DDU Philanthropy forum法鼓大學籌備處公益論壇

A Blogger's Manifesto

2009-08-31T17:07:00.001+08:00

By Leemen Lee and Benson Liao

June 20 Philanthropy Forum at DDU Degui Prof. Erik Ringmar (林瑞谷教授) was invited to give a lecture on“A Blogger’s Manifesto and You.” Prof. Erik Ringmar is currently a faculty of National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu. His new book, A Blogger's Manifesto: Free Speech and Censorship in the Age of the Internet, makes prognostic critics on the current censorship practices on blogs and suggests a better mentality and good practices regarding issues of freedom of expression in different countries and under various contexts. The Chinese version of this book (部落客宣言) was published in early June by Socio (群學). Four active and famous bloggers - Jerry Cheng(鄭陸霖教授/中研院社會所）, Jerome “Poiesis” Tseng (曾昭明/台灣社會企業責任協會秘書長), Debby Huang (黃淑珺（黃小黛）/崔媽媽基金會主任秘書), Portnoy Cheng(鄭國威/蒙藏基金會專案經理）- were also invited to share their experiences.

Prof. Ringmar believes that blogging is really an empowering and inspiring tool of the modern world. Nevertheless, blogging also challenges the belief, norms, and practices of freedom of speech. Erik pointed out that freedom of speech serves three functions: Membership that provides a sense of identity in a community as people interact and talk with one another, personal development through equal rights to speak, and the guardianship to keep the authorities accountable and checked by the society.

Traditionally, freedom of speech is performed, mediated, and protected by elite “gate keepers” such as politicians, journalists, scholars, etc. The gate keepers decide what is appropriate and what is not, and what can be reported and what cannot. As the world embraces internet, a totally different story begins. On the vast sea of information and internet, there are no such things as gate keepers. Blogging makes everyone be equally powerful in terms of freedom of speech. The gate keepers felt very uncomfortable as the rules of the game changed. As a result, blogging challenges the hypocrisy western society long established (on freedom of speech) and brings justice to freedom of speech once and for all. Erik suggested that many more changes and challenges are yet to come, and our attention is required to develop a more open-minded attitude and new norms to cope with the changing, blogging world.

Jerry Cheng echoed that blogging can bring more transparency to the world and empower those who are powerless in a hierarchical structure. Poiesis addressed the issue of anonymity in the internet. He observed that identity is important and people would discredit to some extent the information from anonymous sources. Debby suggested that blogging may go together with the daily life and offer new ways for family members or friends to talk to each other. Blogging also provides an insight look into the writer’s mind and his or her inner world such as relationships, emotions, and complex ideas. Portnoy raises the issue that blog owner is like a king who have total control of his/her own blog. Is this good for dialogue on the internet? Portnoy pointed out that those who make the loudest voice on the internet do not necessarily represent the majority. The opposite is often the case.

Erik concluded that freedom of speech does not mean that people could say ANYTHING they want. The question is to seek for new and balancing norms that work, and these rules and norms ought to be based on DECENCY and COMMON SENSE.

To view the lecture please visit: http://www.peopo.org/innews/post/38367。

部落客宣言與你

2009-08-31T16:59:00.001+08:00

撰文˙趙柏強、李禮孟

由法鼓大學籌備處公益學院所規劃的公益論壇－數位公益系列論壇，於今年（2009年）6月20日在法鼓大學德貴學苑舉行「部落客宣言與你」論壇，邀請「部落客宣言」一書的作者、現於新竹交通大學任教的林瑞谷 (Erik Ringmar) 教授，與聽眾一起討論各國部落格言論自由的相關情形，以及學校、職場部落客寫作尺度等議題。論壇並邀請鄭陸霖教授 Jerry Cheng（中研院社會所）、曾昭明先生（台灣社會企業責任協會秘書長）、黃淑珺（黃小黛）（崔媽媽基金會主任秘書）以及鄭國威先生（蒙藏基金會專案經理）作回應。

