tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360537069214831268Wed, 07 May 2008 13:43:54 +0000http://www.gumaste.com/commtheories/Indianman in New YorkBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360537069214831268.post-3554171636945379727Thu, 01 May 2008 02:36:00 +00002008-05-06T23:29:20.295-04:00"Democratic governance rests on the capacity of and opportunity for citizens to engage in enlightened debate". Such engagement needs to happen in an open forum, i.e. a public sphere where the voices of everybody in a democracy can be heard. It is these voices that will ultimately determine how society is driven, how new leadership is elected and how democracy progresses. I find this to be a fairhttp://www.gumaste.com/commtheories/2008/04/habermas.htmlIndianman in New Yorktag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360537069214831268.post-5648490644825800045Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:49:00 +00002008-05-07T02:02:58.148-04:00Its only since I've moved to New York that I have heard the word NEED used in more places and by more people than it really should be. I mean, how many people really NEED and iPod versus WANT an iPod. Sure, there are those of us straphangers, for example, who could do with some personal entertainment on the train. But let's face it, all of us have lived in times when an iPod (or even a WalkMan) http://www.gumaste.com/commtheories/2008/04/one-dimensional-man.htmlIndianman in New Yorktag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360537069214831268.post-5735957109812593372Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:04:00 +00002008-03-26T16:33:14.799-04:00For me, the first half of the semester brought to the forefront many broad themes that I had thought about at different points in the past. The two readings that really stuck with me were The Bottom Billion and The Power Elite. Both these topics are very personal to me, in part because I have migrated from the land of (a good number of) the bottom billion , who often survive based on the http://www.gumaste.com/commtheories/2008/03/nostalgia.htmlIndianman in New Yorktag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360537069214831268.post-4482856830693209589Tue, 18 Mar 2008 02:23:00 +00002008-05-07T01:46:30.881-04:00Some days ago, I happened to visit the National Gallery of Art in DC. Its a huge place, with multiple floors spread across two wings. I only managed to finish the first floor of one of the wings, but hope to go back to see the rest. The sculptures and paintings I saw were primarily from the 15th-19th century, spanning central and southern European artifacts as well as vases and other priceless http://www.gumaste.com/commtheories/2008/03/benjamin.htmlIndianman in New Yorktag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360537069214831268.post-7937019122349201477Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:09:00 +00002008-05-07T00:22:25.392-04:00The more things change, the more they remain the same. Since Bill and I talked about this topic in class, I don't have much more to add. Its seems obvious to me that not much has changed in the 50 odd years since this article was written. Everything still centers around the military, economic and political bases of power in this country, and perhaps others. Eisenhower was perhaps the first, but http://www.gumaste.com/commtheories/2008/03/power-elite.htmlIndianman in New Yorktag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360537069214831268.post-6388902173907126907Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:23:00 +00002008-02-20T00:10:00.446-05:00So many of the points Dewey made since hold true today. In fact, I wonder how he might react today knowing that his predictions have come through. This book was no easy read for me, but here's a few things I got from it: - The public is often an incoherent, almost non-existent force. - It is likely to remain that way unless some significant situation/turmoil, a.k.a. negatively externality bringshttp://www.gumaste.com/commtheories/2008/02/dewey-had-crystal-ball.htmlIndianman in New Yorktag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360537069214831268.post-2852027876483511606Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:30:00 +00002008-05-07T09:43:54.766-04:00There were three phases of the economy: * The first wave, where the main engine for growth is farmers and laborers who toil to produce goods. * The second wave, which revolved around major industries like packaged foods, oil, etc. and still largely dominate the scene today. All the land that was previously used for agriculture is now used by these industries. * The third wave, is largely http://www.gumaste.com/commtheories/2008/02/dyson-et-al.htmlIndianman in New Yorktag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360537069214831268.post-8581611939831305369Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:05:00 +00002008-02-13T02:51:00.534-05:00"The global society reaches out to the entire planet, but it is not planetary." As humanity and technology advance, there is a need for skilled labor to connect different parts of the world and conduct business as part of a global production cycle. To do so requires education and migrating to major commercial, financial and technological centers, where such skills would be implemented. As the http://www.gumaste.com/commtheories/2008/02/information-society.htmlIndianman in New Yorktag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360537069214831268.post-5316308603348995453Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:37:00 +00002008-02-06T12:47:25.057-05:00I enjoyed reading the part about how the existence of nation-states through the centuries created vertebrate systems and how the development of advanced communications and IT networks have now led to the creation of cellular networks. But despite evidence to the contrary, I do wonder if nation states will exist in another couple of centuries, providing the backbone for commerce that they have http://www.gumaste.com/commtheories/2008/02/appadurai.htmlIndianman in New Yorktag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360537069214831268.post-3066926148008551892Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:48:00 +00002008-01-30T11:48:47.875-05:00Testing....testing....1....2...http://www.gumaste.com/commtheories/2008/01/first-test-post.htmlIndianman in New York