From networked publics to issue publics: Reconsidering the public/private distinction in web science

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Abstract

As an increasing part of everyday life becomes connected with the web in many areas of the globe, the question of how the web mediates political processes becomes still more urgent. Several scholars have started to address this question by thinking about the web in terms of a public space. In this paper, we aim to make a twofold contribution towards the development of the concept of publics in web science. First, we propose that although the notion of publics raises a variety of issues, two major concerns continue to be user privacy and democratic citizenship on the web. Well-known arguments hold that the complex connectivity of the web puts user privacy at risk and enables the enclosure of public debate in virtual echo chambers. Our first argument is that these concerns are united by a set assumptions coming from liberal political philosophy that are rarely made explicit. As a second contribution, this paper points towards an alternative way to think about publics by proposing a pragmatist reorientation of the public/private distinction in web science, away from seeing two spheres that needs to be kept separate, towards seeing the public and the private as something that is continuously connected. The theoretical argument is illustrated by reference to a recently published case study of Facebook groups, and future research agendas for the study of web-mediated publics are proposed.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
TitelProceedings of WebScience '13
Antal sider10
UdgivelsesstedNew York, NY, USA
ForlagAssociation for Computing Machinery
Publikationsdato2013
Sider24-32
ISBN (Trykt)978-1-4503-1889-1
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2013
Udgivet eksterntJa
BegivenhedWeb Science '13 - Palais de Congres, Paris, Frankrig
Varighed: 2 maj 20134 maj 2013

Konference

KonferenceWeb Science '13
LokationPalais de Congres
Land/OmrådeFrankrig
ByParis
Periode02/05/201304/05/2013

Bibliografisk note

Copyright ACM, (2013). This is the authors version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in the Proceedings of WebScience '13.

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