The Transformation of the Public Sphere, Media Technology and the Media/Social Ecology Perspective

Media / social ecology is an approach to understanding the interaction of media forms with human actors, social systems and political projects. This paper proposes that such an approach offers a nuanced explanatory tool for examining the transformation of the public sphere and steps for its revitalisation. This approach foregrounds the necessity of both technical and non-technical activities to bring about the revitalisation of the public sphere. The paper consists of three sections: Section one critically examines the existing model of technological change and the public sphere. It is argued that the existing model employs a simplistic model of social change in which the deployment of new technology impacts upon social practice. Section two describes the media / social ecology perspective. A case study is used to illustrate how various technological forms, multi-platform media content, social systems and practices and Individual social actors are all integrated into a complex system. In section three it is proposed that new technology alone is not enough facilitate the revitalisation of the public sphere. Instead, a more holistic view is proposed wherein the deployment of media technology must occur in concert with other strategically -orientated social developmental practices such as media literacy programmes and citizenship development programmes. The paper concludes by advocating the necessity of a grounded, community centric and 'grass roots' approach to the deployment of media technology to revitalise the public sphere.