Connected Citizens: the Power, Peril, and Potential of Networks

I've become really interested in networks --watching how the current federal election campaign is unfolding on blogs, websites, and facebook has been particularly fascinating in recent weeks.

A new Knight Foundation and Monitor Institute report explores how an increasingly connected world will affect the way people push for social change. Connected Citizens: The Power, Peril and Potential of Networks draws from more than 70 examples of how networks are used to build better and more engaged communities. The report looks ahead to the year 2015 and envisions three scenarios of how society may evolve as a result of the changing way people connect to information and each other. Designed to help funders consider how to use networks to foster community change, the report also includes five promising ways people are using networks for social action.

"Ten years ago, a tiny web site asked people to volunteer to write their own encyclopedia. Today, Wikipedia is the most widely used reference work in the world. Rapid advances in digital media and technology are changing how we connect to information and each other. The way we engage in public dialogue, coordinate, solve problems—all of it is shifting. New networks are emerging everywhere. It’s exciting—and frightening. What is this new network-centric world? What does it mean for community change?"