My project focuses on the uses of the Internet in Iran. In particular, I will be examining how the Iranian public uses the Internet to express dissent or communicate about subjects that would violate the government's strict moral code. In order to focus the project more, I plan to focus on the incredibly-large Iranian blog community. In this annotated bibliography, I am hoping to discover how Iranians are using the internet, how blogs affect political discourse, and the particular methods used by the government to censor dissident speech.

Tehrani, Hamid. "Iran's Revolutionary Guards Take on the Internet." Weblog post. Internet & Democracy Blog. 8 Jan. 2009. Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. 7 Apr. 2009 .

Tehrani's post addresses an announcement made at the end of 2008 by a branch of the Iranian army that it plans to launch 10,000 blogs for military forces. The ideologically-motivated group sees blogs as a threat to the Islamic Republic and are concerned that it might lead to a non-violent revolution. Tehrani claims that a chief cause of the Revolutionary Guards' action is fears over the state's lack of control over the internet; the Iranian government controls all other media. In 2008, detailed information about corruption was posted and spread on blogs. As Iranian citizens spread the word, public outcry grew, causing many high-ranked officials to resign. Tehrani notes that this government accountability is much more prevalent now that Iranian citizens themselves have the ability to publish information. He remains skeptical about the Revolutionary Guards' efforts, stating that Iranian conservative media has never been able to attract readers--despite the lack of competition from other sources.

Tehrani's post mentions an intriguing policy decision that demonstrates changing attitudes in Iranian government. This "if you can't beat them, join them" belief is a shift from a policy of attempted censorship and filtering that has been largely ineffective. The post is also one of the few sources that mentions the existence of conservative blogs. Interestingly, mullahs and conservative politicians have also been turning to blogs to express their views, and many are well-read. Tehrani's critique of the government policy, however, is that these blogs will essentially be "mass-produced". The government is likely to keep a strict eye on them in order to ensure they reflect official policies. This regulation is counterintuitive to the spontaneous, often-opinionated dialogue that makes blogs so popular in Iran, which is likely to render them ineffective as propaganda tools.

Van Buren, Chris. "Morozov: The Internet No Democratic Cure." Weblog post. Internet & Democracy Blog. 3 Apr. 2009. Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. 7 Apr. 2009 .

In a post on The Berkman Center's Internet & Democracy Blog, Van Buren responds to Evgeny Morozov's piece in the Boston Review on cyber-utopianism. He agrees with Morozov's assessment that intellectuals tend to overestimate the Internet's power to democratize, pointing to the fact that access to the Internet has not removed human rights abusers from power. Van Buren is concerned that online dissidence has led to a wave of heavier repression and authoritarianism that opposes the democratization many intellectuals seek to promote. Yet while believing that intellectuals' idea of technological determinism is naive, he also sees a possiblity for the web’s influence on democratic reform to exist, but in a subtle and slow manner. In order to defend this point, Van Buren examines the Iranian case. The sheer number and variety of Iranian blogs mean that total censorship is impossible, and this promotes the free speech necessary for democratic change. By doing so, Van Buren argues, freer speech becomes more of a norm, and this slowly will defeat censorship. Van Buren also notes that the blogosphere gives a voice to moderates who would otherwise be excluded from the traditional media's emphasis on polarized viewpoints.

Van Buren examines the implicit effects of the existence of so many Iranian blogs. While there is a dispute as to whether or not all Iranian bloggers seek to effect political change, the fact remains that the forum to discuss virtually anything remains open and free to access. Van Buren is suggesting that a social norm will be transferred from the Internet to the real world. At the same time, however, Van Buren ignores the recent efforts of the Iranian government to curb blogging through legal consequences such as imprisonment.

"Citizenship, Borders, and Human Needs"

The culminating event of the 2007-2008 DCC Faculty Series is the first annual DCC Conference, to be held May 9th, 2008, in the Bodek Lounge of Penn's Houston Hall, 3417 Spruce Street.

May 9, 2008 Annual Conference Schedule:

Wellhofer, Spencer. “Democracy and Fascism: Class, Civil Society, and Rational Choice in Italy.” The American Political Science Review. Vol. 97, No. 1, Feb. 2003, 91-106. JSTOR. American Politicial Science Association. University of Pennslvania Library, Philadelphia. 4 April 2008 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3118223>

Spencer Wellhofers discussion on the emergence of fascism considers the requirements for fascism to succeed. He examines the ways in which fascism appeared in Italy within four years. Fascism set into Italy in different ways than it did in Germany. Fascists did not have to rely heavily on the support of those in rural areas in Germany, as it is primarily an industrial country. However, in Italy Mussolini had to have the unity of those living on the countryside.
It did not take long for fascists to take power in Italy and the transition appeared easy. Many Italians have conveyed these resentments through various art and media outlets, including film.

