Digital Cosmopolitans: Why We Think the Internet Connects Us, Why It Doesn't, and How to Rewire It

"This is a manifesto from Ethan Zuckerman, a great colleague of mine, calling for a global communication system, where people really have power to tell their own stories and do their own journalism based on who and where they are. That was really his and Rebecca McKinnon’s experiment with Global Voices , which they created. It was an attempt to bridge divides not in a top-down way, but with a collection of bottom-up voices put in communication with one another. Ethan Zuckerman has worked with bloggers and journalists and people interested in civic life all over the world. As he explains in this book, he’s interested in bringing people together in a global conversation that isn’t erasing and flattening people, but where each can stand on their own. Global Voices is the main example. It’s a network of different bloggers from all over the world, communicating with one another via a website where all their stories can be shared. People also work to translate content with one another. That’s a very important point for Ethan because he thinks that linguistic differences can create gaps in communication, which is true. We should be supporting one another’s languages. Languages are so important and they speak to our diversity. A lot of what Global Voices attempts to do is support local journalists, but also create bridges between them. You’re absolutely right. That’s why we have to intervene. We need regulatory measures supporting a much more competitive, open marketplace, and we need to support non-profit initiatives via incentives or subsidies. Otherwise, to the winners go the spoils. You might actually note that book, Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas. He’s critiquing philanthropy, but I completely agree: Global Voices, there’s no way it could compete with a Facebook unless it was provided an opportunity to do so. That can’t happen at the moment because the economies of scale are so massive. That’s why regulatory measures and incentivization need to be part of the solution. Or Facebook should be subsidizing them. We have to figure out ways to do this. “In the United States, the youngest generation is the first in the history of this country to make less money, when you account for inflation, than their parents did. ” The tax issue is another huge problem. Amazon did not pay any taxes last year. They received a rebate. The wealthiest man in the history of the world, his company received a rebate. Examples like this represent the norm rather than the exception in the current, corrupt system. They provide us with opportunities to push back in new, progressive directions. Another point I often make is that the internet was publicly funded. This is a common theme we see in the US: we socialize the costs and privatize the profits. We all pay for our highways but then Amazon runs its trucks on and doesn’t pay anything. It’s so bizarre. It’s the same with pharmaceuticals. The National Institutes of Health National, and the National Science Foundation fund all this drug research, but then it gets patented and privatized by a big pharmaceutical company. We can’t let that happen with the internet. It’s already happening and we’ve got to stop it."