Ringmar教授認為，網誌（部落格）是振奮人心的訊息流通工具，但對舊有的價值觀卻是挑戰。西方社會裡普遍尊重言論自由，但不見得已經包括網路上的言論，因此新工具所帶來的衝擊不斷。

Ringmar 教授以自己在倫敦政經學院任教時的經歷為例：他寫網誌。由於經常聽到學生表示所支付的學費與所獲得的教育裡不相稱，便在網誌上撰文，卻被所屬學院要求拿下文章並關閉網誌。Ringmar教授認為這屬於自己的言論自由範圍，不願照辦而向校長申訴，然而結果卻令人失望。這件事情讓 Ringmar 教授開始關心網路上的言論自由課題。他與校方斡旋，並出書描述自己的觀點。

值得一提的是，Ringmar 教授認為言論自由即便在網路上也應有所限度，並不是『講什麼都沒關係』，」他回答觀眾問題時表示：「有時仍要視禮節與普世的正面價值決定什麼能講，什麼不該說。」

會場的部落客亦發表自己對於網誌寫作與言論自由的看法：部落客鄭陸霖教授認為網誌是釐清霧裡真相的工具、把事實透明地展現在世人眼前；而對於部落客黃小黛來說，網誌是與他人分享生活的管道，長久下來成為一種興趣。

部落客曾昭明提出關於「匿名」的有趣觀察：他原先匿名在網路上寫作，但發現大部份的人還是參照發言者的「身份」以評斷資訊的可信度。部落客鄭國威則認為，網誌作者是自我網誌世界裡的主人，「而且在網路上講得最大聲的部落客，不見得就真的代表主流意見。」

本場論壇由公共電視「獨立特派員」張貼了演講精華，請至獨立特派員網誌收看： http://www.peopo.org/innews/post/38367。

法鼓公益論壇-部落格宣言與你

2009-06-20T14:03:00.000+08:00

「法鼓大學」本著創辦人聖嚴法師期望以「大學院教育」達到「提昇人的品質，建設人間淨土」之理念進行規劃，其使命及願景是「以心靈環保為核心價值，培育兼具慈悲與智慧的領導者，探索人類未來，建設地球淨土」。
「公益學院」基於法鼓大學之使命與願景，關注未來公益志業發展、規劃「法鼓公益論壇—數位公益」系列講座。這一場將由耶魯大學政治學博士林瑞谷 (Erik Ringmar) 先生，為大家主講「部落客宣言與你」。
部落格 (網誌) 在台灣已經發展數年，寫作者、也就是所謂「部落客」的角色，打從最初的資訊人、資訊題材開始，到現在已經是人人都能寫網誌、各種題材都能在網誌上發揮的時代。
在部落格、以及各式各樣「個人媒體」服務如此蓬勃發展的情形下，我們終於可以開始認真地面對一些相關的反省：你寫部落格，那麼職場上的事情能寫多少？生活上的事情能寫多少？這是你的媒體，所以你如何權衡自己立場的表達？不只是台灣，這類與言論尺度息息相關的思量、在全球普遍產生。
現於新竹交通大學任教的林瑞谷 (Erik Ringmar) 博士，自 1985 年起於網路上探索，發表諸多關於歷史、國際政治、經濟社會學等相關的著作。這回他將為我們介紹各國部落格言論自由的相關情形，探討學校、職場部落客寫作尺度等議題。同時，我們也邀請在台灣長期寫作的部落客，針對林瑞谷博士的論點加以回應。

主題	部落客宣言與你
時間	2009/06/20 (六) 15:00-17:00
地點	台北市延平南路77號，法鼓德貴學苑 7 樓講堂 (交通方式)
主講人	交通大學教授林瑞谷 (Erik Ringmar) 先生

本講座名額有限，敬請儘速報名
報名網址：http://degui.ddc.edu.tw/drupal/node/49