User-generated online video: The next public sphere?

In this exploratory paper we examine the potential as well as the limitations of user-generated online video (UGOV) to facilitate political discourse between citizens within a dasiavirtualpsila public sphere. The potential of UGOV lies in the opportunities it presents to citizens for online self-expression and exchange that is open, accessible, compelling, unconstrained and unmediated. The limitations mirror those of the public sphere itself; they are closely related to the technological, socio-economic, geographic, ethnic, and age-related constraints on accessibility, as well as digital divides that have limited the democratic potential of the Internet as a whole.