The implications of personal internet search for theories of global civil society

In the growing information expanse of cyberspace, personal internet search is a permutation of internet search technology designed to help netizens navigate and locate relevant content. The epistemological implications of personal internet search for public discourse troubles Eli Pariser, who asserts that such technology isolates users in individual "filter bubbles" with personalized and competing views of reality. While accessible to popular audiences, Pariser's arguments are also provocative for scholarly studies of public discourse, including politics. This paper responds to this challenge with respect to one area of this discourse: global civil society. This paper contends that Pariser's arguments are useful, but that a deeper expansion of theoretical literature will provide a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between internet search and public discourse; and that such nuances will outline epistemological implications of personal internet search relevant not just to public discourse but also for theories of global civil society.