The Public Sphere. Theories of the information society.

The Public Sphere
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A lot of people have a common belief that the public sphere plays a substantial role in bringing democracy. Through the public sphere, people can discuss issues affecting the society as well as creating a political influence in an attempt to solve such issues. There is no a better way for people to express their grievances other than the public sphere. It is an imaginary community that brings people with common ideologies together. It is through various discussions within the society that people can push for both political and economic changes. The availability of information triggers such discussions, and this makes the libraries some of the institutions for the public sphere. Therefore, the concept of the public sphere applies to the relationship between libraries, information, and democracy by acting as a medium through which people can share ideas.
Libraries have been some of the oldest institutions through which people can access information. Author express their ideologies about society by writing books, journals, magazines, and other articles. It is through such articles that people can get informed about the happenings of the society. Once such information has been passed to society, it triggers the formation of the public sphere. The public sphere allows people to hold discussions about the current political and economic situation of their communities and attempt to push for changes. Hence, without such libraries, it would be challenging to achieve democracy through the public sphere since people need the information to push for changes. Public libraries are considered as centers for communications, which in turn, create a medium for facilitating public opinion. Democracy is brought about by decisions made by the people and for the people. Hence, given the availability of information in libraries, it becomes easy for people to access information and hold discussions about pressing matters of the community. As a result, the community can push for changes and achieve democracy. Therefore, the public sphere increases the need for information. In turn, this contributes to the availability of libraries and the achievement of democracy.
However, technological advancements have strained the relationship between libraries, information, and democracy. Technology has resulted in the digitalization of information, hence reducing the number of people that visit the libraries. An individual can access digitalized material from anywhere in the world. Hence, if people do not visit public libraries, then the libraries seize to be institutions for the public sphere. Such becomes a hindrance to democracy's achievement since the link between the public sphere and information is cut. However, such is not an indication that the members of a particular community would not be able to achieve democracy. The digitalization of information is playing a substantial role in making the internet a new institution for the public sphere (Wiegand, 2015). Hence, people would access information from the internet, hold discussions, and push for democratic actions. As well, libraries have taken an initiative of overcoming the digitalization challenge by creating online platforms where the masses can access information. eBooks have become new ways through which the authors present information through the libraries. The public sphere is a necessity in society, and this means that people will always want information. As long as libraries can provide such information, then it becomes easy for the public to work towards the achievement of democracy. Without such information on public matters, the public sphere would face a challenge in pushing for democracy. Hence, this explains the importance of the relationship between libraries, information, and democracy.
The ease through which people can access information plays a substantial role in determining how fast society can achieve democracy. If societies seek to push for democracy, then there is a need to understand the relation between the economy and politics. Such can be best done through research, and this brings light into the concept of librarianship. Librarians have the task of researching more about political and economic ideologies that need to be changed for the community to achieve democracy. For instance, the authors of various economic theories have made their work available to the public through libraries. The economic research has become a basis for the development of public policy. Such is an indication that if the libraries focus on making more information available to the public, then the chances are high that people will find it easy to achieve democracy. The question arises regarding the validity of the information available in the libraries and its relevance in today's society. A lot of political and economic issues have changed, and this calls for new research to come up with ways of pushing for democracy. Hence, librarians have to dedicate a lot of time in resea...