Speaking of assembly, I wrote this in 1998:
*Conclusion*
Perhaps the most democratizing aspect of the Internet is the ability for
people to organize and communicate in groups. It is within the context of
electronic free assembly and association that citizens will gain new
opportunities for participation and a voice in politics, governance, and
society.
In the next decade, those active in developing the Internet and those
involved with improving democracy have an opportunity to sow the seeds for
democracy online in the next century. Like the founding of any modern
nation, the choices made today, the ideals upheld, the rules adopted, and
the expectations created will determine the opportunities for democratic
engagement for generations to come.
From:
http://stevenclift.com/democracy-is-online-ontheinternet-magazine-1998/
On Wed, Jul 29, 2020, 4:12 PM Lucy Bernholz <<email obscured>> wrote:
> The Digital Assembly Research Network (DARN) is an effort to understand,
> improve, and positively influence the ways in which digital systems shape
> our ability to gather together. Now that the internet undergirds everything
> from the arts to voting systems, we need to better understand how our
> physical, digital, and liminal spaces shape our ability to assemble. Online
> data, surveillance technology, and omnipresent connected devices mean that
> we have effectively digitized our physical spaces. Data is now captured on
> everything from our activities at work, school, and worship, to protests,
> civic and charitable events. How does this reality change what we do, where
> we do it, with whom, and how do we protect our physical/digital spaces for
> assembly?
>
> Our hypothesis about the need for more research on digital assembly can
> best explained as an analogy: Digital platforms are to mis/dis-information
> as connected devices everywhere are to assembly suppression. The question
> is how can civil society, scholars, and policy makers protect our ability
> to freely assemble?
>
> Link to join:
>
https://pacscenter.stanford.edu/research/digital-civil-socidriety-lab/digital-assembly-research-network/
>
> We are launching the DARN with an email listserv that will enable global
> participation and have low connectivity requirements. We invite you to join
> by visiting this webpage,(
>
https://pacscenter.stanford.edu/research/digital-civil-socidriety-lab/digital-assembly-research-network/)