Preliminary communication
The Internet as a Medium and the Normalisation of Cyberspace
Tanja Oblak
Abstract
This text focuses on the question of the role and effects of the prevalent forms of
communication, which constitute the “electronic public sphere”. It asks which forms
of interaction between the actors in cyberspace are the most important for the formation
of the electronic public sphere. The Internet is understood as a specific medium
that combines and makes possible a set of different communication patterns. However,
within the context of the normalisation of cyberspace substantial structural changes
occur that consequently assign the central role to the Web representations. In this
sense, with the predominance of the Web representation paradigm and the declining
role of dialogical spaces the evolving electronic public sphere is becoming similar to
the concept of the mediated public sphere. This shift from dialogue to representation is
consistent with the growing popularity of the Internet and also with the fact that the
Web representations display the crucial mechanisms for the presentation of several
actors, institutions, corporations and individuals who nowadays generate the “virtual
pluralistic society” in cyberspace.
Keywords
electronic public sphere; mediated public sphere; Internet; discussion forums; web representations; normalisation of cyberspace
Hrčak ID:
23357
URI
Publication date:
20.5.2002.
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