Yesterday, I came across an interesting CNN iReport.

Following an alleged racially motivated encounter with a police officer in Marion County,South Carolina, black actors Cherie Johnson and Dennis White decided to share their story via the mass media.

On Sept. 22, the two African-American actors alleged a Caucasian police officer approached the couple as they were observing a cotton field alongside the roadway near Myrtle Beach, SC.

The officer, identified as S. Barfield, proceeded to wrongfully harass the couple by questioning their activity , accusing them of smuggling drugs, asking to search their vehicle, placing them in handcuffs, all without justifiable probable cause, according to the iReport.

In the iReport, the couple attempted to appeal to the public for help spreading their message.

"At no point in history is this justified, especially not in this day and age. The equality that our forefathers fought so hard to obtained does not  stretched across the board. South Carolina has been known to treat African-Americans as second-class citizens. It’s not right and it’s not fair. I will not stop until this incident is made public and that racist cop, Barfield, is reprimanded and punished. That was one of the worse days of my life and I plan on making it one of his as well. If you are reading this, please share, please discuss, please inform your family, friends, co-workers and associates that “Officer S. Barfield” in Marion County, SC is a racist cop and his punishment is imminent. We will not stand for this injustice anymore!"

The couple's call for activism on behalf of them, and presumably other African-Americans who are tired of being victimized by racism, exemplifies the growing trend of outreach to the public sphere using the Internet.

This public sphere is the topic for this week's readings.

This week we were assigned to read "Communicating Global Activism:Strengths and vulnerabilities of
networked politics" by W. Lance Bennett; "The Logic of Collective Action:Digital media and the personalization of contentious politics" by W. Lance Bennett and Alexandra Segerberg; "Is the internet a better public sphere? Comparing old and new media in the USA and Germany" by Jürgen Gerhards and Mike S. Schäfer; and "The virtual sphere : The internet as a public sphere” by Zizi Papacharissi.

All of these readings provided similar context on the notion of a public sphere, particularly its relationship with the usage of the Internet for political and activism uses.

According to Papacharissi “The internet and its surrounding technologies hold the promise of reviving the public sphere; however, several aspects of these new technologies simultaneously curtail and augment that
potential.”

She continued, “First, the data storage and retrieval capabilities of internet-based technologies infuse political discussion with information otherwise unavailable. At the same time, information access inequalities and new media literacy compromise the representativeness of the virtual sphere. Second, internet-based technologies enable discussion between people on far sides of the globe, but also frequently fragmentize political
discourse. Third, given the patterns of global capitalism, it is possible that Internet-based technologies will adapt themselves to the current political culture, rather than create a new one.”

She also posed the question: “Does cyberspace present a separate alternative to, extend, minimize, or ignore the public  sphere?”

 I say in the long run, cyberspace will not only ultimately extend he public sphere, but it will also enhance it in ways we have yet to fathom. 

The Internet, jump drives and other memory equipment all make it possible for people to retrieve information to which they may not have had previous access.

Someone could easily save a political PowerPoint to a jump drive and give a presentation to inner city youth or another person who is  looking to better educate themselves on local politics could easily pull up the minutes for the city council’s meeting last week. 

All of these opportunities are made possible by cyberspace and new technologies.

Understandably, some may be concerned about a knowledge gap between the haves and the have-nots.

However, we can hope and work toward making information accessible to all.

 Papacharissi brings up the point that the Internet and related technologies have created a new public space for politically oriented conversation; but whether this public space transcends to a public sphere is not up to the technology itself.

Technology is only useful if people make it useful. 

Facebook and Twitter create a public space for public gathering online.

However, it is up to its users to direct the conversation from who posted the most delicious picture of last night’s dinner or which sports team will win the game on Sunday to a conversation more political or activist in
nature, creating a public sphere.

“It is important to determine whether the internet and its surrounding technologies will truly revolutionize the political sphere or whether they will be adapted to the current status quo, especially at a time when the public is demonstrating dormant political activity and developing growing cynicism towards politics” (Cappella and Jamieson, 1996, 1997; Fallows,1996; Patterson, 1993, 1996).


