week 4: blogging task

The Public Sphere is an idealised realism. It only exists in the way we talk about things. It is, according to Jurgen Habermas, "a discursive space in which individuals and groups congregate to discuss matters of mutual interest and, where possible, to reach a common judgment". Habermas imagined the public sphere as "a theatre in modern societies in which political participation is enacted through the medium of talk" and "a realm of social life in which public opinion can be formed"

Walter Lippmann wrote that all “reporters in the world working all the hours of the day could not witness all the happenings in the world. There are not great many reporters. And none of them has the power to be in more than one place at a time. Reporters are not psychics; they do not gaze into a crystal ball and see the world at will, they are not assisted by though-transference.” Although “reporters” are “people” and as a person I think it is fair to say that we have all at one stage or another have had a desire to present the events of our own local worlds ourselves. This is happening now. Due to the Internet and social media, anyone and everyone is a reporter in the sense that the blog postings of people from all over the world are starting to find potential to know what is happening anywhere, anytime.  

Image and text by Anna Lena Schiller

http://www.flickr.com/photos/frauleinschiller

Media and blogging has become the primary realm of existing online conversations. Owned privately, these places are what we think of as the “public sphere”. We have centralised stages providing as public spaces instead of a decentralised Internet. A quasi-public sphere that is subject to both public and private content controls spanning multiple jurisdictions and wisely different social mores.

Separate standards are made for private organisations and companies in order for content policies and procedures to strike a well-balanced user friendly, operating within a practical model. A fine line also exists in keeping one’s uncensored by national governments, while still attempting to provide space for free expression

In the public sphere roles are rapidly increasingly taken upon private companies, as policies and regulations companies must serve, and the rules users must follow, become significantly perplex.

Reference list

Aaron J. Barlow, 2007. The Rise of the Blogosphere. Edition. Praeger.

Flickr: Anna L. Schiller's Photostream. 2013. Flickr: Anna L. Schiller's Photostream. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/frauleinschiller. [Accessed 03 October 2013].

Residualonlineincome.com. 2013. Residualonlineincome.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://autoblogging.residualonlineincome.com/tag/tool. [Accessed 03 October 2013].