Conference reflexes

It’s weird, I got back from the Internet & Society Conference today and put on an old episode of the _Daily Show_, and in the middle of Jon Stewart’s interview with Al Gore about the news media’s abdication of its civic duty, I went to pull up the question tool or the backchannel chat to put in a question to Mr. Gore about his thoughts on the Fairness Doctrine. It took me a second to realize that, in addition to being pre-recorded, the Daily Show is not, in fact, the least bit interactive or democratic. I felt momentarily angry that there was no way to inject my voice into the process. I guess that’s what a day of talking about participatory culture will do to you.