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Themesicon: navigation pathPublic Sphere_sicon: navigation pathPublic Sphere_s

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Public Sphere_s
icon: authorSteve Dietz

Various ideas of ‹the public› have been theorized at least since the Greeks, but whether it is Socrates confronting Callicles about mob rule in Plato's Gorgias or Jürgen Habermas' «public sphere,» Walter Lippmann's «big picture» or Mouffe's agonistics, this public has almost always been intimately connected with a parallel notion of public space. From the agora to the piazza to the commons to the park, in some sense robust public discourse can only flourish in public space. In part this is an issue of audience. What makes discourse public is having an audience. With the rise of the printed press, radio, television, and now Internet-enabled communications, the potential public expands beyond physical space into the virtual spaces of communications systems. [more]more

Text Sections
icon: heading Introductionicon: heading Notions of Publicicon: heading Plato to Mouffeicon: heading Notions of Articon: heading From the Open Work to the Open Platformicon: heading Notions of Public Articon: heading Community Articon: heading Art in Public Cyberspacesicon: heading Space As Public Articon: heading The New Public Plazaicon: heading The Liminal Lobbyicon: heading The Electronic Caféicon: heading Reactive Architectureicon: heading The City As Interfaceicon: heading Communications Systemsicon: heading Billboardsicon: heading Telematic Mediaicon: heading Code Is Lawicon: heading The Legal Bugicon: heading The Digital Commonsicon: heading Resistance and Engagementicon: heading Making Things Public