Federico Fellini, one of the most well-known Italian filmmakers tackled the issue of fascism by incorporating experiences of his own into his films. Fellini displays fascism as an issue in a small town in Italy, where the citizens are either completely ignorant to fascism’s capability, or they are not interested in it at all and feel that it is hardly a serious threat to their day-to-day living. In small towns, Italians were heavily influenced by the leaders of their communities, and oftentimes it was these leaders and who were pressured into retaining their professionalism by joining the fascist party. (see The Fascist Experience; Italian Society and Culture 1922-1945 by Edward R. Tannenbaum)

In this short piece, reporter Bruno Navarro interviews Scott Schuman, creator of The Sartorialist, a popular New York City-based fashion blog with an aesthetic that generally centers on classically dressed adults. Schuman speaks briefly of his interest in fashion, generated as a young boy reading GQ and furthered during his career as a showroom manager at Valentino (which ended when he decided to become a stay-at-home dad). Unlikely many other bloggers, Schuman knows nothing of journalism – a fact which Navarro praises, arguing that it is The Sartorialist’s simple style and positive tone that have led to its immeasurable success. Furthermore, unlike the proliferation of blogs whose witty, catty tone takes a stab at some of fashion’s biggest names, Schuman provides little text, and generally lets the photos speak for themselves, choosing only to add text when he wants to point out a specific detail, like a hemline or collar. Schuman’s work makes evident his great knowledge and love of fashion, and has gained him jobs taking photographs for Esquire Magazine and Style.com.

Although The Sartorialist is an extremely popular fashion blog (Technorati ranks it number 361 in the worldwide blogosphere, as of March 7, 2007), Navarro downplays Schuman’s power as a foreseer of the cool. Instead, Schuman emphasize personal details of Schuman’s life (he grew up in Indiana and recently left the industry to become a stay-at-home dad) and notes that he has no journalism experience and rejects the catty critiques favored by many other fashion insiders, thus painting him instead as a regular guy whose photos speak to the greater public. The underlying message seems almost a reiteration of the Great American Dream, in which the Internet provides the new means for achieving bigshot status in whatever industry you choose, as long as you’re sincere and love your art.

Clearly, Navarro is a bit overly optimistic. First of all, anyone who has ever visited The Sartorialist will tell you right away that Schuman isn’t just an ordinary guy. He has a keen eye for high fashion and tends to photograph people wearing outfits that cost upwards of $1,000. Second, his discussion of colors and details is complete and impressive, as he points out features of a particular outfit that would go unnoticed to the untrained eye. Navarro also downplays the fact that Schuman worked for Valentino, one of the premier Italian designers in haute culture – and a fact which posits Schuman as more of a fashion insider than a regular guy. Furthermore, while Navarro’s celebrates Schuman’s success as a success of the every man, he fails to mention the almost 300,000 blog posts tagged as “fashion” on Technorati, which do not receive nearly the number of pageviews as The Sartorialist and have not led to such opportunities.

Yet overall, the thrust of Navarro’s article seems right on – the world of fashion blogging clearly does allow for people outside the fashion industry to comment on and influence what is popular – and in that respect, Schuman should act as role model for all aspiring fashion bloggers.

Here, Riekert adopts Gladwell’s term to refer to street-style fashion bloggers whose keen sense of fashion results in documentation of the some of globe’s newest and funkiest looks featured on the web for all to see. As a result, fashion industry executives, rather than hiring street teams to seek out “cool” looks, are turning to fashion bloggers in order to ascertain what is in style. This occurrence is widespread and Riekert identifies several companies whose soul purpose is to sift through fashion blogs in the hope of determining the next big thing.

Riekert argues that while these blogs provide a valuable service to the fashion industry, they also democratize the act of coolhunting. “In the end, the price the companies pay for this 'free' information is that they don't have exclusivity,” she explains. Yet coolhunting does not just apply to the fashion industry; indeed, corporations focused on almost any aspect of culture or technology frequently turn to blogs in order to ascertain what the next big trend will be. Like Gladwell’s version of coolhunting, online coolhunting is valuable because it provides up-to-date and cutting-edge information. Furthermore, the interactivity of blogs helps generate further dialogue, as readers comment on posts and debate trends. In the end, ideas debated and favored on the web can be translated into real products created by the industries for the marketplace.

