Shaping Digital Democracy in the United States

Ethical challenges that technology poses to the different spheres of society are a core focus within the field of technoethics. Over the last few years, scholars have begun to explore the ethical implications of new digital technologies and social media, particularly in the realms of society and politics. A qualitative case study was conducted on Barack Obama's campaign social networking site, my.barackobama.com, in order to investigate the ways in which the website uses or misuses digital technology to create a healthy participatory democracy. For an analysis of ethical and non-ethical ways to promote participatory democracy online, the study included theoretical perspectives such as the role of the public sphere in a participatory democracy and the effects of political marketing on the public sphere. The case study included a content analysis of the website and interviews with members of groups on the site. The study's results are explored in this chapter.

The Use and Abuse of Digital Democracy

Cyber Behavior ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-5942-1.ch086 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 1663-1682

Author(s):

Rachel Baarda ◽

Rocci Luppicini

Keyword(s):

Public Sphere ◽

Participatory Democracy ◽

Social Networking Site ◽

Ethical Challenges ◽

The Public ◽

Ethical Implications ◽

The field of technoethics explores the ethical challenges that technology poses to the different spheres of society. Recently, scholars have begun to explore the ethical implications of new digital technologies and social media, particularly in the realms of society and politics. A qualitative case study was conducted on Barack Obama's campaign social networking site, mybarackobama.com, in order to investigate the ways in which the website uses or misuses digital technology to create a healthy participatory democracy. For an analysis of ethical and non-ethical ways to promote participatory democracy online, the study included theoretical perspectives such as the role of the public sphere in a participatory democracy and the effects of political marketing on the public sphere. The case study included a content analysis of the website and interviews with members of groups on the site. The study's results can be found further in the article.

The Use and Abuse of Digital Democracy

International Journal of Technoethics ◽

10.4018/jte.2012070104 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 50-68 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Rachel Baarda ◽

Rocci Luppicini

Keyword(s):

Public Sphere ◽

Participatory Democracy ◽

Social Networking Site ◽

Ethical Challenges ◽

The Public ◽

Ethical Implications ◽

The field of technoethics explores the ethical challenges that technology poses to the different spheres of society. Recently, scholars have begun to explore the ethical implications of new digital technologies and social media, particularly in the realms of society and politics. A qualitative case study was conducted on Barack Obama’s campaign social networking site, my.barackobama.com, in order to investigate the ways in which the website uses or misuses digital technology to create a healthy participatory democracy. For an analysis of ethical and non-ethical ways to promote participatory democracy online, the study included theoretical perspectives such as the role of the public sphere in a participatory democracy and the effects of political marketing on the public sphere. The case study included a content analysis of the website and interviews with members of groups on the site. The study’s results can be found further in the article.

Heiner Goebbels's Stifters Dinge and the Arendtian Public Sphere

Performance Philosophy ◽

10.21476/pp.2019.51271 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 109-127

Author(s):

Luke Matthews

Keyword(s):

Public Sphere ◽

Participatory Democracy ◽

The Political ◽

The Public ◽

Collaborative Working ◽

The Creation ◽

The Public Sphere ◽

Working Processes

Heiner Goebbels’s works are examples of “postdramatic” theatre works that engage with the political by seeking to challenge socially ingrained habits of perception rather than by presenting traditional, literary-based theatre of political didacticism or agitation. Goebbels claims to work toward a “non-hierarchical” theatre in the contexts of his arrangement of the various theatrical elements, in fostering collaborative working processes between the artists involved, and in the creation of audience-artist relationships. In offering a reading of Goebbels’s “no-man show” Stifters Dinge, this paper seeks to situate Goebbels’s practice within a theoretical tradition that also encompasses Hannah Arendt’s deployment of the theatre as a metaphor for the public sphere. Within this analysis, I suggest, theatre can be seen to offer the possibility of a participatory democracy through its attention to disappearance and absence.

Trust as a Determinant of Success in Public Diplomacy

21st Century Media and Communications ◽

10.54664/xvag2500 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Kalin Kalinov ◽

Keyword(s):

Public Sphere ◽

Public Diplomacy ◽

Scientific Community ◽

Persuasive Communication ◽

The Public ◽

Theoretical Frame ◽

The Public Sphere ◽

Academic Debate

The article investigates the concept of trust as a factor for success in public diplomacy initiatives. It explores the field through the theoretical frame of persuasive communication. First, the evolution and connotations of the term trust are examined through a broad theoretical review. Subsequently, the applications and the meaning of the phenomenon in the field of public diplomacy are analyzed. The article probes into an academic debate which has been mostly neglected by the Bulgarian scientific community. It relates to increasing the effectiveness of diplomatic actions in the public sphere by strengthening the trust in the legitimate communicator. The presented theoretical perspectives can be relevant to researchers and practitioners alike.

