The Internet and Democracy: Lessons Learnt and Future Directions

The Internet and Democracy project at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society has been exploring the impact of the Internet and new media on political change by carrying out research in different parts of the world.

This event, organized in collaboration with the OII and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism aims of bringing together leading researchers to assess the current state of research on the impact of the Internet on democracy.

A group of approximately 25 leading thinkers is being convened to explore the current state of research in the Internet and democracy field, by drawing on research from the project and on leading research in the field from other institutions.

The workshop aims to assess:

• What are the lessons learnt from existing research?
• How can we best measure the impact of the Internet and new media on democracy and what are the insights provided by different research methodologies?
• What are the future directions for the field?

Support

The Internet and Democracy project is a two-year research effort at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society funded by the Middle East Partnership Initiative of the US Department of State. Additional support for the event is being provided by a grant from the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Networks for Web Science, EP/FO/3701/1)

Follow Up

• The workshop included a public lecture by Matthew Hindman
• Corinna di Gennaro offers reflections