In general, Riekert combines interviews with bloggers and media companies and web statistics to form a solid argument, yet her adoption of the term “coolhunter” to refer to fashion bloggers seems to deviate slightly from Gladwell’s original designation. Unlike the coolhunters of the 1990s, today’s coolhunters are not tied to industry insiders but work for themselves. Rather than reporting their finders directly to a fashion corporation, they post their findings online. Thus, fashion industry experts must go through an extra step in order to access the information that the coolhunters have amassed. This extra step is crucial because it grants both industry insiders and the general public the same information at the same time. Thus, readers are providing feedback in the form of comments and discussion at the same time the fashion industries are designing their new lines. The result is a line of fashion directly influenced by popular opinion.

Yet while many fashions captured by fashion bloggers end up being adapted by the masses, just as many of these fashions are ridiculed or rejected. Although Riekert never explicitly states that fashion blogs make the so-called “cool” subjects featured on blogs susceptible to the (sometimes cruel) opinions of the greater blog-reading public, she ends her article with the mention of a German blogger whose blog features tee-shirts with faux underarm hair – a trend which will likely (or at least hopefully) be rejected by the masses. Extrapolating, one can glean that this more accessible form of coolhunting also strips the cool of some of their power to dictate the fashions, as any new trends must be approved by the masses before they are translated into profitable market goods.

In this article, Zamiatin explores why fashion blogs have attracted so many readers in the past few months. She attributes their growing popularity to two major factors: a sense of immediacy (blogs respond to what is happening currently, and provide updates more frequently than magazines, which are generally issued once a month) and a candid, often humorous writing style not found in fashion magazines. She briefly discusses the recent efforts among fashion bloggers, such as the editors of Coutorture, an online fashion blogging community, to bring together all fashion blogs in one place where users can find them all quickly and easily. Such a community would help democratize fashion by allowing for a multiplicity of voices and allowing readers to leave feedback.

Zamiatin comments that some of the more popular fashion blogs concern themselves with celebrity fashion, thus treading on ground traditionally covered by the mainstream fashion press. However, Zamiatin does not think that fashion blogs will eclipse traditional media such as magazines – instead, will they supplement mainstream media by providing new, current information for fans to consume and discuss.

Zamiatin’s discussion of immediacy and style as two distinguishing features of fashion blogs can be widened to describe much user-generated content created in today’s participatory internet culture: YouTube videos are known for their quick stream-times and often satiric content while web comics such as Achewood or Toothpaste for Dinner are updated daily and offer ridiculous, humorous content. A fashion blog community, such as Coutorture or ShareYourLook.com (see entry) would act as a sort of YouTube for the fashion industry, allowing the best blogs to rise to the top and gain the most pageviews, thus placing fashion even further into the hands of the masses.

Zamiatin is probably correct in arguing that blogs will not displace traditional fashion reporting, but she misses one of the more obvious reasons why this is so: the advantage of an actual (as opposed to virtual) magazine is that you can roll it up, toss it into a backpack and read it in the park or on the beach. While Sidekicks and other devices that allow users to access their email remotely are growing more and more popular, there is something about curling up with a magazine that can not be replicated with a tiny Sidekick screen.

Furthermore, while Zamiatin argues that fashion blogs democratize fashion culture, one could also argue that by focusing on celebrities, many blogs actually reinforce the cultural distance between celebrities and the greater reading public. Instead, it seems more likely that street style blogs, who random stylish strangers, have the potential to democratize fashion by portraying it as something exemplified by ordinary people.

This article examines how online fashion bloggers are gaining more and more credibility with industry insiders who are attracted to their large numbers of readers and hope to win them over. As a result, these bloggers are granted advertising deals with major industries and are greeted with open access to fashion shows and events formerly accessible to major media companies only. Top-ranking blogs can also be sold for considerable amounts of money, especially among media companies looking to strike it rich in the world of the elite.

Bloggers also wield considerable power because their snarky, critical comments leave designers fearing an online trashing. Other designers seek out bloggers in the hope of gaining extra publicity. Finally, many designers and media corporations recruit bloggers to come and work for them, hoping that bloggers’ keen sense of style will give their company a coolness boost.  Fashion-blogging represents a quickly growing industry, with revenues only expected to rise as online advertising becomes increasingly popular. 

