Tala är silver, skriva är guld (?) En studie om bloggars demokratiska potential
DemocracyWeblogDeliberativeParticipationIdea analysisSocial sciencesSamhällsvetenskaperPolitical and administrative sciencesStatsvetenskapFörvaltningskunskapSocial SciencesLaw and Political Science
The number of blogs, from weblogs, are increasing every day. Blogs are also becoming more visible in the public debate as well as the awareness of their existance is rising among politicians and citizens. The aim of this thesis is to answer the question what democratic potential blogs can have. This question will be answered by initially studying the research that exists today about weblogs and democracy. The second part of the analysis consists of a selection of texts from weblogs that touches this subject. Democratic potential is defined with deliberative and participatory ideals, but also in some matters with some of the research about Internet and democracy. A distinction is made between ability to participate and to have influence. The analysis show that weblogs have democratic potential in several aspects. They have a unique value in the way we communicate that isn?t comparable to other media. There also follows negative aspects of blogs: filtering, polarisation within groups, and unequal access. Research tends to focus more on the ability to participate, while bloggers are more interested in the possibility to have influence in the public sphere.