Lessig

Throughout Lessig's article the overall theme is how technology has developed and what it's doing for our society. Who would have ever thought that virtually everyone could be a part of this technology. In the earlier days I think people learned one skill and that's basically what they did for their living. As I read Lessig's article, it discussed how technology has developed. Photography used to be a skill only a few people had and if you had enough money you could take pictures and develop them. It was a luxury. Cameras have been so revolutionized into the digital era that anyone, expert or amateur, can have a camera and express their own creativity. Art is what they want it to be, an outlet to express themselves. As classmates have said previously we have the freedom to use cameras as a form of expression. It is in a sense a democratic tool. Using visual photographs, our society can enhance any emotion to promote their cause, touch our hearts, and reach out to our society to help their cause. For example, the picture Kate posted of the African child and the vulture. When looking at the picture we feel awful that that is happening to humanity, and can send money to help the country in development to prevent this. But I know there are places in Africa were people are wealthy and the photograph probably isn't an accurate respresentation of the whole culture in every region of the continent.

The Just Think! program allows for underdeveloped communities to have the opportunity to express themselves. Just like the invention of the camera, this program lets kids express themselves through filming and topics they know about, such as when they described how they could film about gun violence. I would say this is just as democratic as the camera. It's especially democratic in that this program is available for a community that wouldn't otherwise have an opportunity to learn the technology. When given the chance to learn and develop a skill in this new technology, they will be able to succeed with it.
I have never been one for blogging, but I'm now experiencing how much fun it can be. I love how we can talk and discuss thoughts and interpretations of issues in our world. After reading everyone's blog and how we're all pulling parts together on an issue, I really believe blogging can be democratic and form of free expression. Lessig touches on this as he addresses 9/11 and blogging. Blogging is a form of free expressions as people can just post their thoughts and views. They can get support or debated, but either way it's part of our philosophy of free voice in America. That is if it stays free to say what we really feel in a blog. There are of course positives and negatives of blogging, but overall it is place for free expression.
Like Just Think! open source software allows us to tinker with technology and find the right way we want that form of expression represented. I like how he said "[we] need to understand how kids who grow up digital think and want to learn." This is where our era is going and if we don't have the freedom to explore and learn the technology that I don't think technology will improve our democracy. We will have a damper on our learning and freedom to express ourselves.

The thing I love about all of these new technologies, as I have stated throughout my blog, is that they are a way for people to express themselves as they wouldn't have otherwise been able to. If they don't know how to write or tell their feelings, hurt, anger, depression, they can use this outlet to show how they feel. It's a new type of freedom for them to express themselves.