The Virtual Public Sphere

In Habermas study ‘The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere’(1989) originally described the public sphere as a new opening in the social and political fabric of Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. The idea of the public sphere was formed when coffee shops, societies and salons became the centre for discussions; this allowed the voices of those whose voices were not heard regarding important issues. The public sphere basically refers to any space or area where people can discuss as a group any problems they might encounter and how they would like to influence these issues.

The question is often asked ‘Does the Internet create democracy?’  Dahlgren (1995) divided the communication in modern democracies into two sections:  

·        A democratised media, or participatory and alternative media including computer-mediated communication; and

·        Social movements and groups using these media actively for social change.

Not only has the potential of the public sphere been recognised but advertisers but also by the consumers, relating back to Seth Godin’s talk on Tribes which can be accessed on TED, he identifies groups that are made online over similarities or debates that occur online. The revival of the public sphere has been achieved through activities such as blogging and debate forums. An example of a public sphere can be seen on the website Slashdot (The original public sphere) which runs under the heading ‘News for Nerds’, although it has been recognised as many different things including a online community and a massive blog it has also been recognised as a online public sphere due to it’s norms, codes and manners.
The word public in public sphere refers to the idea that people are not speaking privately but are speaking openly in order for people to contradict or agree with them, they have the potential to change situations or public policies. Dahlgren 2001 identified that publics are identified around similar issues, using the theory that there may be public spheres within the overall public sphere where they create their own opinions and social norms. Zizi Papacharissi (2002) identified three issues associated with the public sphere and the Internet, for example the Internet allows for a great deal of storage however it holds limitations as to literacy levels and who has access. The issues of audience fragmenting are also raised and thirdly the online sphere has the potential of becoming corrupt.