Societal Governance in an Attention-Seeking Society: A Sociocybernetic Consideration of Cyberspace and the Common Good
Societal Governance in an Attention-Seeking Society: A Sociocybernetic Consideration of Cyberspace and the Common Good
Tuesday, 8 July 2025: 09:00
Location: FSE004 (Faculty of Education Sciences (FSE))
Oral Presentation
Today, information and narratives with every kind of intention circulate in “cyberspace,” the communication space on the Internet. Scholars and journalists have been discussing the impact of the expanding cyberspace. Those who are interested in social fragmentation, endangered democracy, and political polarization focus on phenomena such as “filter bubbles” (Pariser, 2011) and “echo chambers” (Sunstein, 2007).
However, some scholars have pointed out that the effects of those phenomena are overstated (Dubois & Blank, 2018; Bruns, 2019). According to a meta-analysis of recent intermedia agenda-setting studies, the traditional news media still have a relatively strong initiative in agenda-setting (Su & Xiao, 2021). A recent review states that studies show the effects of “filter bubbles” and “echo chambers” are much more nuanced than commonly thought (Arguedas et al., 2022).
Just and Latzer (2017) raised two pivotal points to discuss algorithms’ selective effects on information exposure, which is the main concern of “filter bubbles”: algorithmic personalization and the dominance of private companies in algorithmic reality construction. The personalization of information exposure is designed to maximize time spent on their online platforms. The circumstances tell that the initiative of journalism on public agenda-setting is surrounded by private interests. Of course, the commercialism of news media has been discussed since the early days. This prompts us to question how publicly-minded reports and conversations can survive in today’s attention-seeking cyberspace.
In order to find a possible approach to mitigating the impact of commercially driven cyberspace, this paper discusses this research question from the perspective of the sociocybernetic theory of societal governance (Takahashi, 2023) and inquires into solution-oriented activities such as non-profit journalism. This study contributes to finding a sociological pathway to exploring the possibility of introducing publicly minded discourse into cyberspace and building a better mix of information sources.
However, some scholars have pointed out that the effects of those phenomena are overstated (Dubois & Blank, 2018; Bruns, 2019). According to a meta-analysis of recent intermedia agenda-setting studies, the traditional news media still have a relatively strong initiative in agenda-setting (Su & Xiao, 2021). A recent review states that studies show the effects of “filter bubbles” and “echo chambers” are much more nuanced than commonly thought (Arguedas et al., 2022).
Just and Latzer (2017) raised two pivotal points to discuss algorithms’ selective effects on information exposure, which is the main concern of “filter bubbles”: algorithmic personalization and the dominance of private companies in algorithmic reality construction. The personalization of information exposure is designed to maximize time spent on their online platforms. The circumstances tell that the initiative of journalism on public agenda-setting is surrounded by private interests. Of course, the commercialism of news media has been discussed since the early days. This prompts us to question how publicly-minded reports and conversations can survive in today’s attention-seeking cyberspace.
In order to find a possible approach to mitigating the impact of commercially driven cyberspace, this paper discusses this research question from the perspective of the sociocybernetic theory of societal governance (Takahashi, 2023) and inquires into solution-oriented activities such as non-profit journalism. This study contributes to finding a sociological pathway to exploring the possibility of introducing publicly minded discourse into cyberspace and building a better mix of information sources.