Image Source: http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2010/02/05/1225827/280954-kevin-rudd.jpg
At
this very moment, while you are reading this, you are avidly participating in
globalization. The content that you are now scanning with your eyes, curiously
wondering as to where I’m going with this topic, is a blog. A Blog is an online
document filled with opinions, ideas, information and it is quickly becoming
one of the most prominent forms of online communication. The collection of all
the Blogs metaphorically drifting in space is known as the Blogosphere, and it
“constructs space for public forum such that anyone can participate” (Lee, J
2006). This concept is suggested to work within Jürgen Habermas’s idea of a public sphere, in
which a forum exists that allows the expression of public opinion and is
available to all (Habermas,
J 1989). But is the
blogosphere this ideological public sphere?
The
interesting thing about Blogs is that frequently the subjects or topics are
focused on world events, with numerous Australian Blogs containing a “strong
focus on politics” (Bruns,
A., Burgess, J., Highfield, T., and Nicolai, T. 2011). This is more relevant then
ever, as we approach the Australian Election for 2013: Rudd vs. Abbott.
As
identified by Jae Lee in his analysis, “blogosphere’s attention and focus”
(2006) switch to political events at times of elections similar to the news
media coverage throughout the current election campaign. The public sphere in
this instance is a “universally accessible space where informed citizens engage
in the political process through rational- critical debate” (lee, J 2006), but
just how informed are these citizens and what classifies as rational?
Personally,
I do not care for either the Liberal or Labour party. Tony Abbott on the topic
on the rights of woman has been quoted “I think it would be folly to expect that
women will ever dominate or even approach equal representation”. Does this
sound rational? Whilst Kevin Rudd was quoted “we have a prime minister, I'm the foreign
minister, I'm trying to get on with the job of doing Australia's foreign policy,” informing the public of his
dishonesty, as he eventually took over Julia Gillard’s role of Prime Minister.
On
the topic of politics, it raises the question as to whether or not the
blogosphere could possibly be the miraculous public sphere defined by Habermas. The idea of the public sphere
is that informed people can discuss rationally, but blogs are accessible to
everyone, and like Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott, not everyone is rational and or well informed. Do you think the
Blogosphere could be the Public Sphere?
Lee,
J 2006, 'The Blogosphere and the Public Sphere: Exploring Possibility of the
Blogosphere as a Public Sphere', Conference Papers -- International
Communication Association, pp. 1-23, Communication & Mass Media Complete,
EBSCOhost, viewed 1 September 2013.
Bruns,
A., Burgess, J., Highfield, T., and Nicolai, T. 2011 ‘Mapping the Australian
Networked Public Sphere’, Social Science Computer Review, vol. 29, no. 3, pp.
277-287.
Habermas,
J. (1989). The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into
a category of bourgeois
society.
Cambridge, UK: Polity.
Your first paragraph introduced what both blogs and the public sphere are and set up the rest of your post very well. You mentioned that the focus of blogs turn to politics during times of elections and that blogs could therefore act as a virtual public sphere but I would have liked if you expanded on how they achieve this further. I didn’t really get your opinion in all of this which I would have liked instead of discussing rational and critical debate. It was an interesting read and obviously well researched.
ReplyDeleteI think the blogosphere has the potential to be very successful regarding politics because we are very dependent on the internet and it is where a large portion of our information comes from. I did really enjoy how you opened up the post tying in globalisation but I think it got a little lost when you were talking about politics towards the end without tying it back to the blogosphere. Also, I think you should include page numbers for direct quotes just to keep in line with the Harvard referencing! Overall I really liked the quotes you used, I think they worked well with what you were saying, good work
ReplyDeleteI'll pass on making a joke about Tony Abbott in his budgie smugglers and commend you for using images and video to make the post more interesting for the reader. There's also a good use of scholarly sources in your post. I understand your point that the blogosphere is only useful to public discourse if it is informed however expanding on that point with examples of ill informed bloggers instead of the public faux pas of each leader would have probably been more on topic. You may have been asking how it is we can expect public bloggers to be rational when our political leaders can't manage to be and I understand that query. One point I'd make however is that there are political bloggers on sites like this one who are actually journalists and are informed they simply may want to make comments they can't for their employer's platform. I'm sure it's a small majority but they may be well circulated. Good post. It made me think about the worthiness of a new version of the public sphere.
ReplyDeleteI found the structure of your blog to be very effective in that you outlined your topic at the beginning and then provided relevant definitions followed by a discussion of the issue at hand, which in this instance is the blogosphere and the public sphere. I personally believe that the blogosphere can act as the new "public sphere" as it allows for each individual to present their own 'public' opinions irrespective of 'private' influence such as the mass media. You provided references to one of the weeks readings which also demonstrates your understanding of the topic. I found your incorporation of images and video to be highly beneficial however, my only criticism is that you have not provided links to outside sources throughout the body of your piece which I think could improve an already well researched piece. Well done.
ReplyDeleteI think the way you start your post by talking to readers is interesting and helps to arouse their attention to keep reading. You did well in providing clear definition on terms like blog, blogosphere and public sphere by drawing on readings. You directly quote important sentences and incorporated that with your own words, so readers can easily understand the concept. I think it is good that you provide your opinions talking about Australia politics, but the connection of that with blog is unclear. I like how you concluded by raising question at the end which let readers to reflect.
ReplyDelete