The Rise of Open-Source Politics

Internet merubah peta politik AS dengan memungkinkan orang-orang (dengan akses internet) untuk berpartisipasi secara langsung dalam proses pemilihan umum, juga pada pengambilan keputusan publik:

The Rise of Open-Source Politics: "By comparison, DailyKos is a multilayered community engineered to reward ideas that bubble up from below. Like many bloggers, Markos Moulitsas, the Gulf War veteran who runs it, requires visitors to register (for free) if they want to post a comment. He also encourages users to set up their own 'diaries,' or blogs within his blog, where they can post their own entries. Unlike most blogs, the DailyKos is built on a tool called Scoop, which includes peer moderation, where members rank each other's entries and comments. Smart diary postings thus often rise to Moulitsas's attention, and if he reprints them on his main page they gain an even larger audience.

In addition, people with high rankings become 'trusted users' who have the ability to recommend that visitors who try to disrupt conversations or simply post right-wing taunts be banned from the site. Only Moulitsas has the power to make that decision, and he weeds his garden carefully. 'If somebody posts and I haven't seen them in a while,' he told me, 'I'll say, 'Where've you been?'' Amazingly, he insists that he has developed personal relationships with hundreds of people. 'That's what happens after two years of reading the same names over and over again,' he says.

As a result, the Kos community has become a very efficient collaboration engine--not only for pooling money for candidates (at least $600,000 has been given through the site) but also for rapid fact-checking of political statements and news stories, quick dissemination of news of voting irregularities and brainstorming of campaign themes. During the presidential debates, Kos's daily traffic surged to more than a half million visits. The DailyKos, to be sure, is still an egocentric organization dominated by one person who is not without blemishes, like refusing to disclose who his paying political clients are. But his success shows the power of an open network approach to organizing.

Beyond Kos, blog-base"

Bagaimana kemungkinan aplikasinya di Indonesia, dengan permasalahan tingkat penetrasi internet yang rendah. Tetapi bahwa pengalaman AS bahwa aktivisme politik bisa terbangun dengan, antara lain keberadaan internet yang memfasilitasi. Perlu dipikirkan secara matang, karena seperti juga di AS maka kelompok perusahaan serta organisasi tradisional lain juga akan memanfaatkannya.

Apakah kelompok progresif yang menginginkan situasi lebih baik bisa memanfaatkan media internet dengan sifatnya yang belum mapan ini, atau justru akan tertinggal dengan kepompok konservatif yang hanya akan menjadikan media ini sebagai bagian dari struktur masyarakat sebagaimana adanya.

Tentu akan menarik bagaimana aktivis Indonesia menggunakan internet lebih dari sekedar email, dan milis. Walau memang kendala teknis, keterbatasan sambungan dan kualitasnya, masih akan merupakan hal yang menghambat.

Tetapi kreatifitas untuk memanfaatkan peluang yang tersedia dari media ini, mengenali peluang untuk membuka hubungan ataupun menciptakan kelompok pengguna internet yang mendukung suatu isu tertentu akan menarik untuk diamati.