This weeks article explores the idea of the internet being both a public sphere and a public space in a political medium. The growing usage of the internet around the world has empowered people with common beliefs and attitudes to find eachother and form online political groups. The net has allowed people to vocalise their beliefs in a way that is easy and accessible (that is, if you have a computer). It is a way that people can actively participate in the political processes of our democratic society.
However, not everybody feels this way. "...skeptics caution that technologies not universally accessible and ones that frequently induce fragmented, nonsensical, and enraged discussion, otherwise known as ‘flaming’, far from guarantee a revived public sphere." (p10) While it's true that technology and computers aren't universally accessible, it is just one avenue where people can express their political opinions, not the only one. And as for "enraged discussion", that's part of a democracy. If we were to mediate what was "nonsensical" and ensure discussion never had "enraged" participants, Australia wouldn't be considered a democratic country. Also, enraged discussion and nonsensical arguments are not limited to the internet.
Bibliography
Papacharissi, Z., 2002, The virtual sphere: The internet as a public cphere, New Media and Society, Vol 4, no. 1, pp. 9-27.
No comments:
Post a Comment