Monday, January 11, 2010

Re-publica


The German blogosphere is gathering in Berlin, with today being their last day of meeting. It is reported that there are about 600 people at the conference which is organized by netzpolitik.org, a leading politics/free culture blog and spreeblick.com, one of Germany's most popular blogs.

I find it funny that people are "meeting". Don't get me wrong I love a good conference just as much as the next teacher; however, with SecondLife and all the instant communication available on Web 2.0, it does seem ironic to me.

Aside from my own feelings on the format of the conference I do like, as a world history teacher, some of the topics addressed. Most notably, globalization. With the internet, it is becoming more feasible for people to involve themselves in world politics, as well as world commerce. It is now possible for leaders to take the temperature of the people they represent. An article on my hometown newspaper, the Sun Sentinal, is accompanied by many comments from the people. Imagine town hall meetings where everyone can vote, in the building or not. Economically, the web helps ideas, service and money become easily transferable. Thus, it is no longer people that have to migrate to be a part of a business, bringing wealth to parts of the world that may not have a market for the product being sold.

There are some great papers there and the website is worth the read. I hope there are quite a few reviews of the conference available, upon its conclusion, in English.


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