Thursday 28 February 2013

CS 400ha HyperLink Essay- David Miller


CS 400hA, Citizen Media and the Public Sphere
Hyperlink Essay
By: David Miller, 090563680
Social Apps and the Re-Construction of the Public Sphere
In modern society various trends in technology continue to shape the ways in which individuals come to interact with one another.  Specifically, the current movement of social media is presently being praised for its ability to connect individuals at all times (Ellison, 2007).  It is apparent that the basic premise of social media has been built upon through the formulation of applications, or “apps,” that connect everyday citizens in a far more immediate manner than ever before.  These user-friendly icons have revolutionized the ways in which individuals intermingle through their visual landscape.  With focus on “WhatsApp” and “GroupMe,” this paper will prove that social based apps have successfully re-defined the public sphere through their various technological improvements.
            Jürgen Habermas originally theorized the concept of the “public sphere” as a social realm where public discussion of matters of general interest could flourish (Habermas, 1991).  Nathaniel Poor took this ideology a step further as he suggested that the public sphere exists on the Internet through the advent of online communities.  Furthermore, visual apps, such as WhatsApp and GroupMe, have begun to re-define these previous conceptualizations of the public sphere through establishing new kinds of virtual communities.  These communities have become far more accessible in nature than any other sort of public domain, for they exist on copious amounts of individual’s cell phone at no cost.  Additionally, these apps use notifications to constantly keep individuals updated on newly formed posts and ideas.  These technological advances have revolutionized immediacy by producing a much more time-efficient and effective public sphere.
            WhatsApp, GroupMe and various other social based applications are extremely efficient in addressing publics in a self-organized manor.  Specifically, Michael Warner identifies publics as a kind of social totality that refers to people in general (Warner, 2002).  These aforementioned applications allow the user to select a personalized public audience through creating their own social groups based on a series of contacts.  The simplicity of these group messages builds upon previous forms of public spheres by allowing individuals to connect with their peers instantaneously.  On top of such, these applications allow individuals to be selective in addressing/communicating with their audiences.
            Finally, Sherry Turkle speaks of “windows” and how they represent the decentered self that exists in many worlds, which plays many roles at the same time (Turkle, 1996).  Essentially, this idea refers to how individuals can be in many places and perform multiple tasks at the same time.  WhatsApp, GroupMe and other social media apps are congruent with this notion, as they exist as many different icons, or windows, on the same mediascape.  The ability to participate in the public sphere while simultaneously performing other tasks on one’s hand held device is thereby understood as a technological advancement that has re-formulated previously held conceptualizations of how to interact within the public sphere.
            Thus to conclude, WhatsApp, GroupMe and various other social media based apps have forced individuals to continuously remain in contact with their peers and re-defined the public sphere by doing so.  However, as Patrick Phillipe Meier suggests, “when we change the way we communicate, we change society” (Meier, 2009).  Keeping this notion in mind, as various communication technologies, like apps, continue to adapt our world and understanding of the public sphere will once again modify itself to accommodate such trends.  



















Works Cited
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