Civic engagement via the net is not a foreign concept to us. Certainly the ’08 Presidential Election here in the US demonstrates such, and there are plenty of examples of non-governmental actors engaging one another via various net tools – e.g., YouTube channels, Facebook groups, etc. (Though I suppose the question still remains as to what degree of “citizenry” they share, in the non-legal sense).
Ulmer turns our attention to this new borderless/fluid-borer landscape as a space in which memorials can be built-virtually. This has been done in a variety of ways already (e.g., posts from fans to a blog reflecting on the death of Peanuts creator, Charles Schulz). Ulmer’s point is not that this is completely hot-off-the-presses (he offers his own URL for examples), but he argues that a key component largely lacking lies in Education, such that we become more EM-electrate .The education that Ulmer suggests includes action on the part of schools and cooperation from local agencies – producing a bottom-up approach/supplement to Expert knowledge.
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A couple questions remain for me, though, at this early point in the reading –
1) To what degree should we expect the success of this Education? (My ability to answer will obviously change as I embark on this shared experience of EM-formation).
2) What if we don’t explicitly educate on this matter? Are we electrate enough as a society already such that advancement is inevitable? Is this a “the genie is already out of the bottle” sort of moment?
3) To what degree does the EM/electracy focus rely on Design studies (including advancements in aesthetic qualities, programming skills, etc.)? Ulmer explicitly claims that “EM makes no attempt to stimulate Web design”(xvi), but I kind of don’t believe that. Or, at least, this advancement will be a necessary byproduct, even if not an explicit intention, of the program… Right?
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