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of informal communication is not likely to be printed, as it does<br />

not contribute to the debate, but nonetheless acts as important<br />

feedback and perhaps a moral boost to the activists.<br />

System:<br />

why<br />

System:<br />

whose<br />

Table 3: Genre system in social media<br />

Activist groups fighting against the planned<br />

development<br />

Owned by activist groups or individuals, open to<br />

everyone but mostly participants are opposed to<br />

development<br />

Genre Opinion, formal Opinion, informal<br />

Where Facebook group wall Facebook group wall<br />

Why<br />

Convince others<br />

through presenting<br />

facts<br />

When Ongoing Ongoing<br />

Who<br />

What<br />

How<br />

Relation<br />

to table1<br />

Activist to<br />

activist/citizen<br />

Presents a view,<br />

followed by supporting<br />

facts and arguments.<br />

Often with links,<br />

pictures, video<br />

Group members post<br />

messages on wall<br />

Present short opinion on<br />

something<br />

Activist to activist/citizen<br />

Presents a view,<br />

supported by emotional<br />

statements or<br />

unsupported views.<br />

Sometimes with links,<br />

pictures, video<br />

Dialogue, contribution Dialogue<br />

Group members post<br />

messages on wall<br />

Genre Call to action Personal attacks<br />

Where Facebook group wall Facebook group wall<br />

Why<br />

When<br />

Get people to act on<br />

something<br />

Before city council<br />

meetings or other<br />

events where there is a<br />

need to do something<br />

Who Activist to activist<br />

What<br />

How<br />

Relation<br />

to table1<br />

Invites people to<br />

participate in<br />

demonstrations, contact<br />

politicians or cast their<br />

vote in a certain way<br />

Group members post<br />

messages on wall<br />

Discredit opponents<br />

Ongoing<br />

Involvement None<br />

Activist to developer,<br />

politicians<br />

Often unprovoked short<br />

comments claiming a<br />

named person or group<br />

are in the wrong<br />

Group members post<br />

messages on wall<br />

Genre Links Greetings/cheers<br />

Where Facebook group wall Facebook group wall<br />

Why<br />

When Ongoing<br />

Who<br />

Inform others about<br />

content posted<br />

elsewhere<br />

Activist to<br />

activist/citizen<br />

Congratulate each other<br />

after victories, raise<br />

morale<br />

When the city council<br />

vote in favor of activists<br />

Activist/citizen to<br />

activists<br />

54<br />

What<br />

How<br />

Relation<br />

to table1<br />

Links to other online<br />

spaces, often<br />

multimedia content<br />

Group members post<br />

messages on wall, often<br />

with a short comment<br />

Dialogue None<br />

Positive comments about<br />

a recent event, or about<br />

the activists’’ work<br />

Group members post<br />

messages on wall<br />

5.2 Public Sphere and Social Capital<br />

The second part of the research question was how these genre<br />

systems contribute to the public sphere. To measure this the<br />

framework of [28] is applied. The framework analyses the public<br />

sphere using Dahlberg’s criteria for a public sphere (see section<br />

2.1), as well as looking for network effects to help spread the<br />

content of the discussion to more people, the type of community<br />

being supported, and the type of public sphere being supported.<br />

As social capital is said to influence who participates in a public<br />

sphere, social capital is also measured using the constructs<br />

mentioned in section 2.2. Together, these constructs helps us to<br />

understand how the communication spaces we are examining<br />

supports a public sphere, and thus how valuable they are in<br />

maintaining democratic ideals.<br />

Table 4: Public sphere characteristics of "old" media<br />

Theory Concept Case observations<br />

Public<br />

sphere<br />

Social<br />

Capital<br />

Dahlberg’s<br />

criteria<br />

Partially present, but participants<br />

are not attempting to understand the<br />

others’ perspective. Debate is fairly<br />

rational and reflective<br />

Network effects Letters are read and distributed to<br />

others, and often answered or<br />

followed up in new letters.<br />

community Readers and writers all belong to<br />

the same local community, some<br />

have regular contact outside of<br />

editorial columns<br />

Type of PS Discourse-based (after some time<br />

more towards political protest)<br />

Bridging Letters are read by both those who<br />

agree with and those who oppose<br />

the author’s position<br />

Bonding Shows others of the same opinion<br />

that they are not alone, helps bring<br />

the community closer together (for<br />

activists. The developer is more on<br />

his own).<br />

Trust &<br />

reciprocity<br />

Maintained<br />

social capital<br />

Is less of an issue in old media, as<br />

there is an editorial middleman who<br />

decides what is printed and not.<br />

Writers address each other by name,<br />

even though they may not meet in

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