Rethinking the public/virtual sphere: The problem with participation

Responding to the long-standing interest of new media scholars in online participation as a mechanism for political and cultural democracy and empowerment, this article elaborates a critique of online participation. It examines the ways in which online participation has been economized at a fundamental level — the level at which data is transmitted — and argues that this economization draws into question the viability of a public/virtual sphere paradigm. In the process, it implicates public/virtual sphere scholarship in the production of a mode of power — vital or productive power — which has been under-examined in new media scholarship.

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