Can the use of digital media favour citizen involvement?

Abstract

We present here the results of recent studies on the emergence in Quebec of associations of a new kind, which we call technology activist groups. These groups consist of individuals who, on the basis of their own expertise in computer programming or in establishing specialist technological structures (WiFi hotspots), are developing social practices involving information technologies (ICTs). We try to give some elements of a response to some specific questions such as: What effects are these technology activists having on the dynamics of community activism in Quebec? In a broader context, at the level of political imagination in today’s societies, how far can these technical activist groups act politically to help redefine the project of the coming ‘information society’? And conversely, can the project of a ‘knowledge-sharing society’ — as formulated by the representatives of civil society organizations at the WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society) in Tunis — help to redefine the aims and actions of actors in community politics?

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