I disagree this will happen.  From my observations, it seems the usage of technology to revolutionize he political sphere is only growing, not remaining dormant despite alleged waning political
activity.

On the contrary, it is seemingly political activity, making it easier for people to engage in discourse in the public sphere as well as appealing and educating the masses like never before. 
 

In discussing the public sphere, Bennett and Segerberg detail the difference between connective and collective actions. 

While collective action “emphasizes the problems of getting individuals to contribute to the collective endeavor that typically involves seeking some sort of public good that may be better attained through forging common cause,” connective action networks are “typically far more individualized and technologically organized sets of processes that result in action without the requirement of collective identity framing or the levels of organizational resources required to respond effectively to opportunities.”

 I would categorize the aforementioned story about the black actors and their CNN iReport as a collective action because they are seeking to connect with a larger mass of fed up people to protest against the wrongdoings of racist police everywhere.


Meanwhile, if the couple opted to forgo contacting the media about the case and instead just reported the incident to the police chief’s office and pursued any subsequent investigations or reform that may have
occurred as a result of their perseverance, I would have considered it to be a connective action.
 
Furthermore, Gerhards and Schäfer break down the fora within the public sphere.  Before discussing these fora, I want to share the definition of fora. 
 
The Oxford dictionary defines fora as the plural of forums, but in ancient roman cities was the public square or marketplace used for judicial and other business.


I think Gerhard and Schäfer’s word choice of fora was not coincidental. 

Forums are like public squares where ideas and discourse areexchanged.

 However, I digress. 

 The authors divide the fora of the public sphere into three categories:

 1.    Encounter public sphere- consists of everyday, face-to-face communication between
citizens. This type of communication takes place on streets, in parks, pubs, etc.


2.   Public events- including town hall meetings, public lectures, or protest rallies. They
have at least a minimal organizational structure, and specialists and opinion
leaders participate in this forum and may structure and dominate
communication.

 3.  The mass media- They possess full-fledged technical and organizational infrastructure and
are dominated by specialists like journalists, experts and collective actors.

When analyzing how technology and the Internet impact the public sphere, it is important to remember these categories.  

These days, face-to-face communication has moved from the streets or in parks, to social media. 

Additionally, public events such as town hall meetings or protest rallies are frequently advertised or broadcast online.  

Regardless of the good and bad aspects, the public sphere has moved online.

 I would certainly consider the mass media to be a forum of collective actors.


Mass media professionals initiate public conversations through webpages or even still through print letters to the
editor.


 News stories set the new agenda for the day, sparking conversations.

 The act of reporting sparks a forum of conversation.


For example, during my time working as a reporter at the Victoria Advocate, I helped start the Hispanic Reader Advisory Group. 
 
We invited a diverse group of Hispanics in our readership area to meet with us every other month. 

During these conversations, we solicited feedback on the stories about Hispanics that we were already working on as well as solicited new story ideas about the Hispanic community. 

This got the public conversation going and resulted in some really great work by the newspaper both in print and
digitally.

In turn, the conversation spread beyond our seven-county readership area.

Many of my stories were picked up by the Associated Press and broadcast nationwide, expanding the conversation to a larger audience who offered comments. 

Meanwhile, Bennett’s second article explored some of the ways in which digital communication networks may be changing the political game in favor of resource-poor players who, in many cases, are experimenting with political
strategies outside of conventional national political channels such as elections and interest processes.

 Again, I think digital communication has changed the game, to some extent leveling the playing field in political
communication.

Current President Barack Obama is a product of this revolution.

 He changed the game in the 2008 election, not only targeting younger voters, but also by taking part of his campaign online. 
 
 His campaigners sent targeted emails, became active on social media networks, maintained an informative website, broadcasted speeches and town hall meetings. 


President Obama exemplified how expanding the public sphere online can result in political change.


In the spirit of starting a political conversation in this cyberspace leg of the public sphere, I pose the following questions about the public sphere for class discussion or discussion with my online blog
readers:

 1. Do you think it will ever be possible to include everyone in this new public sphere that reaches online?


2.  Do you think the inclusion of cyberspace and social media into the public sphere
actually lends itself to a less social way of life?


