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Essay Available:
Pages:
2 pages/β‰ˆ550 words
Sources:
3 Sources
Style:
Harvard
Subject:
Social Sciences
Type:
Essay
Language:
English (U.K.)
Document:
MS Word
Date:
Total cost:
$ 8.64
Topic:

The Network Economy: Questioning a Democratic Ethos

Essay Instructions:

Instruction for the essay is like this: you have to read at least two of the essential readings, choose one aspect or more aspects they both address on some level (e.g. models of democracy), summarize and evaluate the main points they make in relation to that aspect (i.e. agree/disagree with them and explain why).
This is a short 550 word essay that you are expected to write on a weekly topic and present in class during the relevant seminar. I expect you to engage with one or more aspects discussed in the set readings for the week (at least two aspects). The reaction paper should outline those aspects and evaluate them in a critical fashion drawing on relevant theory and empirical evidence for the purpose.
Please give me an outline of the essay in 2 days prior you finish it and tell me which aspects you want to discuss and from which readings? Some of the books have web links and I will attach the rest. Please choose easiest concepts so I will understand when I will read the essay too. Thanks
The word limit does not include the following: abstracts, contents page, diagrams, graphs, images, reference list, bibliography or appendices. Despite I put number for the sources you can go up as well but minimum have to be 2 sources and you have to read 2 different books and give reaction about the aspects there which has been raised by writers. 
The Network Economy: Questioning A Democratic Ethos 
Learning points: This session aims to examine trends towards increased involvement of new media users in the production and marketing of information goods. We do this by engaging with arguments on the commercialisation and commodification of information (and knowledge) and unpick their political implications. What are their connections to democratization? We discuss the concept of ‘creative commons’ and reflect on the issues of ‘playbour’ and what Castells called ‘the commodification of freedom’.
Readings:
1) Sean Cubitt (2013) ‘The political economy of cosmopolis’. In Trebor Scholz (ed.) Digital Labor: The Internet as Playground and Factory, New York: Routledge. Ebook available at http://encore(dot)city(dot)ac(dot)uk/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1906668 (with university credentials). 
2) David Beer and Roger Burrows (2013) ‘Popular culture, digital archives and the new social life of data’. Theory, Culture and Society, 30(4), 47-71.
3) Felix Stadler (2012) ‘Between democracy and spectacle: the front-end and back-end of the social web’ In Michael Mandiberg (ed.) The Social Media Reader, New York and London: New York University Press. 
4) Joyce Goggin (2011) Playbour, farming and leisure. Ephemera 11 (4), 357-368. Link for the book :http://www(dot)ephemerajournal(dot)org/sites/default/files/pdfs/11-4ephemera-nov11_1.pdf#page=32
5) Christian Fuchs (2010) Internet and Society: Social Theory in the Information Age, London: Routledge, ch.4, ‘The rise of transnational informational capitalism’. Link for the book: http://fuchs(dot)uti(dot)at/wp-content/uploads/Internet+Society.pdf 
6) Manuel Castells (2009) Communication Power, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ch. 6 ‘Toward a Communication Theory of Power’.
7) Charles Leadbeater (2009) We-think. Link for the book:
https://books(dot)google(dot)co(dot)uk/books?id=f9ql4ZX0uKAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=we+think+by+charles+leadbeater&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=we%20think%20by%20charles%20leadbeater&f=false
8) Chris Anderson (2009), Free: The Future of a Radical Price. Link for the book: 
https://books(dot)google(dot)co(dot)uk/books?id=K5h4Dage2zAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=free+the+future+of+a+radical+price+by+chris+anderson&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=free%20the%20future%20of%20a%20radical%20price%20by%20chris%20anderson&f=false
9) von Hippel E (2005) Democratizing Innovation, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Link for the book: http://web(dot)mit(dot)edu/evhippel/www/books/DI/DemocInn.pdf
10) Lawrence Lessig (2001) The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World, New York: Random House. 
Link for the book: http://www(dot)the-future-of-ideas(dot)com/download/lessig_FOI.pdf

Essay Sample Content Preview:

The Network Economy: Questioning a Democratic Ethos
Student number: 150046275
Introduction
Innovation can be described as the invention of new services and products. The internet (cyberspace) provides a conducive platform for the development of new goods and services. Although large organization have significantly benefited from this technology, that is, the internet, individual consumers and start-ups have reaped the greatest benefit from its empowering influence. The cyberspace has facilitated some of the greatest inventions such as Google and Facebook that have revolutionalized the world. The authors of the book ‘democratization of innovation’ and ‘the future of ideas’ have exhaustively analyzed how the internet has eased and enhanced innovation. This is in the sense that there is a lot a person can do in the cyberspace than in the real space. For instance, it is much hard to design a product using mechanical parts. On the other hand, the cyberspace provides access to refined design tools that can be applied in a range of fields. These tools can enable a user to develop innovative products and services. Therefore, this paper will examine the impact of the internet on innovation.
According to Hippel (2005), the internet has greatly enhanced the democratization of innovation since it has allowed users to create and modify products for their personal use. Moreover, through the internet, users can share their invention with other users around the world (Hippel, pg 121, 2005). Lessig (2001) points out the numerous barriers in the real space that locks out most innovators. These constraints include the cost of resources and time constraints (Lessig, pg 120, 2001). For instance, in the real space, a person cannot freely and effortlessly create a duplicate of an existing product. This is quite different on the cyberspace where an individual can seamlessly duplicate a digital content. Moreover, one can freely move the huge content with...
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