The public sphere in the twilight zone of publicness

Splichal, Slavko

doi:10.1177/02673231211061490

Cited by 12 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(36 reference statements)

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“…Such definitional decisions have striking implications for the study of networked publics. First, conceiving the public as a ‘space constructed through networked technologies’ not only conflates the public sphere with the public (for the relevance of analytically separating these notions, see Splichal, 2022), but it also motivates studies to assume that each online platform constitutes its own public. It therefore inspires analyses of how the technical features of the platforms shape the online interactions and practices of these platform-specific publics.…”

Section: Defining Networked Publicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These are dialogues that transcend the networks, cliques and communities of the likeminded and compel people to present justifications to their personal views. In the sociologically defined online publics, individuals engage in reason-giving with people beyond a homophilic group and open themselves to potential transformation of their own thinking about the issues (Splichal, 2022).…”

Section: Networked Publics As Online Activism: New Form Of Collective...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Where is the public of ‘networked publics’? A critical analysis of the theoretical limitations of online publics research

Ojala,

Ripatti-Torniainen

2023

European Journal of Communication

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The study of online media use has been elemental in shaping the research on publics within communication and media studies in the last few decades. This article takes a critical view of this research by asking to what extent it has been informed by the long history of theoretical work on the concept of the public. Reviewing the literature on ‘networked publics’ as an illustrative example, we demonstrate how the lack of public-theoretical engagement creates both conceptual and empirical limitations to the study of online publics. We also indicate how the sociological, political theory and cultural studies traditions on the concept of the public can contribute to widening the perspectives of online publics research within communication and media studies.

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Section: Defining Networked Publicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Networked Publics As Online Activism: New Form Of Collective...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Where is the public of ‘networked publics’? A critical analysis of the theoretical limitations of online publics research

Ojala,

Ripatti-Torniainen

2023

European Journal of Communication

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“…The tacit consensus on the irrelevance of public opinion in (critical) social research grew despite the fact that it was a time of ubiquitous popular social rallies and movements that could undoubtedly be labelled and studied as public opinion phenomena. The sudden emergence and rapid popularisation of a new critical concept, the public sphere , further reduced interest in critical theory and public opinion research in the 1990s (Splichal, 2022a, 2022b).…”

Section: Polling: the Advent Of Empirically Based Figuration Of Publi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

In data we (don't) trust: The public adrift in data-driven public opinion models

Splichal

2022

Big Data & Society

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This article seeks to address current debates comparing polls and opinion mining as empirically based figuration models of public opinion in the light of in-depth intellectual debates on the role and nature of public opinion that began after the French Revolution and the controversy over public opinion spurred by the invention of polls. Issues of historical quantification and re-conceptualisation of public opinion are addressed in four parts. The first summarises the history of the rise and fall of the concept of public opinion. The second re-examines the key controversies in the debates on the theoretical, empirical and social implications and consequences of the invention of polling. The third part scrutinises the datafication of public opinion that started with polling industry and continues in the age of big data and data mining. The final section discusses the controversial potentials of opinion-mining technology and suggests ways in which social scientists could critically respond to the big data and opinion-mining challenges in order to reintegrate the ideas of publicness, the public and public sphere into public opinion research.

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The concept of cumulative deliberation: Linking systemic approaches to healthier normativity in assessing opinion formation in online discussions

Bodrunova

2023

Asso for Info Science & Tech

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Online opinion formation has received much scholarly attention since the mass proliferation of social networks. Inter alia, online opinions have been viewed as a new part of public deliberation. However, the pre‐Internet era's vision on deliberation imposes extremely high demands on users as deliberators. We argue that opinion formation online neither pursues the goals nor follows the rules of institutionalized consensus‐oriented round‐table deliberative processes. Moreover, the growing academic evidence shows that opinion formation online is predominantly cumulative, not deliberative in nature. Thus, we introduce the concept of cumulative deliberation as an alternative and addition to classic institutional deliberation and argue that it describes opinion formation online more precisely. Importantly, it allows for two crucial additions to the deliberation theory, which are the use of systemic approaches to measuring and predicting public opinion and new normativity that sees a user as an initially neutral discussion unit. It also allows for healthier distinction between “natural” user communication and intentional counter‐deliberative distortions in online communication, like computational propaganda or cyberbullying. We end up with suggesting a research agenda on cumulative deliberation.

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The public sphere in the twilight zone of publicness

Cited by 12 publications

References 29 publications

Where is the public of ‘networked publics’? A critical analysis of the theoretical limitations of online publics research

Where is the public of ‘networked publics’? A critical analysis of the theoretical limitations of online publics research

In data we (don't) trust: The public adrift in data-driven public opinion models

The concept of cumulative deliberation: Linking systemic approaches to healthier normativity in assessing opinion formation in online discussions

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