A well-researched article, Dodes incorporates comments from several top fashion executives and photo-bloggers with statistics from Technorati (a blog tracker) and BlogAds (an agency responsible for placing advertisements on top-raking blogs.) While the article uses the data to draw reasonable conclusions, it neglects to consider differences between blogs that cover street style versus those that cover couture or celebrity styles. Although Dodes’s failure to differentiate between different types of blogs makes the article appear as it if speaks for them all, when analyzed closely, Dodes seems to focus only on the latter two types. Thus, while she draws a connection between fashion bloggers whose posts about couture and celebrity style may gain them insider status, she does not mention street-style bloggers and never suggests that the writers of such blogs might have a different relationship with the fashion industry.

Nevertheless, the implications of this article are enormous. First of all, Dodes credits fashion bloggers with making the secrets of the fashion world available to anyone who cares to seek them out via the internet. It also posits fashion bloggers as independent and increasingly powerful experts, almost akin to a ruling aristocracy, who are not tied to any one company or designer, but who can praise or criticize different labels as they see fit, and who have commanded the attention of both media companies and fashion industry bigwigs. Finally, Dodes posits a capitalist superstructure (not surprising for WSJ) which maintains that control ultimately lies with whoever influences the masses, and that bloggers succeed because they are more in touch with reading audiences (and thus more likely to influence their liking of a particular item or design) than the industries themselves.

The Hot or Not of the fashion blogosphere, ShareYourLook allows users to upload photos of themselves in their favorite outfits and then asks other users to rate their style on a scale of 1 to 5. The site also contains a slew of web 2.0 features that savvy Internet users have undoubtedly become accustomed with – users can email photos, comment on them, tag them or filter them based on style or price. In addition, each user has a homepage, which includes recent fashion photos and personal information. Fun features, such as “The Wall” will randomly generate 20 photos posted on the site, and a “News” page contains links to a variety of blogs sorted into categories: fashion, shopping, celebrities, beauty.

ShareYourLook is an important development for the online fashion community because it allows anyone with a camera and an internet connection to partake in the creating and judging of fashion trends. While street style blogs capture ordinary fashionable people, ShareYourLook contains photos from people across the globe, many of whom may live in areas where fashion bloggers never venture or whose simple styles are unlikely to catch the eye of bloggers seeking unusual, cutting-edge trends. ShareYourLook is unique in that it features ordinary everyday looks alongside more cutting edge looks, and asks users to comment on both. While many of the top-rated looks feature trendy, “high style” items, common items are highly ranked as well, such as skinny jeans and black rain boots. By placing new and unusual items alongside already popular favorites, ShareYourLook’s top-rated looks represent a more accurate compilation of what fashion fans actually find stylish, drawn from a larger pool of varying styles. Like YouTube, the top rated looks on ShareYourLook are those that have received high ratings from multiple users; thus, like YouTube, ShareYourLook provides the tools for a truly democratic fashion culture.

Yet while ShareYourLook provides the tools for fashion democratization, as of now, it does not have enough users to truly represent anything other than the opinions of site-users. While the main page boasts that the site has users in 54 countries, numbers still seem low: the most-viewed look only has 1398 views, as of 11:10 p.m. on March 7, 2007, compared to the top video on YouTube, which has 43,546,227 views as of the same time. Technorati only lists three incoming links to the site, making it relatively insubstantial in the current world of fashion blogging. Even so, ShareYourLook could be the future of fashion blogging – thus democratizing the tools of culture even more.

In chapter six, Jenkins discusses the role of popular culture in emerging political communities. Jenkins (as is the case throughout Convergence Culture) is focused on how old and new media interact and the dynamics of collaboration and participation. While Jenkins recognizes the scoff-factor when implying the concept of “photoshop for democracy” (user-generated images that often map themes from popular culture onto the political campaign) is any sort of substitute for real political activism, he insists that this kind of user-generated content and mass dispersion is a serious act of citizenry. In fact, using popular culture as a means of engaging voters might just be the most effective way of re-establishing interest in politics as a part of our everyday lives. Jenkins focuses on the 2004 election and recognizes that the next step is to think of “democratic citizenship as a lifestyle.” Furthermore, online political communities seem to be segregating voters, as opposed to encouraging dialogue across ideologies. Although he seems to offer popular culture as a kind of national balm for the ailments of political fragmentation, Jenkins recognizes the inherent limits of its role in (or applicability as a model for) contemporary political communities.

