Alternative Public Sphere

This article discusses the concept of the alternative public sphere in the digital era, where the exchange of information and opinions occurs through digital technology and social media. It explores how political leaders, activists, and political parties are using these platforms to communicate with the mass and spread their agendas. However, it also highlights the concerns regarding the spread of rumors and misleading news through digital media.

Running head: ALTERNATIVE PUBLIC SPHERE
Alternative public sphere
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Alternative public sphere
Public sphere can be defined as the conceptual phase where the exchange of the
information occurs. The evaluation of the information and the adaptation of the knowledge
can be done through discussion, debate and culture of the information.
It has been seen that in this digital era the development of the alternative public
sphere is occurring. The main medium of this alternative public sphere is the digital
technology (Cammaerts 2017). Currently with the use of advanced digital technology, the
political leaders and the activists are communicating with the mass. This way of
communication is getting effective as people can access the contents of the politicians and
leaders through different digital media.
The mostly used platform for spreading the opinions to the mass is the use of social
media. It has been seen that the mass protest are getting spread form the use of the social
media. It has been seen that the use of digitization is helping to spread the news faster than
the traditional method. The activists are using the ICT and the digital platform for spreading
the concern (March 2018). In this context, the demand for the separate Catalonia can be
mentioned. This movement has spread and people around the world came to know about the
movement through use of the internet. Apart from that different opinions from different
people can be expressed on a particular topic through the use of the social media.
Apart from spreading the opinions of the people through the use of the social media, it
has been seen the politicians are also using the platform for communicating with the people.
The political parties are using the use of social media for camping for their parties. Apart
from that the political parties also analysing the feedback of the people to understand their
opinion. This is helping them to set their agendas on different issues. Moreover, most of the
political parties are indulging the technical experts for analysing the data from the social

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media (Sampedro and Avidad 2018). Apart from that the use of ICT is also providing the
politicians an opportunity to showcase their potential through advertisements and campaign
advertisements on different web pages.
For both the activists and the political parties are getting the feedback from the use of
the digital technology. Apart from that people are also giving their opinions through the
digital media. The spreading o the information is faster through this medium. In this case, it
can be said that the use of ICT and the digital technology is helping to create an alternative
public sphere where the exchange of the information is done vastly and in a faster way
(Oreglia and Srinivasan 2016). However, there are some concerns regarding the use of the
ICT by the activists and the political parties. The spreading of the rumours and misleading
news can be occurred through the digital media which can have negative impact on the
society. In this case, it can be said that the use of the ICT for spreading news should be done
in a proper and ethical way.

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References
Cammaerts, B., 2017. ICT-usage among transnational social movements in the networked
society: To organise, to mobilise and to debate. In Media, Technology and Everyday Life in
Europe (pp. 71-90). Routledge.
March, H., 2018. The Smart City and other ICT-led techno-imaginaries: Any room for
dialogue with Degrowth?. Journal of Cleaner Production, 197, pp.1694-1703.
Oreglia, E. and Srinivasan, J., 2016. ICT, Intermediaries, and the Transformation of
Gendered Power Structures. MIS Quarterly, 40(2), pp.501-510.
Sampedro, V. and Avidad, M.M., 2018. The digital public sphere: An alternative and
counterhegemonic space? The case of Spain. International journal of communication, 12,
p.22.