The Networked Public Sphere

Benkler – Chapter 3

• Peer production is the form of non-market, non propritery mode of production

• Resembles the “commons.”• Needs:

o Volunteerso Small time commitment per persono Way to filter based on relevance and

credibilityo Cheap production capital and distribution

capabilities

• Examples of Peer Productiono Linux, Wikipedia, Project Gutenburg

• Peer sharingo Offering spare and/or excess computing and

storage space to other computers Examples- SETI@Home and Napster

Benkler – Chapter 4

• Why participate for free?o Altruismo Social gain and/or Social Capitalo Intrinsic v. Extrinsic Motivationso These factors all exist in individuals

• Peer Production takes advantage of:o Multiple People’s Spare Timeo Talentso “Creative Capacity and Judgment”

• Modularity-dividing large task into segments• Granularity- size of module• Some hierarchies and use of formal law exist

o Are small in comparison to mass mediao Information economy’s “marginal social

cost,” i.e. raw materials, = 0.o Non-proprietary information production is

more efficient.

• Technology can encourage or inhibit sharing or cooperation.

• Market and non-market production can co-exist.

• Consumers become users.

Benkler – Part 2 (Summary)

• The Internet as a technology, and the networked information economy (NEI) as an organizational and societal model of information and cultural production, promise the emergence of a substantial, better alternative platform for the public sphere than the previous mass media model.

• The mass media have played a fundamental constitutive role in the construction of public spheres in democracies; with the introduction of the Internet, this dominance is challenged.

• Statements in the public sphere can now be seen as invitations for conversations, not as finished media-generated goods.

Benkler – Chapter 6

• Characteristics of the Public Sphere: (1) universal intake, (2 & 3) filtering for political relevance and accreditation, (4) opportunity for synthesis of public opinion, (5) independence from government control

• The US has developed an advertiser-supported mass-media model—with privatization of firms and focus on patents—which constrains the structure and content of the American public sphere.

• Basic Critiques of US Mass Media: (1) intake has been too limited, (2) owners have too much power, (3) focus on the spectacle over the politically important

• Advantages of Mass Media: (1) independence, (2) professionalism, (3) ability to identify key issues

Benkler – Chapter 7

• Elements of difference between NEI and mass media: (1) architectural structure, (2) costs of becoming a speaker/producer

• The networked public sphere is not made of specific tools but of a social production of practices that these tools enable (p. 219).

• Critiques of Internet as Democratizing:1.information overload• centralization of Internet, replicating mass

media model• importance of mass media in the Fourth

Estate• restrictions in authoritarian countries• digital divide.

• Benkler argues case-by-case against each of these critiques, though offering little against the digital divide argument, except that NEI is an “avenue for alleviating maldistribution”.

Bimber

• Contributors to new organizing forms:o Growth of civic association online (MySpace,

MeetUp, Facebook!)o Traditional interest groups have an expanding

portfolio of strategies to engage citizens Clusters of smaller face-to-face groups

band together to engage in larger scale action

• Distinction between organizing and organization

Grounding the EU Public Sphere

• The EU public sphere is thin, in the sense that it is largely a media construction, based on a few issues, without much evidence of public involvement.o Are there more grounded, digitally mediated, NGO-

brokered public spheres operating beyond the mass media?

o Examining the internet suffers because of methodological constraints. Its full capacity is not explored as the starting points for analysis remain a clear methodological issue.

o Fair trade network touches a number of European nations with fairly dense cross-national ties.

o Prominence of the EU in the communication flows in the UK FT network

• Evidence of Opportunities for Direct Citizen Engagemento 40% of the sites in our coding sample offered

some means for citizens to communicate with government and each other through message sending, forums, blogs, event calendar postings, and other communication features

o In Germany, direct citizen involvement is through churches and consumer org., although less than in the UK

o Face to face engagement occurring primarily through churches, social movement organizations and consumer activist organizations sponsored by network members such as GEPA.