IB Digital Society 5.2B Participation and Representation Notes

5.2B Participation and Representation

Participation as a Global Challenge

1. HL-only extension: how digital systems shape who takes part in public life and whose voice carries (how people organise, reach government, and are amplified or silenced).
2. Whose voice is heard is a challenge that never fully resolves, and who is heard today shapes who holds power for years. Digital tools change the size of the circle without settling who ultimately counts.
3. Anchoring concepts: power and expression (who can speak, organise, and be represented), plus space as a protest or consultation can happen online as readily as in a square.

Organising and Activism Online

1. Digital activism uses posts, hashtags, petitions, and livestreams to rally support and put an issue on the public agenda in hours.
2. Reach does not guarantee change. Low-cost gestures (slacktivism) may not translate into pressure, the same networks let states surveil organisers, and attention fades fast.
   1. Through power, people without traditional-media access can be heard; through expression, a single voice can suddenly reach millions.
   2. Impacts vs implications: movements mobilise faster and ignored issues get raised, but engagement can be shallow, activists surveilled, and attention short-lived.

Access to Governing Bodies

1. E-government and e-participation let citizens sign e-petitions, read open data, join online consultations, vote on participatory budgets, and contact representatives directly.
2. The digital divide decides who takes part: the online and confident shape decisions while the offline are left out, so participation skews toward the already-heard.