Habermas relevant to a wired public sphere?
Jürgen Habermas is probably the most revered scholar in political and communications studies for his normative theories about the public sphere. But following a recent public lecture Howard Rheingold questioned him (off-topic) about the impact of the Internet on deliberative democracy and, in his words, was "blown off". Rheingold now believes that Habermas' work was relevant during the elitist age of broadcast media, but a new body of theory and research needs to be developed as the public becomes increasingly flattened through social media. While some may agree, other commentators to Rheingold's blog post suggest that he is being unnecessarily hard on the 78-year-old Habermas. Update: The contents of the book Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth was posted online by MIT Press this week. It contains a chapter by Howard Rheingold titled Using Participatory Media and Public Voice to Encourage Civic Engagement. Via SmartMobs.
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