Mediated Democracy
August 24, 2005, Danish Architecture Center, Strandgade 27B, DK-1401 Copenhagen
Participation is free. Registration is required no later than August 15, aykj@hum.ku.dk
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Abstract
Niels Ole Finnemann: The internet: the public space dispersed?
In 1998 the well-known web expert Jakob Nielsen claimed “the end of” what he called “the legacy media” - including newspapers, magazines, books & TV networks. "Most current media formats will die and be replaced with an integrated Web medium in five to ten years," he said in a widely quoted alert box. The argument was that the spread of broadband connections would enable what he called a true media integration of text and moving images. Why not have the television images, the full news report and access to background materials and in-depth analyses in the same medium? Nielsen’s argument was simple, clear and consistent, but after eight years there are no indications that his conclusions will come true in the foreseeable future. Instead of a convergence of media and channels, we have witnessed divergence as manifested for instance in the arrival of free dailies, SMS-news, podcasts, RSS-feeds and a number of custom-made news services on the internet. The question is why?
In the Nordic countries the internet reaches around 80% of the population, which is more less the same as the reach of printed newspapers. But the internet has not outperformed the printed newspapers. Print media and electronic broadcast media have not only survived; they are also dominant as news providers on the internet. How can we explain this continuing coevolution of old and new media? What is the role of the internet for the public sphere? How does it function as a news medium? and as a medium for building public opinion? Do we need to define public service obligations for this media platform?
About the speaker
Niels Ole Finnemann. Associate professor, Dr. Phil., Dept. of Information & Media Studies, University of Aarhus. Director of the Center for Internet Research, Aarhus University since 2000. Advisor to the Ministry of Culture on the preservation of Danish internet materials; official Danish representative in the EU-COST a20 action on Internet and Mass Media; and member of The Advisory Board of Scholars for The International Internet Preservation Consortium, http://www.netpreserve.org/. Recently Niels Ole Finnemann has been appointed to take the chair as the first professor of Internet Studies in Denmark.
Recent publications: 2001: Internet - A New Communicative Infrastructure. Aarhus: Center fror Internet Research. 2002: "Perspectives on Internet and Modernity – Late Modernity, Postmodernity or Modernity Modernized?" in N. Brügger & H. Bødker: Internet and Society, Aarhus: Center for Internet Studies. "The Cultural Grammar of the Internet", In K.B. Jensen, ed. Interface://Culture (forthcoming). "Multiplying News." in Wurff, R. van der, Cardoso, G. & O’Sullivan, J. (forthcoming). A Study of Newspapers and Online Newspapers in 18 European Countries (Preliminary title). EU-COST a 20. Amsterdam.
RELATEREDE LINKS
Associate Professor Niels Ole Finnemann