Advances in Electronic Government, Digital Divide, and Regional Development - Digital Media Integration for Participatory Democracy ◽

Digital Humour, Gag Laws, and the Liberal Security State

10.4018/978-1-5225-2463-2.ch010 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 204-221 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Judith Bessant

Keyword(s):

Public Sphere ◽

Political Theory ◽

Digital Media ◽

Digital Age ◽

Political Dissent ◽

The Public ◽

On Line ◽

Artistic Work ◽

This chapter presents a case study of Facu Diaz, a Spanish satirist whose on-line ridicule of the Spanish government created a political furor that brought him before the courts. The chapter engages the problem of the criminalization of political dissent by liberal states in the digital age. The case highlights how digital media is now being used to create content for satire, as well as to replicate and infiltrate more traditional political and media forums, changing many traditional forms of political practice. The case [points to some of the central problems inherent in liberalism which may give reason to curb the enthusiasm of those who think that new digital media creates fresh opportunities for augmenting the ‘public sphere'. It is argued that liberalism as a political theory and ethos, tends to be blind to non-traditional political expressions like satire and other artistic work. In addition, the expansion of security laws in many countries suggests, liberalism's ostensible commitment to freedom needs to be reframed by recalling its historical preoccupation with security.

Nudity, feminists, and Chinese online censorship: A case study on the anti-domestic violence campaign on SinaWeibo

China Information ◽

10.1177/0920203x18807083 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 33 (3) ◽

pp. 274-293

Author(s):

Ling Han ◽

Chengpang Lee

Keyword(s):

Domestic Violence ◽

Collective Action ◽

Public Sphere ◽

Action Potential ◽

Potential Theory ◽

Feminist Movement ◽

The Public ◽

Discussion Threads

Chinese feminist activists are actively participating in the Chinese online public sphere. In this study, we examine a case – the Anti-Domestic Violence with Nude Photos Campaign (裸照反家暴活动) – and the response of Chinese online censorship to this campaign. Campaign activists used nude photos to mobilize the public’s support. According to the existing theoretical perspectives such as the collective action potential theory, this kind of online campaign with pornographic elements and the potential to mobilize people is very likely to be censored. Counter to this expectation, we found that not all of the original photos were removed. Our finding suggests that the interactive manner in which activists responded to the public on SinaWeibo’s discussion threads matters in terms of the degree of censorship. This study complements the existing studies on the Chinese online censorship system, echoes scholars’ call for studies on censorship from a more interactive angle, and furthers our understanding of the Chinese feminist movement.

Greening Religion in Facebook: Can Digital Media Bridge the Gap Between Religion and Modernity?

Journal of Religion Media and Digital Culture ◽

10.1163/21659214-90000052 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 57-81

Author(s):

Oriol Poveda

Keyword(s):

Public Sphere ◽

Digital Media ◽

The Public ◽

Multiple Modernities ◽

Environmental Processes ◽

Religion And Modernity ◽

The Public Sphere ◽

Late Modern ◽

Empirical Material

Through a case study of the Facebook page of a Jewish Orthodox environmental project based in Germany, this paper explores the ways in which religion and modernity might be made compatible and what role digital media plays in such interaction. On the basis of the empirical material gathered for this paper, the author presents a typology of religious-environmental processes of hybridization. The analysis draws from the concepts of multiple modernities, public religions and religious branding in order to discuss whether the combination of religion and modernity is enabled or compromised by the collapsing of boundaries between the public sphere and the marketplace in late modern societies. The findings suggest that Facebook and its affordances make possible the particular intersections of religion and environmentalism, of public sphere and marketplace, that are characteristic of the case under study.

Take it Outside

Boom A Journal of California ◽

10.1525/boom.2015.5.4.54 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 54-63 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jennifer Scheper Hughes ◽

James Kyung-Jin Lee ◽

Amanda Lucia ◽

S.Romi Mukherjee

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Public Sphere ◽

The United States ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

The Public ◽

Cultural Experiences ◽

California is experiencing a proliferation of public religious celebrations like never before. The authors focus on four public celebrations: the throwing of colors during Holi, an annual pilgrimage to Manzanar, the Peruvian celebration of El Señor de Los Milagros, and Noche de Altares. Even as these and many other similar festivals simultaneously represent the irruption and interruption of the sacred in the public sphere, these festivals reflect the multi-religious character of immigration. These public rituals say something about the pursuit of belonging in California and in the United States within an increasingly diverse and multicultural landscape. Those who participate together as intimate strangers are often seeking only a temporary affiliation, perhaps a place for a moment to engage one another beyond the context of the marketplace. In sharing in these religious and cross-cultural experiences, participants become enmeshed in the complicated and vibrant diversity of California, up close and personal, as physical as the bodies encountered there.