welcome

This of course is the official beginning of my blog on citizen media and the public sphere. At this point I would hope that none of us are still trying to decide what citizen media is...like I was for roughly 2 weeks. The problem is that citizen media is a broad term. The public sphere is self-explanatory- the sphere or realm that the public and and masses inhabit. Citizen media can take the form of any media-related artifact the public chooses to use or produce media. It takes form in the page you're reading right now -a blog-, in cyber social networks like Facebook, gadgets like iPhones, in laptops, in 'zines...the list literally goes on and on. The Internet has of course revolutionized the practice of citizen media by effectively holding gatekeepers at bay, so that anyone can tell anyone what they think about anything. Anytime. Ahh, the internet. One could write a blog on that alone. However, our focus here is to comment and observe on citizen media practices as a whole. Of course though, to observe and comment on the way that the general public uses media is to actually look at yourself- the way YOU use media in your personal life, and to what extent you contribute. What to YOU offer to the cyberworld? What messages would you love communicate?
Cyber relations are very complex, and a new rhetoric has begun to emerge of this 'technological frontier'. My goal is to objectively observe this new rhetoric, comment on different relations and phenomena in the public sphere, and try to understand the role of citizen media in today's contemporary society.
.............and also try desperately to make some sense of it.

Later!