For me, the most useful parts of this argument is the attention he pays to the increasing participation of average Americans (now as monitorial citizens as opposed to informed citizens) in the media landscape and the possibilities for the integration of politics and popular culture. However, he doesn’t seem to offer any real solution for the acutely polarized political landscape.

Ch. 1: “Electronic Political Discussion”

This chapter offers an overview of various online communications, including electronic email lists, Usenet and blogs. Davis addresses the question of whether or not online discussions make any difference in political processes, institutions or societal behavior and ultimately decides that the prophesized utopia of direct democracy has not yet been achieved. The obstacles facing such restructuring include: inequality in the levels of accessibility and the fragmented nature of electronic political discussion. Even the more tempered notion of deliberative democracy faces hurdles - most notably human reliance on technological solutions.

This chapter is a helpful summary of current online discussion forums and briefly pulls apart the kind of Trippi-esque claims of revolution. I'm going to utilize the rest of this book in order to examine the broad claims of internet revolution which, in the case of much writing about the internet, seem devoid of factors like accessibility.

Abstract from First Monday:

In groups people can accomplish what they cannot do alone. Now new visual and social technologies are making it possible for people to make decisions and solve complex problems collectively. These technologies are enabling groups not only to create community but also to wield power and create rules to govern their own affairs. Electronic democracy theorists have either focused on the individual and the state, disregarding the collaborative nature of public life, or they remain wedded to outdated and unrealistic conceptions of deliberation. This article makes two central claims. First, technology will enable more effective forms of collective action. This is particularly so of the emerging tools for "collective visualization" which will profoundly reshape the ability of people to make decisions, own and dispose of assets, organize, protest, deliberate, dissent and resolve disputes together.

McChesney’s essay can, in many ways, be read as a call to arms.  His goal is clear—he wants to reveal the true nature of the nation’s largest media conglomerates as being corrupt, insidious, and detrimental to the wellbeing of our democracy in order to provoke popular discontent and significant change within the system.  At times, he makes very powerful arguments.  But, sometimes he sounds too much like one consumed by conspiracy theories.  Namely, whenever something might look bad, he interprets it to not only be as bad as it seems, but most likely worse. While this may often be an accurate interpretation of events, after 75 pages of his essay, it begins to see a bit over determined (he never awknoledges that it could be otherwise; he mentions no flaws in his argument or examples of the existence of conglomerates benefiting the consumer, as Baker readily will do).  Nevertheless, McChesney does hit on some very important ideas regarding the media’s integral role in keep our democracy healthy, and the fact that for many people it is not just a question of entertainment.  Ideally, McChesney wants to see the media cease to be an industry like any other.  After all, a TV is not just a toaster that projects a picture.  The essay is well written and a pleasure to read, even if the rhetoric can get a bit tiring.

Baker takes certain ideas touched upon in Bagdikian’s book, The (New) Media Monopoly and analyses them in much greater depth (Bagdikian has published many versions of his book, the first of which appeared when there were 50 major players in the media business… there are now only 5). He uses economic analysis to determine the efficiency of the current system (or lack thereof), and makes various policy arguments for remedying the current problem within our press. The structure is as follows: he illustrates the problem, proves it economically, introduces a policy proposal, compares it to programs implemented around the world, and then discusses the constitutionality of going forward with his recommendations.

Implicit throughout his book is that the media serves a distinct role in society and that given the current influence that advertisers can exercise, they prevent the media from fulfilling the needs of a democratic society. This idea is developed in greater depth in his book Media Markets and Democracy where he analyses a democratic society’s requirements of its press according to 4 different theories of democracy. He values diversity and that the media should work harder to meet the desires of its readers through content rather than from its advertisers by delivering the right readers.

Another key point of Baker’s argument is that advertising disproportionately hurts the poor. He points to the example of an English newspaper that had larger circulation than the other major newspapers combined, but not withstanding this fact, because the newspaper was read by people without a substantial disposable income, there were few (if any) advertisers who would subsidize the paper. Thus, the paper had to be profitable with only subscription revenues, and it eventually failed. Baker gives the case study and then explains why this is so on theoretical grounds and that this phenomenon most likely occurs rather often—advertisers seek a wealthy audience, and thus media products are disproportionately catered to their tastes, in terms of political leanings, interest pieces, and other editorial content.

