| 1 | 1 | | Those who joined in the Live Aid concert - which means almost everyone in the |
| 2 | | communications world - will never forget the image of the people of two continents |
| 3 | | united in response to the needs of a third. |
| 2 | 4 | | But though commentators tried to whip up excitement about the technical tour de |
| 5 | | force it represented, we have stopped being awestruck by the fact that pictures can be |
| 6 | | bounced off satellites. The real drama lay in the mass action which modern |
| 7 | | communications made possible; the great feedback loop which kept the audience |
| 8 | | informed of its own generosity, continuously spurring it to greater effort. |
| 3 | 9 | | It was the nearest thing yet to the global village, the largest demonstration so far of |
| 10 | | the power of modern technology to produce mass involvement. Viewers were not simply |
| 11 | | lookers-on; they could go out into the village square and affect events as they occurred. |
| 12 | | There was something people could do and, to the tune of £ 40 million, we did. |
| 4 | 13 | | But this was an exception. The routine parade of massacre, misery and injustice on |
| 14 | | the nightly news bulletins rarely offers any outlet in action. It is viewed in enforced |
| 15 | | passivity. One result is the dulling effect which TV news editors call the 'Northern Ireland |
| 16 | | factor'. At the words: ' In Northern Ireland/Beirut/Nicaragua tonight', lavatories start |
| 17 | | flushing and kettles boiling throughout the country. 'The more exposure people have to |
| 18 | | violence in the news, the less sensitive they get,' says University of London psychologist |
| 19 | | Dr David Nias. 'I am sure that the effect of TV has been a general desensitization.' |
| 5 | 20 | | The inexpressiveness of the newsreaders helps the process along. The news leaves |
| 21 | | one feeling that while it's quite all right to feel a little serious about a bombing, a famine |
| 22 | | or a riot, one ought to have got over it in time to smile at the funny item at the end... |
| 6 | 23 | | Much of the 'Northern Ireland factor' arises from the fact that, however strongly |
| 24 | | viewers feel about world events, they seldom have any direct, effective means of |
| 25 | | expressing their views. Which means that the more outraged the viewer feels, the more his |
| 26 | | nose is rubbed in his own powerlessness. |
| 7 | 27 | | Modern technology could prevent much of this by offering people some way of |
| 28 | | expressing their opinions and participating in decision-making. Anyone with a home |
| 29 | | computer and a modem2) already has the technical ability to link up to a vote-counting |
| 30 | | mainframe computer and register a viewpoint - or a vote - on issues ranging from the |
| 31 | | redevelopment of the High Street to the imposition of sanctions on South Africa. It's not |
| 32 | | just that dialling up a mainframe and pressing a few keys is quicker than finding your |
| 33 | | MP's address, composing a suitable letter, queuing for a stamp, and remembering to post |
| 34 | | it. The really revolutionary potential of 'post-industrial democracy' lies in the instant |
| 35 | | feedback it could provide; the way a community could watch its own views changing as |
| 36 | | an issue runs its course. Of course, life would be hard for special interest groups when the |
| 37 | | majority can rapidly discover that it is a majority... |
| 8 | 38 | | Apart from its potential for mass participation, new technology is also making it |
| 39 | | yearly easier and cheaper for people to set up as publishers in their own right via cable |
| 40 | | TV, new printing technology, and, cheapest of all, public computer networks accessed |
| 41 | | through home micros and modems. Technologically speaking, at least, undifferentiated, |
| 42 | | monopolistic information sources are a thing of the past. |
| | | |
| | | The Observer, August 25, 1985 |
noot 1: Live Aid concert: actie in 1985 ter leniging van hongersnood in Afrika.
noot 2: Modem: een apparaat dat via de telefoon toegang verleent tot computers
