2011 # WRITING

February 2011, Rotterdam

Regarding the Status of Others seems to be a strategy for updating our image of a reality, which is more than ever sliced into small fragments of our world. Especially online social media seem to play a major role in this process. Fluid forms of engagement allow individuals to shape their views and appropriate the new digital tools for their own purposes — however meaningful these might be. In order to unfold the full democratic potential of the Internet, however, a distinct media literacy and critical as well as deliberate engagement with the medium is imperative. By embracing the Internet as a fully democratic system and neglecting capitalist structures, we might loose control of the grounds we stand on. Still we shouldn't give up on what Lévy has described as “collective thinking”. Only through participation and collaboration more direct democratic practices can be established and a noticeable impression on the political status of our societies might be left behind.

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Piet Zwart Institute
Networked Media Department