Blogs

Blogging is an increasingly important function of the internet. There are millions of blogs that range from topics related to celebrity gossip to political activism. People use blogs for multiple purposes and therefore blogging on the internet is becoming part of our public sphere. Blogs are a great way for people to connect with eah other over certain topics of interest. This video can be used to explain how news has evolved in the twenty-first centruy with the use of blogging:



I think that blogs have expanded the realm of news in a positive direction. Previously there were only a limited topics in news politics, sports, economy, etc. because there was a limited amount of space. Newspapers, radio and television news shows only had so much time to devote to each story. However, the internet opened an unlimited amount of space to share news, and with this increase, new topics emerged. Now people can blog about mulitple issues, particularly issues that are interesting or valuable to them. If people are focusing on topics that are of interest to them they will be more likely to engage n news. Some say that the 21st centruy lacks activism , however blogs are a geat way for people to come together and discuss issues, even if it is virtually. Blogs allow people from all around the world to discuss issues and share their opinions. I believe that this is one of the greatest features of blogging.
However, some people who can't afford the internet are left out of this public sphere. Because they don't have the means to blog they are excluded from these discussion or ideas. Therefore I believe that the "community internet" that is mentioned in the "Future of the Internet" Free Press article is an exceptional idea. This way the internet is free to all citizens within these communities and will give more people accesss to the public sphere. It is true that public internet may be slower and less reliable, but it is still a good source of information for those people who can't afford any internet at all.