Blogs add new dimension to political, social arena: prof

Ability to voice opinion available to anyone with a computer

JASKARAN SINGH THE GATEWAY (UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA)

EDMONTON (CUP) — In the late ’70s, when Sting and the Police penned the pop hit “Message in a Bottle,” the Internet was in its embryonic stages. Calls for attention, such as messages scrawled in notes, journals and on sheets of paper stuffed in ocean-bound containers were possible outlets for angst and alienation.

But, with the evolution of media and the Internet, public expressions of melancholy have become commonplace among blogs and online social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace and Nexopia.

Such is the research of Michael Keren, professor at the University of Calgary and Canadian Research Chair in Communication, Culture and Civil Society. His latest book, Blogosphere: The New Political Arena, focuses on the political freedom given by such outlets, and also discusses the underuse of such powerful tool.

According to Keren, blogging adds a whole new dimension to the political and social arena.

“Blogging implies a huge emancipation in that, for the first time in history, the opportunity to present our private lives in the public domain isn’t confined to people who have achieved prominence . . . but to everybody with access to a computer,” he said.

Keren believes that the appeal of blogging is that it gives anyone a voice and a niche in a larger community. It puts anyone’s opinion on centre stage and it allows many to get their opinions out to a large audience with anonymity. Bloggers range from struggling local bands with MySpace pages, to lonely, aged widowers uploading videos on YouTube.

Blog entries can range from frivolous to dire and touching. One example culled by Keren was a blog written by a young girl in Iran, expressing her desire for Barbie dolls, which were restricted under the country’s regime.

“Such an expression of a private desire is undoubtedly a matter of global political concern. When her scream for freedom remains in the dark, it is definitely a bad thing,” he said.

Keren also proposes that another possible appeal of becoming a blogger is in its counterculture and rebellious nature.

“There is also a sense of rebellion in that blogging is seen as providing an arena of public discourse free from the constraints attributed to the mainstream media,” Keren continued.

He said that blogging provides the opportunity to voice political opinions typically not represented by major media sources, which he sees as an underused option. Blogging, although a potentially powerful tool, doesn’t leave the Internet.

“It stems from the fact that blogging remains confined to cyberspace — this is where bloggers seem not to take advantage of their liberation,” Keren said.

The act of blogging liberates many and whether the content of a blog is personal, or intended for millions around the globe it’s a way of sending an “SOS to the world.”

“We are all living in a world in which the individual may be seen as more liberated than ever, yet we are also aware of the gap between that liberation and the little control we seem to have over the political, economic and other systems surrounding us,” Keren said.