Since we had a test this week and not so many readings, I had some free time. So I read a recent Lawrence Lessig essay that appeared in the latest issue of the New Republic, “Against Transparency.”
Lessig was writing about the idea that transparency in all aspects of life and government may not be such a good thing. This is what caught my attention in the first place, because of course transparency sounds like a good thing – we all want an honest government, want to know how processes are carried out, so of course making as much information as possible available to the public — transparent — seems like a good idea. Lessig made a pretty convincing argument the other way, though.
The specific example he used was the “Punch-Clock Campaign,” something I’d never heard of prior to reading the essay. Basically, the Sunlight Foundation collected pledges from 92 Congressional candidates to get members of Congress to post their daily calendars on the Internet. Lessig barely has to make an argument here, just noting that there are “too many legitimate reasons why someone might not want his or her ‘daily official work schedule’ available to anyone with an Internet connection.” The Internet is supposed to mean equal access for all, and this means that such a calendar would be available to political extremists who may want to know a politician’s location for reasons more insidious than simple curiosity.
Lessig points to Archon Fung, a professor of public policy, and argues that more information does not necessarily produce markets that are more efficient. And that’s where aspects of this course really clicked for me: “Whether and how new information is used to further public objectives depends upon its incorporation into complex chains of comprehension, action, and response.”
Complex chains of comprehension, action and response — or: a system! It’s amazing how applicable systems theory actually is once you wrestle with it for a while.
In group project news, Jamie and I have narrowed our focus somewhat to prison libraries specifically, and tensions with the ALA guidelines and the mission of correctional institutions.