3.  At this point, should society even continue to work on improving traditional foras of
the public sphere or refocus its energies on bringing the public sphere completely digital?

Tweeting before Breakfast


About 9:30 a.m., the sounds of dogs whining woke me up from a restful slumber. After sleepily getting up and taking them outside to handle their business, I hopped back in bed, grabbed my phone and commenced my normal
morning routine—checking out the news of the morning. 
 
My first stops included @Facebook, @Twitter and @Instagram. Before stopping my online surfing to write this blog post, I learned @FloydMayweather (#TMT) won the boxing match against
@caneloOficial; it is Mexican Independence Weekend; and a North Carolina policeman shot and killed a former FAMU football player. Additionally, I followed a couple of new people on Twitter including @blackpolitics; @AEJMCjobs; and even one of my former bosses at the @Vicadvocate , @BeckyJCooper.

For some, my activities this morning equated to calculating the propellant mass flow rate of the descent propulsion system of the lunar module.Meanwhile, others can relate exactly, as they likely follow the same behaviors themselves. This difference of familiarity with social media, however, partly exemplifies the digital divide. 

What the Literature Says

A simple definition of the #DigitalDivide is the variance between those who have ready access to computers and the Internet and those who do not. In my opinion, it goes hand in hand with the knowledge gap theory; whereas the attempt to  improve people’s life with information via the mass media results in an increased gap between people of lower and higher socioeconomic status (University of Twente, n.d.).

This digital divide is both a topic of scholarly research and practical troubleshooting. This week, @windels assigned  #MC 7019 to read “Internet skills and the digital divide” by Alexander van Deursen and Jan van Dijk, “The Digital Divide” by Everett M. Rogers and “The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet” by Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff.

Although these writings were written in 2010, 2011 and 2010, respectively, their arguments remain relevant.When discussing the digital divide, I think it is important to remember this division does not stop solely at the haves and have-nots of computer ownership. Effective navigation of web sites and search engines and even social media and new applications also creates division among the masses.Additionally, inequality in the ownership of tablets and smart phones also creates division.

By mid-2001, an estimated 400 million people used the Internet, according to Rogers.Today, this number has increased to more than 2 billion, according to an article by www.thecultureist.com . Rogers cites the
following as reasons for the digital divide (circa 2001):

1.  Lack of telephone and computer access to the Internet

2. Demographic characteristics

3. The educational divide

4.  The socio-economic-divide

5.  The learning divide

Understandably, those who lack the education and equipment will likely drag behind those who do. These effect differ throughout various demographics including race, age, gender and even physical disabilities. If “people with low levels of internet skills fail to find information online while an increasing amount relevant to daily life become easiest to access on the Internet, they become increasingly disadvantaged” (van Deursen & van Dijk,2010).

While less educated populations have always been “socially disadvantaged,” their lives become more endangered as they face exclusion from all the “benefits the Internet now has to offer, ranging from economic opportunities such as privileged access to jobs, health opportunities such as better diets” (van Deursen & van Dijk,2010). 
 
Rogers offers these strategies for closing the
divide:

 1.   Provide public access points

 2.   Fitting Internet/Web Content to audience
needs

 3.  New means of providing Internet access—ex. Cell phones,
tablets

Many people have implemented these changes and more. Public libraries allow most anyone access to the Internet; some schools have issued laptops to their students, with which they can access the Internet through Wi-Fi;  more people have purchased smart phones with web capabilities;  and most companies, news outlets and government agencies have formatted their content to online forcing adoption by the masses. Newspapers in Education
(NIE) has also worked to address this knowledge gap. These days, there is a concerted effort to go digital and learn
digital.

These 2013 statistics from Pew Research Center show some of the effects of these changes:
     
Computer Ownership: Some 72 percent of Latinos say they own a desktop or laptop computer,  compared with 83 percent of whites.  Among blacks, 70 percent are computer owners.
       
Cellphone ownership: Fully 86 percent of Latinos say they own a cellphone, a share similar to that of whites (84 percent) and blacks (90 percent).

