine the causes of problems that may plague their society and coordinate solutions to fix them.

 

    The coordination of solutions is something that can also be done through ICT. As Castells has argued, society shapes technology by forming it into what they need. In order to allow citizens of the South to do so, they need access to existing software, which means there is a need for free, open software availability. According to Stallan, development is facilitated by open software because people learn how things work, how to use them, and how to maintain them independently of any dominating power. This would create sustainable development for these societies as they independently put new structures into place such as crowdsourcing networks.

 

    Overall, ICT is not the solution to problems suffered by those in the Global South. Instead, it is a tool that, if used wisely and effectively, can allow for bottom-up development and innovation that can create systemic and structural change to alleviate poverty and solve those problems of society. It may seem that ICT is not relevant to people who lack the very basic human needs, but ICT can be effective when used as a tool to create a society in which those people can construct better futures.


 

 

 

Comments (4)

Jannat Nain said

at 2:05 am on Nov 1, 2012

Do we have to post our answers here or just mail it to you Professor Chan?

Leslie Chan said

at 10:35 am on Nov 1, 2012

Just email your answer to me please. I will post the highlights from the submissions. Thanks.

Jannat Nain said

at 1:33 pm on Nov 1, 2012

Done that already :)

Leslie Chan said

at 3:31 pm on Nov 2, 2012

This is only intended for those who haven't responded to me already. I already posted this twice. This is the third time. I will not send out a further reminder.

==========
Hi all,
The survey done on Blackboard turned out to be anonymous so while I am able to read all the responses for all the questions, I can't tell who submitted what for the final question, which is the only one being graded.

So I like to trouble you to resubmit the answer to the question on Benkler. You can simply hit "Reply" on your email and cut and paste your answer or send it as an attachment. Please respond to this by Friday. It will only take you a minute or two if you still have the answer. If not, you can actually go back to Blackboard and retrieve your answer and then copy it from there. Sorry for the inconvenience!

I a lso like to take this opportunity to point out a mistake a small number of you made - namely taking someone's idea or writing without attribution. I am calling it a "mistake" but it is in fact plagiarism when done with intent. And as you should all know, and this is stated on our syllabus and I am sure in every course you take, plagiarism is a very serious academic offense and in the worse case scenario, you can be expelled from school.

We want to encourage you to make use and build on other's ideas, it is what this course is about. But the key is to learn to synthesize and digest other's ideas and to turn them into your own interpretation, and this is also done with attribution of the sources you consulted. This is why we place so much emphasis on proper citation. Simply cutting and pasting someone's work is not learning. At best it is intellectual laziness and at worse it is dishonest. Please take this reminder very seriously and please take this opport unity to correct your mistake. Thank you!

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