The virtual public space tends to be articulated as an extension of the contemporary public sphere. However, this is a process that is not being developed horizontally at a global level, there are countries that, like Peru, are identified by the predominant mediation of traditional media, as a consequence of the digital divide, according to which approximately half of the population is still not connected. This study presents the results of a survey of 720 university students in Peru, and our interest lies in describing aspects such as the relationship between trust and consumption of digital media in this country; the main characteristics required of an informative website; the most used interaction mechanisms; and, ultimately, how a group so relevant to Peruvian democracy, such as young university students, tends to channel their participation and experience online. / El espacio público virtual tiende a articularse como una extensión de la esfera pública contemporánea. Sin embargo, este es un proceso que no se está desarrollando horizontalmente a nivel global, hay países que, como Perú, se identifican por la mediación predominante de los medios de comunicación tradicionales, como consecuencia de la brecha digital, según la cual aproximadamente la mitad de la población todavía no está conectada. Este estudio presenta los resultados de una encuesta a 720 estudiantes universitarios en Perú, y nuestro interés radica en describir aspectos como la relación entre la confianza y el consumo de medios digitales en este país; las principales características exigidas de un sitio web informativo; los mecanismos de interacción más utilizados; y, en última instancia, cómo un grupo tan relevante para la democracia peruana, como los jóvenes universitarios, tiende a canalizar su participación y experiencia en línea. / Revisión por pares

Cette thèse contribue aux discussions sur la notion "d'engagement du public en amont", qui a été défendue par des chercheurs pour traiter des nanotechnologies au début du XXIème siècle. Cette notion a été critiquée pour l'absence de lien avec les décisions fonctionnelles. En utilisant l'outil théorique envisagé par Habermas, cette thèse tente d'étudier ce lien, avec une attention particulière portée sur la capacité des Organisations de la Société Civile à accueillir, condenser et répercuter sur la sphère publique les préoccupations sociétales tout en les amplifiant. Alors que la littérature antérieure est plus axée sur la réflexion théorique ou l'étude de cas isolés, la recherche soutenue par des observations sur le long terme est en grande partie absente. Sur la base de l'analyse du contenu et des entretiens, cette thèse mène un travail sur deux questions: si et dans quelle mesure "l'engagement public en amont" envers les nanos pourrait contribuer à un espace public plus vivace; et comment l'influence que les OSC ont acquis dans l'espace public pourrait se transformer en pouvoir communicationnel. La réponse à ces questions est double: d'une part, "l'engagement du public en amont" permet à la société civile d'être mieux informée et de lui permettre plus tôt de prendre part au débat. Si l'implication de la plupart des OSC prend la forme d'une coopération ou d'une argumentation parfois basée sur des rapports d'expertise. D'autre part, quelques OSC se sont retirées de ce domaine compte tenu de la faible portée de leurs propres actions sur les décisions fonctionnelles. / This dissertation contributes to the discussions of the notion 'upstream public engagement', which has been actively advocated by STS scholars in addressing nanotechnologies since the beginning of the twenty-first century. One of the major criticisms of 'upstream public engagement'is its lack of a link with the political system. Drawing on theoretical tools provided by Habermas, this dissertation seeks to examine such a 'link'with a specific focus on the capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) to distill, raise and transmit societal concerns in an amplified form to the public spheres. Previous literature has mostly included theoretical reflection or one-off case studies, and research based on long-term observations is scant. Based on content analysis and semi-structured interviews with relevant actors, this dissertation investigates whether and how upstream public engagement could contribute to more vibrant public spheres and facilitate the formation of communicative power. The answer to these questions is twofold: on the one hand, moving public engagement 'upstream' enables CSOs to be better informed and to become part of the debates more quickly. Most CSOs employ cooperative, argumentative, and expertise-based forms of involvement. On the other hand,'upstream pubic engagement'has turned out to be unsuccessful in generating substantial and sustained interest, as some CSOs have quit this field in frustration at the tokenistic engagement.

