The concept of the public sphere was first popularized by German social theorist Jürgen Habermas. It has been described as 'a discursive space in which individuals and groups congregate to discuss matters of mutual interest and, where possible, to reach a common judgment' (Hauser, 1998, p.86). This has traditionally been limited to public spaces such as coffee houses, markets and town squares, where people would gather to debate and discuss pertinent issues of the day, however advances in technology have meant that the coffee house or the town square can now be mimicked in an online setting. With this in mind, does the modern blogosphere now offer a new form of this public sphere?
In a word, yes. Some of the trappings of Habermas' public sphere are the disregarding of status and complete inclusiveness, and this is what the internet offers. Co-founder of social news site Reddit Alexis Ohanian discusses the equalising power of the internet below, commenting that 'my link is as good as your link', in that everyone with access to the internet is capable of having their say in equal measure, with little or no technological expertise.
This democratizing power can manifest itself in many ways, and is not just strictly limited to content of blogs and newsposts. Twitter can also act as a new public sphere in that it has the power to give everyone with access to the internet has equal ability to have their say on any issues, in 140 characters or less. However this model does have it's limitations, as not all opinions are not created equal. Even though the technology does afford everyone the ability to voice their opinions, comparing something I tweet to my less than 100 followers to something that goes out to the 36 million followers of US president Barack Obama doesn't exactly paint a picture of equality, does it?
References
Hauser, G 1998, "Vernacular Dialogue and the Rhetoricality of Public Opinion", Communication Monographs 65 (2): 83–107 Page. 86,
No comments:
Post a Comment