Kybernetes: Volume 50 Issue 4

Guest editorial

Wafting spheres: much ado about nothing

The purpose of this paper is to implement the idea of the sphere on systems theory (type: Niklas Luhmann) and to test whether this theory can be used to gain a sharper approach to…

A networked public: formal and relational approaches to the public sphere

The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential for conceptualizing the public sphere through the tools of network analysis.

The public as projection

To develop a new conceptualisation of the public particular emphasis is placed on later developments in the work of Niklas Luhmann using theoretical terms such as medium, form and…

A sphere askew: operations, territory and the public in the digital age

The public is often associated with a spatial entity: the sphere. Recent technical developments, however, raise questions about the applicability of the sphere as a concept in…

Theoretical and practical influences of Habermas’s global academic best seller: structural transformation of the public sphere in the United States

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the reception and impact of Jürgen Habermas’s global academic best seller in the USA between 1974 and 2018. It specifically addresses the…

No Consensus – Because Why? Interview with Maren Lehmann and Ingrid Volkmer

The general peer: the public sphere in the age of profilicity (profile-based identity)

The purpose of the paper is to outline the concept of the general peer in detail and to show its relation to the relevant social theories by Niklas Luhmann and Jürgen Habermas. It…

Online order in the age of many publics

In online digital spaces, the public/private distinction is challenged in many different ways. The purpose of this paper is to show that the normative order of the internet is a…

The individual’s role in cybercrime prevention: internal spheres of protection and our ability to safeguard them

As a well-known social institution, crime prevention has traditionally been in the purview of public authorities. However, the ceaseless increase in the use of online resources…

Climate’s role in Earth’s shifting spheres

This paper aims to present the physics of climate and climate change in an accessible manner to the layman in the context of shifting spheres.