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Is the Internet an Extension of the Public Sphere?

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Research & Writing II Does the internet provide grounds for a more independent public sphere

Name: Christian Michael Kramer Student ID: 6050586 E-mail address: cm.kramer.student@maastrichtuniversity.nl Course code: ACU2900 Group Number: 07 Tutor: Ruud Hendriks Assignment name: Exam Assignment: 00 Attempt: Regular Academic year: 20132014 Date: 31.1.2014 Words: 4034 Filename: 20132014-ACU2900-00-REGULAR-6050586.pdf

I Contents Page I: List Of Contents Page II: Introduction Page III: Problems with mass media Page V: Can the internet as we know it today be a remedy for these problems? Page VI: Activism & the Internet Page IX: Conclusion: What does that mean for society? Page XI: Bibliography

II Introduction In the last decades one cannot but see that the distribution of the internet was more than rapid and by now influences the daily life of billions of people. According to the internet journal ZDNet, the number of people who use the internet amounts to 2,1 billion people worldwide. The number of websites is continuously growing every year. This has an impact on many aspects of life. Writing emails, reading online journals, being active on social media platforms and going shopping online belongs to the daily routine of many people nowadays. Manuel Castells describes the era we are experiencing right now as the time of the 'Network Society'. In this society the exchange and currency of information is broader, faster and more varied than ever. This affects not only private or economical areas of life, but also the political one, since it helps to stay informed about current events and the discourse which is staged in the public sphere. This essay is concerned with the question how the internet influences the public sphere. More precisely it asks whether the internet provides grounds for a more independent public sphere, in which active citizens participate and

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