Do blogs offer a plattform for the "ideal speech situation"? X & getting stuck

now, I'm not quite sure if this is really a quicker way to summarize sth. - especially as copy-past makes it much easier not to summarize, on the other hand(side!) it's much more satisfying to press "publish" after every chapter, that keeps me going....
:-)
Anyway: as this is the last and most important chapter of the whole article, I'll try to continue.

5.) Analyzing the weblog

...the last two research questions will be discussed here...

5.1.) Weblogs and the ideal speech situation
In section 3 it has been discussed that an ideal speech situation requires three things: all parties involved have equal opportunity to start and take part in a discussion or discourse; there are no power differences between the parties involved; all parties involved act truthfully. These three conditions ensure communicative symmetry between all parties involved.

5.1.1.) Equal access
The first condition for the ideal speech situation is equal access. The first hurdle is access to the internet. Van Dijk (1999) rightfully concludes that only a minority of the world population has access to the internet. This means large groups of people are kept out of discussions that take place on the internet in general, and more specific in weblogs. The potential reach of weblogs is nevertheless vast. All those with internet access are potential weblog readers. In the Netherlands the number of people over 16 yrs of age with internet access is estimated at 9,2 million, which represents 72,4% of the population. (Nielsen-Netratings, 2003) This is
the second highest internet penetration in Europe, after Sweden. The unequal distribution of internet access around the world is no small problem, but in the Netherlands there is almost no such inequality. To research the possibilities of weblogs further, from now on those who have internet access are taken as a given.
[...]
Several communication capacities of weblogs have a positive effect on the access to
communication through weblogs. In a face to face discussion all those who are not present, or do not know that a discussion is taking place, are automatically excluded. Only those present have equal opportunity to take part. The low selectivity of weblogs initially ensures dissemination of that which is communicated. Public publishing on the web makes the content potentially available to all those who might be interested. It has also been shown that weblogs provide asynchronous interaction, which means that same time and same place are not required to take part in a discussion. This combination of low selectivity and asynchronous interactivity increases the number of people that can take part in a discussion, and also heightens the chance that those who have a stake or interest in the discussion will be reached.

[...] ‘Listening in’ on the web is possible however, because of the
public nature of most of the web pages.

In conclusion access to communication through weblogs is high, because of the ease of publication, low selectivity, asynchronous interaction, and large storage capacity. The first condition of the ideal speech situation [ie. equal acess] therefore can be met.