Smartphone Ownership: Among adults, Latinos are just as likely as whites or blacks to own a smartphone—49 percent versus 46 percent and 50 percent respectively.
        
Going  Online from a Mobile Device: Latino internet users are more likely than white Internet users to say they go online using a mobile device—76 percent versus 60 percent. Meanwhile, Latino and black internet users are equally likely to access the internet from a mobile device—76 percent and 73 percent respectively.
       
Social Networking Site Use: Among internet users, similar shares of Latinos (68 percent), whites (66 percent) and blacks (69 percent) say they use social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook at least occasionally.

Problems

Even if everyone had access to the Internet, the enormous amount of information available also creates a divide. Because there is so much information out there, some people may feel intimidated and choose to avoid the
Internet if possible, holding on to information gathering techniques of yesteryear.  Others who choose to brave the Internet frontier, may get confused and frustrated in determining fact from fiction or real website from spam or virus-ridden programs

I’m reminded of John Milton, a poet and pamphleteer, who developed the foundations of the marketplace of ideas theory. The "marketplace of ideas" explains the need for freedom of expression based on a comparison to
the economic concept of a free market. This marketplace provides a figurative space of public discourse where the truth can emerge from a diversity of ideas competing in a free, unhampered environment.

The term “self-righting principle” is often used when referencing Milton’s early ideas (Altshcull, 1990). The term is defined as the “idea that truth needs no champion in the arena of that marketplace that truth wins even without the authority of someone in power” (Altshcull, 1990).

Applications—Literally and Figuratively

As I mentioned earlier, I venture daily into social media.  This journey, though, is not always taken on through the vessel of the World Wide Web. I, like many others, use smart phone apps rather than always going the more traditional routes of www.Facebook.com or www.Twitter.com. 
 
One of the most important shifts in the digital world has been” the move from the wide-open Web to semi-closed platforms that use the Internet for transport but not the browser for display” (Anderson & Wolff, 2010). It is “driven primarily by the rise of the iPhone model of mobile computing, and it’s a world Google can’t crawl, one where HTML doesn’t rule” (Anderson & Wolff,  2010).These apps make accessing some of our favorite web locations
easier and fasters.

Other than social media apps, people can bank using PayPal or other banking applications. They can also lock their car; play interactive games such as Words with Friends and Ruzzle; or even face time with Skype and Tango.These apps eliminate the need to do everything via the traditional desktop or laptop computer. However, they are only available through smart phones or tablets. 

This potentially widens the digital divide, making it impossible for those without these devices to access them. Companies can produce content easier on these platforms and make more money than traditional routes.

Sure, you can still access more of the important apps through traditional computers, but the world is heading to the new frontier of apps. For many, the need for a traditional computer is no longer. Although, I, a corrective lenses wearer, enjoy my 17.5 inch laptop screen.

Final Thoughts

I remember a few years ago, the term mobile journalist was still a fairly new concept.

Yet, before I left the newsroom in 2012 to return to the full-time world of academia, my newsroom was transitioning to all reporters using iPads complete with apps for reading news; writing news stories; shooting and editing photos and videos; and more importantly, sharing that catered to our online news consumers.

The paper copy of the newspaper was still available, but the push was for digital. This is the wave of the future.I wonder what the scholars of this week’s readings would say about this.

Going forward, I’m left with these questions:

What will be the next big thing in the digital divide?

Will the divide widen in the future?

With cell phone providers creating monopolies and raising prices on plans, will the digital divide increase as consumers can no longer afford the price of being digitally included?

In some cases, the government provides cell phones plans to low income households. Should the government provide these people with smart phones and regulate the industry for all consumers?
 
Be sure to check out this infographic below by Sean Valant. It's an excellent pictorial of Internet usage today.


Lastly, feel free to share your thoughts with me!

 
Works Cited

Altschull, J. H. (1990).p. 58. From Milton to McLuhan: The ideas
behind American journalism. New York: Longman.


