1. Contemporary
Democracies,
Convergence
and
Civic
Engagement
Zizi
Papacharissi,
PhD
Professor
and
Head
Communication,
U
of
Illinois-­‐Chicago

2.  The
mythology
of
the
new
 Technology
and
space
 Public
and
private
fantasies
of
control
and
autonomy
A control is not a discipline. In making highways, for example, you don’t enclose people
but instead multiply the means of control. I am not saying that this is the highway’s
exclusive purpose, but that people can drive infinitely and ‘freely’ without being confined
yet while still being perfectly controlled. This is our future.
(Deleuze, 1998, p. 18)

3.  Nostalgia
for
past
forms
of
civic
engagement
 Limitations
to
civic
involvement
presented
by
the
representative
democracy
model
 Aggregation
of
public
opinion
 Declining
civic
participation
through
formal
channels
of
political
involvement
 A
cynical
public

4. Parliament
of
Reality
at
night
-­‐
Image
provided
courtesy
Studio
Olafur
Eliasson

5.  Developing
across
spaces
publicly
private
and
privately
public
 Resting
upon
convergent
media,
spaces
and
practices
 Suggesting
newer
modes
of
citizenship
 Reforming
metaphors
of
the
past
 A
private
sphere

6.  Private
expressions
of
citizenship
 Retrofitting
old
habits
into
new
media
 Hybrid
spaces
and
privée
sociality
 Retreating
to
private
space
to
go
public
 Private
and
self-­‐enclosed
individuals,
mobile
privatization
 Personal
fantasies
of
autonomy,
expression
and
control
 Alone,
connected

7.  Historically
sensitive
 Expresses
economic,
social,
cultural,
political
balances
and
imbalances
of
power
Examples:
 Public
life,
private
life
and
democracy
in
Ancient
Greece
 Gender
relations
and
the
domestic
sphere
 Religion
and
public
vs.
private
 Denotes
visibility
and
collectivity

8.  At
present:
 The
privatization
of
public
space
and
the
return
to
the
home
as
political
space
 Privacy
as
commodity
 A
trichotomy:
The
social
▪ A
convergence
of
public
and
private,
augmented
by
the
affordances
of
technologies
of
convergence

9.  Public
space,
not
Public
Sphere
 Access
 Reciprocity
 Commercialization
 On
the
importance
of
public
space
for
change
‘Change life!’ ‘Change society!’ These precepts mean nothing without the production of
an appropriate space . . . new social relationships call for a new space, and vice versa.
– Lefebvre (1974/1991, p. 59)

10. Reflective
of
a
Private
Sphere
at
Work
1. The networked self and the culture of remote connectivity
2. A New Narcissism: Blogging
3. The Rebirth of Satire and Subversion: YouTube
4. Social Media News Aggregators and the Plurality of Collaborative Filtering
5. The Agonistic Pluralism of Online Activism

12.  The
self-­‐reflective
activity
of
an
autonomous
society
depends
essentially
upon
the
self-­‐reflective
activity
of
the
humans
who
form
that
society”
(Castoriadis,
2007
(trans.)
p.
151).
 Narcissism,
in
moderation
 Atomization
of
political
expression
and
pluralization
of
political
agenda
 Deinstitutionalize
political
power,
make
democracy
more
porous,
blogging
an
act
of
dissent,
a
political
act,
not
journalism

13.  Architectures
of
distance
and
proximity
enable
private
spheres
of
sociality
 Social
network
sites
and
the
plurality
of
activities
they
afford:
 Multiply
potential
audiences
 Sustain
familiarity
of
private
and
enable
reach
of
public
 Host
self-­‐performances
on
hybrid
spaces
that
serve
the
values
of
autonomy,
expression,
control

14.  Blogging
provides
the
pulpit,
YouTube
the
irreverence
and
humor
democracy
needs
 Expands
the
spectrum
of
political
activity
 Enables
direct
communication
within
representative
system

15.  Traditional
habits
of
passive
spectatorship
attain
political
weight
 The
act
of
reading
(returns
as)
a
political
act
 The
wisdom
of
the
collaborative
hive
mind

16.  Fluidly
exercized
activism
 Citizen
chooses
from
activism
menu,
to
engage
in
activities
of
variable
duration,
involvement,
impact
 Micro-­‐agonism
at
work-­‐
is
that
bad?

17.  Autonomy,
expression,
control
 Defined
by
a
plasticity
of
public
and
private
boundaries
 Political
and
other
expression
emanates
within
this
civic,
privée,
and
networked
cocoon
 Emphasis
on
connection
over
struggle
 All
develop
within
private
terrains
 The
private
sphere,
as
metaphor,
describes
and
explains
the
mechanisms
for
civic
connections
in
contemporary
democracies.