Smart Mobs and democracy
Smart mobs, the use of wireless networks, mobile communication, and ubiquitous computing to bring about some kind of collective action is described in detail in Howard Rheingold's new book, Smart Mobs
It's likely, according to Rheingold (via correspondence from Korea), that smart mobs, played a role in the recent South Korean presidential elections:
The Saturday, the Hangyore newspaper in Seoul Korea carried a front-page article entitled, "Youth Politics of the IT Generation Won," on the role of network connectivity in the recent election. Young supporters of No Mu-hyon flooded the internet with e-mails and saturated text messaging services with calls to get out the vote for No Mu-hyon. The article noted claims by information technology columnist Sin Tong-nyo'k': that information and power in the mass media and representative democracy were in the past vested in a minority, but have been conferred on the majority by the internet.
...via BoingBoing