While many studies of U.S. immigration highlight the diversity within other racial and ethnic groups, scholarly attention to the significance of ethnicity among black people in this country is still sorely underdeveloped. This dissertation project explores how black identities are constructed not only through the prism of race in the U.S. context, but also through other social dynamics that operate "in the shadow of race," such as differences in class, color, country of origin, and circumstances of migration. Instead of a singular black identity fueled by our political discourses and popular culture, my project treats "blackness" as a floating signifier that is constructed both within the racial organization of the U.S. nation-state and among the peoples of the black diaspora within its borders. In short, blackness is a matter that has become national, international, and transnational in scope. Ethnicity and its implications for how we think about black identity and group representation in U.S. society is the other "layer of blackness" this dissertation addresses. The formation and reshaping of American identity among various immigrant groups have historically involved complicated relationships between race and ethnicity, two concepts scholars have used to articulate group identities in the U.S. The history of U.S. racial and ethnic relations reveals the complicated processes through which some social groups have been able to establish their place in the American mainstream by adapting to the cultural and institutional norms established by mainstream white society. Non-white immigrant groups have been forced to find their American identities on the margins of U.S. society because of their purported inability or unwillingness to assimilate to established cultural and institutional norms. Sometimes this alienation from the American mainstream takes on a purely racial dimension. At other times, the prejudices of U.S. society are directed at particular ethnic groups. But in spite of the status ascribed to them, these immigrants have also proven to be empowered agents in their implicit and explicit critiques of the U.S.'s social order. Historically, non-white immigrants in the U.S. have demonstrated the power to question, disrupt, and resist cultural and institutional forms of discrimination even as they are incorporated into them. My interrogation of black ethnic identity and what it brings to bear on how we define blackness in the U.S. begins by asking what cultural capital black immigrants bring with them in their sojourn to America rather than assuming what is lost in the process of their incorporation into U.S. race relations. Patterns of immigration, return migration and circular migration that have come to characterize the experience of many foreign-born blacks in the U.S., as well as the circulation of ideas, culture, and history between sending and receiving countries are all issues germane to the process of black immigrant incorporation and black ethnic identity in the U.S. As such, the argument I proffer in my dissertation project is this: because of the myriad processes at play in formulating black racial and ethnic identities in America (i.e., historically established structures of race as well as an unprecedented surge in foreign-born black migration this country)-how we define blackness in the U.S. context is more fruitfully theorized as a matter that is at once national, international, and transnational in scope. It is at the nexus of these fronts that the historical and cultural constructions of blackness are currently defined among the diversity of black people in the U.S.

Can private bodily pain be transformed into a communication medium fit for the public sphere? Can the body in pain be utilized as a means for political participation? If so, how? Under what circumstances? By whom? And to what effect? To begin answering these questions, this dissertation concentrates on extralinguistic confrontational practices such as self-immolation suicide protests that are exercised by those who have been marginalized and excluded from political participation. By focusing on hitherto neglected forms of communication that are visual, spectacular, violent, unruly, and physical, the study expands and complicates the current discussions about the public sphere that are usually yoked to speculation on the boundaries of reason and words. Arguing that the body in pain is a theoretically considerable and practically available mode of public participation, the dissertation examines the rhetorical potency as well as fragility of body rhetoric. Each chapter analyzes different cases of self-immolation, addressing such issues as embodiment in publicity, the gap between private sensation and public discourse, the role of emotion in constituting the public sphere, and the judgments of the audience. The cases offer an opportunity not only to theorize how subaltern people appear out of the darkness of sheltered existence and enter the space of appearance by utilizing their body, but also to rethink the civic art of looking upon suffering. Through the exploration of the place of embodied performance, visual spectacle, and moral stuntsmanship within the larger discussion of democracy, the dissertation endeavors to rehabilitate publicity as a nondialogical political value.

This dissertation poses that the digital transition is best understood as simultaneously a technological and cultural phenomena. As a physical change in the means of distribution, transmission, and reception of media content, the digital transition is an important factor in changing technological, aesthetic, and legal norms. As a cultural form, the digital is positioned as a moderator between continuity and discontinuity. Through a reading strategy inspired by Walter Benjamin this dissertation reads the physical and cultural implications of the digital transition in television in the United States through political categories. The chapters are case studies in the adoption of digital televisions for home use, digital television production technologies, digital transmission technologies, and digital distribution systems. Each case study examines the tenuous production of publics in the context of the dialectical pressures of the digital. By taking this approach I intend to contribute to the rhetorical dimension of television studies, the digital turn in rhetorical and public sphere studies, and the legal and aesthetic dimensions of production studies. The dialectical approach to the digital allows the study of television to theorize the trajectory of emerging media and the political implications of that movement.

