Has the internet helped to shape a new public sphere？

張冰陽

The internet is a way of supporting large number of people who come from different culture background to communicate with each other， exchange their opinion and discuss. In recent year， more and more people believe in the digital area， Internet and mass media are becoming indispensable to people communicate with each other around world.

Furthermore， we live in the global world， the public sphere and Internet are exists in the international area. For example， in the Internet， there are millions information available for people to browse， such as fashion， news or chatting with friends. According to Castells and Cardoso （2005）， our world is becoming a network society； it is created by Internet and mass media. Also the network society is based on the information technology， and use the digital computer as a tool to gather relevant information. The network society focuses on the exchange information and information processing， the technology as a way for people to send， received or share information around world.

In the new public sphere， Internet is an individualized communication system and it is a new political system in the global world， two social forms are created from this system， they are global network state and a global civil society. These two social forms replace the pre-existing nation-states into the new global environment. In addition， Internet and other communications media are shaping a new public sphere in the global civil society. （Castells， 2010） In order to explain more clearly about how internet shape a new public sphere， the essay will focus on the role of censorship， accessibility of information， the rise of social media and the role of language in the Internet.

Royal National Institute of Blind People （2012） emphases that， the key point to join the civil society， such as gaining employment and achieving in educating is access to information， so how to access information is important and it would be relate to the human rights. Also the internet created a new public sphere such as help people to save time. The internet also has large amounts of information， and the users only need to type the key words， in a short period of time Internet will choose the information which relates to the key words， Internet would be a time saving way to get information rather than people browse a lot of documents in the traditional way. People also can record anything they want in the Internet.

As resulting in todays society， global public sphere is over-reliance on the local and global communication media system. The media system is can be described in the radio， television also other communication and multimedia system， and now Internet plays the decisive role around world. （Castells， 2010）

The evidence for Internet plays the decisive around world and created a new public sphere is “social website”. Social website can be a way for people to build own social group， for instance “Twitter”， “Facebook” and “MSN” people are able to download these applications to the computer or mobile phone and create account to build own social group， it is a quick and easy way to find friends or meet new friends in the Internet. Also these applications are powerful features， the reason is in the “Twitter”， “Facebook” and “MSN” can make people chat with each other， or make a video call， it is useful for the people who are overseas， because people who are overseas might miss everything in the own country like they cannot see their parents or friends very often， video call can be a way to bringing people even closer together.

In conclusion， Internet has helped to shape a new public sphere in the censorship， accessibility of information， social media and the language. For the accessibility of information， Internet is a way for people to save time. For the social media， it proved that communication technology is developing very quickly and global public sphere is over-reliance on the local and global communication media system.

References：

[1]Castells， M. （2005）. The Network Society： from knowledge to policy. The Network Society： from knowledge to policy. M. Castells and G. Cardoso. Washinton， Center for Transatlantic pp.3-21.

[2]Castells， M. （2010） The new public sphere： Global Civil Society， Communication Networks， and Global Governance. In： Thussu， D.K. （ed） International Communication. A Reader. London and New York： Routledge. P.36.

[3]Royal National Institute of Blind People （2012） Accessible Information， Viewed 22th April 2012， http：//www.rnib.org.uk/professionals/accessibleinformation/Pages/accessible_information.aspx.