ABSTRACT
With the emergence of digital media, being the 'tools of change' at the core of digital democracy, the aforementioned traditional notion of public sphere was revisited and transformed into the concept of the virtual public sphere. The idea of digital democracy and the virtual public sphere must be linked to a corresponding conception of digital citizens and their competencies. The discourse on the virtual public sphere and more generally on digital democracy has as a central underpinning the idea that the advancements in information and communication technologies (ICTs) can bring about changes in terms of civic practices. The virtual public sphere, stretching the boundaries of time and space, would allow citizens worldwide to deliberate online on an international issue. Reasonableness can inform citizens' political life online insofar as it mitigates the differences that stem from the pluralistic nature of the virtual public sphere. This chapter contributes to such an inventory of civic competencies for political life online.