Jürgen Habermas’ The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere has been described as outdated and incompatible with 21st century democracies. Among other things, Habermas’ initial formulation excluded the state from the public sphere. Recently, a revised model of the public sphere has emerged that positions the state and other law-making bodies at its centre. Although some theorists have embraced this revised model, others continue to exclude the state or oversimplify its role. While some research has examined how parliaments fit into this revised model, no research has been published on this in a Canadian context. This thesis attempts to fill this gap by answering the research question: Does the Canadian House of Commons constitute a form of the public sphere? To answer this question, the Canadian House of Commons is explored along three dimensions of the public sphere – structure, representation, and interaction. This system of classification conforms to the essential function and institutional criteria of classical theory and also accounts for revised models of the public sphere. Ultimately, this work argues that the Canadian House of Commons satisfies the structural and representational dimensions of the public sphere. Its interactional dimension, however, is found to be inconsistent with public sphere theory due to a lack of real deliberation and the pervasiveness of party politics.

Jürgen Habermas’ The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere has been described as outdated and incompatible with 21st century democracies. Among other things, Habermas’ initial formulation excluded the state from the public sphere. Recently, a revised model of the public sphere has emerged that positions the state and other law-making bodies at its centre. Although some theorists have embraced this revised model, others continue to exclude the state or oversimplify its role. While some research has examined how parliaments fit into this revised model, no research has been published on this in a Canadian context. This thesis attempts to fill this gap by answering the research question: Does the Canadian House of Commons constitute a form of the public sphere? To answer this question, the Canadian House of Commons is explored along three dimensions of the public sphere – structure, representation, and interaction. This system of classification conforms to the essential function and institutional criteria of classical theory and also accounts for revised models of the public sphere. Ultimately, this work argues that the Canadian House of Commons satisfies the structural and representational dimensions of the public sphere. Its interactional dimension, however, is found to be inconsistent with public sphere theory due to a lack of real deliberation and the pervasiveness of party politics.

No description available.

After 1978, China caught up the trend of globalization, the internet was also raised in China. China started to develop the internet in end of 1980. Until 1994, the internet was developed rapidly. With the development of the internet, the relationship between state and society in China had the different situation, which made the influence with Chinese political development. There had been some situations which couldn¡¦t be reported, it can be happened in the public sphere. Since then, the Chinese government noticed the power of the internet, and started to develop and interact, that can help the Chinese government to realize the comment from people. And the internet also helps people to convey their voice to everywhere. Therefore the development of internet helps improvements of civil society and democracy in China as well. This caused a threat to the Chinese government; the Chinese government used various skills to control the internet. When Google entered in China, it also has to follow the rules in China. It had had to delete and filter the searching results; this made Google to decide to leave Chinese market, and also made the international world to concern the internet control in China. This research used Google as a case study to discuss the internet control and the influence of public opinions on internet in China. This research also used the state-society as the theory to observe the transformer of society-society relationship in China.

This dissertation examines the Hunt circle's public activities and its historical significance in terms of public-sphere theory proposed by Jurgen Harbermas. Recent studies on Romantic literature have attended to how Romantic writers' literary practices were conditioned upon their contemporary history, as opposed to the traditional notion of Romanticism based on an affirmation of individual creativity. Although these studies meaningfully highlight the historicity inherent in seemingly individualistic Romantic texts, they have frequently failed to assess the way in which this historicity of Romantic texts is connected to Romantic writers' own will to engage with public issues by placing too much emphasis on how history determines individuals' activities. In this sense, the notion of public sphere offers a productive theoretical framework by which to read the historicity of Romantic literature without disavowing an individual writer's role in historical proceedings, since it underscores a historical process in which a communal interaction between individuals constitutes a progress of history. By focusing on this significance of public-sphere theory, this dissertation suggests that the Hunt circle, whose members' communal literary practices were aimed at achieving the public good in the tumultuous post-Napoleonic era, serves as a model of this process-based historical theorization. Chapter I examines the significance of public-sphere theory in assessing how the Hunt circle engaged in its contemporary history. Chapter II elucidates the nature of the public sphere that Leigh Hunt's and his circle's activities created and discusses the problems that this public sphere faced in the historical context of the early nineteenth century. Chapter III shows how the Hunt circle exposed a sense of anxiety and instability in the face of the commercialized literary public sphere by examining John Keats's literary practices. Chapter IV highlights Percy Bysshe Shelley's public ideal which aimed for a unified and inclusive public sphere beyond class boundaries and traces how this ideal was frustrated in the ensuing historical proceedings. Chapter V deals with the final phase of the Hunt circle and its disintegration by observing the ways in which Mary Shelley memorialized the Hunt circle for the feminized reading public of the Victorian period. By illuminating the nature of the Hunt circle's activities for the public, this dissertation ultimately aims to reassess how literary intellectuals in the Romantic period struggled to sustain the traditional calling of men of letters in their contemporary public sphere.