Bill Dutton - a political scientist's perspective on the Internet

The pace of change on the Internet is so fast, and there is so much snake oil around, that it is hard to keep a sense of perspective. Bill Dutton, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute, does us a service in the text of his 15/10/2007 inaugural lecture Through the Network (of Networks) - the Fifth Estate [300 kB PDF]. In it he argues, in a thorough, reflective, and evidenced way, that just as printing led to the creation of an independent institution that has become known as the ‘Fourth Estate’, the Internet is leading to the 'Fifth Estate' which Bill describes as "a new form of social accountability" which is "enabling people to network with other individuals and with a vast range of information, services and technical resources..... in ways that can support greater accountability not only in government and politics, but also in other sectors", and which "could be as important – if not more so – to the 21st century as the Fourth Estate has been since the 18th".  It is worth taking the time to read the whole document; and if you have comments on it, the place to put them is on Dutton's blog.