Inventing with hypotheses (2)

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Inventing with hypotheses

•Don’t focus on the facts. Focus on the DEBATABLE ARGUMENTS.

•Summarize the WHOLE reading, not just some fragments.

•Evaluate the SUBSTANCE of the arguments, not the style of their presentation, whether you were interested/bored, etc..

Some tips for writing effective summaries

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Inventing with hypotheses

Writing in the early 90s, Howard Rheingold argued that early online communities such as the WELL were the “laboratories” wherein the democracy of the future was being invented. The democratic power of these communities, according to Rheingold, stemmed from the 1960s countercultural ideals that they embodied. He contends that early online communities were (1) egalitarian, i.e., users were committed to informing and helping one another and to widening access; (2) libertarian, i.e., users sought to keep rules and regulations to a minimum and largely voluntary; (3) creative, i.e., users invented their own community along with the technology that made it possible; and (4) participatory, insofar as the internet puts the power of mass communication within reach of anyone with a computer.

Of course, the character of the internet has changed as it has came to be increasingly dominated by commercial interests. According to Rheingold, to the extent that the internet becomes commercialized, and thus departs from these countercultural values), the potential of virtual communities to promote democracy is diminished.

Virtual Communities: A Summary

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Inventing with hypotheses

Because they embrace the democratic spirit that, according to Howard Rheingold, characterizes virtual communities, online political networks organized around political stars such as Barack Obama and Sarah Palin encourage meaningful political participation among large numbers of Americans.

Hypothesis 1

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Because they embrace the democratic spirit that, according to Howard Rheingold, characterizes virtual communities, online political networks organized around political stars such as Barack Obama and Sarah Palin encourage meaningful political participation among large numbers of Americans.

Hypothesis 1

Hypothesis 2

Online political networks organized around political stars such as Barack Obama and Sarah Palin are damaging the revolutionary democratic potential of the internet, because they have turned the grassroots, “many-to-many” communication strategies pioneered in the internet’s early days into a just another celebrity-oriented marketing technique.

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Inventing with hypotheses

Because they embrace the democratic spirit that, according to Howard Rheingold, characterizes virtual communities, online political networks organized around political stars such as Barack Obama and Sarah Palin encourage meaningful political participation among large numbers of Americans.

Hypothesis 1

Hypothesis 2

Online political networks organized around political stars such as Barack Obama and Sarah Palin are damaging the revolutionary democratic potential of the internet, because they have turned the grassroots, “many-to-many” communication strategies pioneered in the internet’s early days into a just another celebrity-oriented marketing technique.

Group 1

Test hypothesis 1 by conducting a case study of Organizing for America (www.barackobama.com/ ).

Group 3

Test hypothesis 2 by conducting a case study of Organizing for America (www.barackobama.com/).

Group 2

Test hypothesis 1 by conducting a case study of Sarah Palin’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/sarahpalin).

Group 4

Test hypothesis 2 by conducting a case study of Sarah Palin’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/sarahpalin).

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Inventing with hypotheses

On the basis of your group’s study of a particular case, how would you revise Rheingold’s ideas about virtual communities in general?

Inventing an Argument