Digitalization is spreading wide throughout society. The open, and free, internet equals new possibilities – but also difficulties regarding freedom of speech and development of democracy. According to research, an increasingly rougher tone of the debate may lead to people avoiding expressing their opinions; causing a polarization in the democratic conversation. This influence on the democratic development has become a social problem. According to Swedish library act, public libraries are to support free opinion formation and democratic development of the society. This study aims to examine the Swedish public libraries perception of responsibility regarding a sustainable web climate; based on the theoretical perspective of social responsibility. Based on a thematic analysis, from the results of five semi-structured interviews, it was evident that the public libraries were able to identify problems surrounding the web climate’s influence on freedom of speech and the democratic conversation. The majority of the respondents were also positive towards discussing sustainable web climate, in relation to the defined responsibilities of the public libraries. Still, none of the public libraries are currently involving sustainable web climate on any official or defined basis in their everyday work. Nevertheless, certain involvement of this topic may occur. In order include this task in their future activities, the public libraries inquire distinct guidelines and priorities from higher instance. The result of this study also illuminates that the problems surrounding the internet should be highlighted in a more distinct perspective of democracy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hb-21136 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Marchione, Louise |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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