社會網絡的新公共性－－以草根性信仰網絡發展實踐全球公民社會為例

Are Social Media a Public Sphere? A Case Study of a Grassroots Gospel Online Network

隨著資訊傳播科技的發展，網際網路已成為21世紀的主要物質基礎。本研究採用Castells（2008）全球公民社會的理論視角，探討社會網路連結的新型態公共性如何成為可能？分散式網路邏輯如何挑戰既有制度性權威？本研究採取詮釋性個案研究，參與觀察一個跨國界的草根性華人基督教福音網絡組織，如何透過社會網路科技，以資訊流的權力，突破制度性正當性權威，進入宗教管制的中國，形成全球在地化的宗教言論自由交流論壇。本研究在理論上貢獻，本研究結果延伸了全球公民社會的理論；而實務上的貢獻，透過再思社會網路新公共性的也將能協助我國的公、私部門、公民社會，重新對焦現行資訊傳播科技政策的跨域治理層次，形成更有效的傳播策略，積極地參與全球治理。

Drawing from the lens of Castells’(2008) global civil society, this paper investigates how the power of free flow of information takes precedence over traditional institutional arrangement, fostering a new type of public sphere in an interconnected world. By adopting an interpretive case study in a cross-border grassroots gospel online network, this study examines how the decentralized networking logic of social media can penetrate religious restricted China. This paper argues that the line between the public and private spheres becomes blurred in a networked society. Social media make it possible for civil society to go global, and produce its own cultural codes and meanings. Identities are the real drivers of social transformation in this society.