Anderson, C., & Wolff, M. (2010, August 17). The Web Is Dead.
Long Live the Internet | Wired Magazine | Wired.com. Retrieved from
  http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip/


Culture-ist (2013, May 9). How Many People Use The Internet? More
Than 2 Billion... Retrieved from
  http://www.thecultureist.com/2013/05/09/how-many-people-use-the-internet-more-than-2-billion-infographic/


Lopez, M., Gonzalez-Barrera, A., & Patten, E. (2013, March
7). Closing the Digital Divide: Latinos and Technology Adoption | Pew Hispanic
Center. Retrieved from
  http://www.pewhispanic.org/2013/03/07/closing-the-digital-divide-latinos-and-technology-adoption/


Rogers, E. (2011, March). The Digital Divide. Retrieved September
15, 2013, from
http://con.sagepub.com/content/7/4/96


Twitter. (n.d.). Retrieved September 15, 2013, from
  http://www.twitter.com


University of Twente (n.d.). Knowledge Gap. Retrieved from
  http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Media,%20Culture%20and%20Society/knowledge_gap.doc/


Valant, S. (2013, September 2). Infographic: A Day In The Life Of
The Internet | HostGator Web Hosting Blog | Gator Crossing. Retrieved  15, from
  http://blog.hostgator.com/2013/05/02/a-day-in-the-life-of-the-internet/


Van Deursen, A., & Van Dijk, J. (2010, December). Internet
skills and the digital divide. Retrieved from
  http://moodle2.lsu.edu/pluginfile.php/590877/mod_resource/content/1/internet%20skills%20and%20digital%20divide.pdf

Hello!

 I'm back!  You may have noticed my absence from the blogosphere over the last couple of months,  I truly meant to keep up with blogging, but things didn't happen as planned. Let me catch quickly catch you up on what you missed:
homework, final exams, summer vacation, class, and more summer vacation--which brings us to now!

Last month, I began the second year of my media and public affairs doctoral program here at Louisiana State University. 

This semester, I'm enrolled in #MC7019: Digital Media; Theory, Application and Effects.

As part of my assignments for this course, I will have to blog about our weekly readings.

I actually like the idea of blogging about scholarly topics, as I'm always interested in marrying both the practical and academic sides of journalism.

You may have noticed the blog I posted today.
 
That is the first installment of my weekly blogging assignments, focusing on the history and politics of information.

If you enjoy academic analysis and musing of abstract and practical topics stemming from the intersection of mass communication and politics, feel free to follow along and share your thoughts with me.

I also plan to start blogging more on non-academic topics of interests, but as always, we'll have to see how that goes.

Nonetheless, you'll have something from me to read at least once a week.


Enjoy!

 


It’s been nearly three months since I’ve been
back in school. At this point, I feel like I’m able to make a good comparison
between my life as a full-time journalist and my life as a full-time student.
There are positives and negatives of both lifestyles. One negative of my return
to the classroom is the voluntary demise of much of my social life. Every now
and then, though, I do get to sneak away from my studies (tonight was a 200-page
  book entitled “Governing the News” and an accompanying 2-page book report).
  Tonight, I attended a pre-Halloween party at my sister’s apartment complex. It
was a last minute decision to attend so I didn’t really have time to go costume
  shopping.  I got creative.  I’ve been rocking 90’s-inspired box
braids for the past two months so I decided on a costume that went with the
look: Justice from the movie “Poetic Justice.” What do you
think?






In case you are too young to remember Poetic Justice, here’s a
quick summary.



Poetic Justice is a 1993 drama/romance film starring Janet
  Jackson, Tupac Shakur, Regina King and Joe Torry. It was written and directed
  by John Singleton. The main character, Justice, writes beautiful poems which
  she recites throughout the movie. The poems are in fact by Maya Angelou.
  Angelou also appears in the movie as one of the three elderly sisters, May,
  June and April (called the "Calendar Sisters") whom the characters meet at a
roadside family reunion. The Last Poets make an appearance toward the end of the
film. Poetic Justice reached #1 in the box office its opening weekend, grossing
$11,728,455. It eventually grossed a total of $27,515,786. Jackson received a
nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, with the Billboard Hot
100 number one song, "Again".


Source: Wikipedia



I had a good time! I can’t wait for the next great escape, but
until then, it’s back to the books.