In his article “Atomic Energy and the Democratic Process” Robert Dahl examines the way in which democracy governs atomic production. Dahl notes that in a democracy really only a portion of the public actually participates in an issue, though any individual can be mobilized into the active group if compelled by an issue. The author notes that when addressing atomic energy the group allowed to participate is constricted by the requirement of secrecy (regarding details of weapon production and emergency plans). Dahl points out that citizens “in the absence of secrecy, perhaps could and would be activated as attentive citizens” (p. 2). The author then steps further to indicate that to maintain this secrecy only a handful of “elites” are allowed to rule. The fact such important decisions lie in the hands of a few is alarming. Secrecy contradicts the idea of democracy in itself. Considering the actions of leaders in the Cold War and the sentiments of the public, one must question whether nuclear proliferation by both the US and the USSR were moves that benefited public interest or a handful of individuals acting on their own behalf.

The idea of elitist control permeates Dr. Strangelove's message. In the film a deranged general sends US planes towards Russia to be intercepted, essentially precipitating WWIII. The general’s relatively unchecked control signifies the power leaders commanded and could manipulate regardless of public interest. One must question whether given the concerns of nuclear accumulation society as a whole would have pursued the path of nuclear development. Considering the apocalyptic ending of Dr. Strangelove it would seem Kubrick thinks not.

This article deals with the power of political blogs in local politics.  It focuses upon how candidates with little or no name recognition can gain some quick ground through the blogisphere.  By using this low cost resource to throw their name into the political arena, new candidates gain the ability to hit potential voters individually and with tons of information very quickly.

This website is the most visited political blog on the internet according to technorati.com.  It is run by a law professor at the University of Tennessee.  He seems to be a little on the conservative side, but this blog is a great example of the 1) the people who run blogs, 2) the amount of connection between blogs, and 3) how information is dealt out over the blogisphere. 

This NY times article focuses on the ethics behind blogging.  It examines the if there should be a code for bloggers and if they should be held up to the same standard as other print medias.  Since bloggers are considered amatuers by nature, they fall under the radar.  Shear attempts to consider whether bloggers should be held accountable for their actions because of the surge in the number of bloggers over the past couple of years.

This is the best resource I have found in the library concerning teh use of blogs in American democracy. It is a short read coming in at about 150 pages and gives tons of information about bloggers and their actual participation in politics. Like most political books about stratifying an electorate, it has tons of data. Great resource.

This recent essay on the importance of blogs in politics is a very informative and compelling work. Denzer's essay has a deep focus upon the origins and the effects of blogs upon the American political structure. It also has a tremendous amount of links that lead to great resources for anyone interested in the internet and American politics. An excellent resource.

This journal article is somewhat boring, but effective. It is written in a classical Political Science style and is more interested in designs, graphs, and diagrams than in the theories behind the data. It is a good primary resource, but speaks very broadly about the varying ways the internet influences politics and vice-versa. Robertson has some great primary resources and could lead to better articles or essays.

This article is less than a year old and does not have to deal with American politics. However, it is a well written critique and analysis of the influences of political blogs upon a democracy. It gives an international take upon the importance of blogs upon a democratic populace.

This website has tons of links to great resources. Both profit and non-profit websites with political blogs are readily available. The information on the website allows for a good starting place to look into the relationship between blogs and politics in American. By seperating the different types of blogs out there, it makes it much easier to scoure the internet for information about blogs and politics.

This book is an older version of Davis' later Politics Online. Unlike his later endeavor, Web is a theory based book. It feels as if this book gives Davis' theory for how the internet should work with politics and Politics Online is his research into trying to prove his hypotheses. Still a good earlier work about the potential power of the internet in teh electoral process and delibrative democracy.

In this class textbook, Sunstein reveals her fears about the "Daily Me", the process by which individuals today can filter ever more increasing amounts of electronic information to fit a highly personal profile, such that they can see only that information they wish to see in the world.  In addition, she speaks about the convergence and polarization of ideas and the groups which espouse them, on the internet to the extent that she uses the term "balkanization" for some online communities such as race hate groups or political sites.  When people of a like mind do get together on a newsgroup, bulletin board, website, or chat room, it is found that members tend to further gravitate to those who have strong, defined opinions on topics of interest and concern for those individuals.  If that is the case, if one believes that women's speech is quantitatively different from men's speech and that women may find more community by remaining in the online company of women, then it may be the case that women and men may divide their online participation among more gendered lines.  Also, the way that strong opinions, criticism, and conflict are handled online may have a direct relationship to whether or not women will espouse new ideas or new online venues outside of their known social spheres.