Participatory Media

Communities and Media in the Aftermath of Conflict - Participatory productions for reconciliation and peace

by Valentina Baú

Paper presented at the Conference ‘Cultivating Peace: Contexts, Practices and Multi-dimensional Models’, 17-19 May 2012, Centre for Peace Studies, University of New England, Armidale, Australia

A reality characterised by a lack of dialogue among groups can be regarded as a fertile ground for the setup of... more A reality characterised by a lack of dialogue among groups can be regarded as a fertile ground for the setup of community media, where people are given the means for self-expression and succeed in identifying problems and solutions through debate. After a civil conflict, tangible schemes for rebuilding infrastructures should be accompanied by a social renewal aimed primarily at re-establishing a structure among civil society. Within this context, interventions striving to achieve reconciliation at the inter-group level gain particular relevance.

The introduction of participatory approaches to communication emerging from the evolution of Communication for Development as a discipline, have led to the rise of new form of community media productions that have come to be known as participatory media. After providing an illustration and definition of participatory media, this paper seeks to demonstrate the crucial role that this type of productions can play in communities in the aftermath of a civil war or inter-communal violence.

The article begins with an overview to the notion of participation in development and its link to a new model of development communication, based on the pursuit of social change. This will open the path to a discussion on the rise of the media produced by local communities and their use in developing contexts. A review of some of the literature in this field will assist in distinguishing and defining a specific set of community media that sees the direct participation of local community members as the primary element of their production. Subsequently, an analysis of the role of the media in the light of conflict transformation theory will show how media outputs created through participatory methodologies of video, photography and theatre can be regarded as effective tools for dealing with the hostility and grief that linger after a civil conflict, as they provide those channels of communication and storytelling that are needed for effective development interventions aimed at community reconciliation. Examples drawn from projects implemented in developing countries will be brought forward to demonstrate the impact these productions can have in re-connecting groups affected by violence.

Building Indigenous Agency Through Web-Based Exhibition: Dane-Wajich – Dane-zaa Stories and Songs: Dreamers and the Land

by Amber Ridington

Co-authored with Kate Hennessy. Published in In J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds.) Museums and the Web 2008: Proceedings (CD-ROM), Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics. Published March 31, 2008. Online at: http://www.archimuse.com/mw2008/papers/ridington/ridington.html

In the fall of 2007 the Doig River First Nation, an Aboriginal group from northeastern British Columbia, launched its... more In the fall of 2007 the Doig River First Nation, an Aboriginal group from northeastern British Columbia, launched its Virtual Museum of Canada-funded Web exhibit Dane-Wajich – Dane-zaa Stories and Songs: Dreamers and the Land. This exhibit was produced by the First Nation in collaboration with ethnographers, linguists, and multimedia professionals. It integrates subtitled Dane-zaa and English video narratives, interpretive e-text, photographs of the production process, recordings of songs, and contemporary and archival images of traditional lands in order to showcase Dane-zaa culture and address present concerns faced by the community as they negotiate legacies of colonialism. The exhibit’s community-directed production process has contributed to the revitalization of Dane-zaa culture and language as it brought elders and youth together to document stories, songs, and their relationship to the land. The project has also provided the First Nation with control over their representation, and has become a valuable learning resource for local and global audiences. Presented by the exhibit co-curators and project coordinators, the demonstration and paper will showcase the exhibition and discuss questions, raised in the exhibit production process, which relate to the politics of cultural representation in the context of museums and the Web: How can curators and communities balance the benefits of sharing Indigenous culture with protecting Indigenous culture? Can consensus be reached over what is appropriate to show a worldwide audience versus a local audience? How is local intellectual property rights discourse constituted? And how do these emerging rights contribute to the development of protocols for meaningful consultation with Aboriginal communities?

Keywords: Dane-zaa, oral traditions, participatory production, collaboration, representation.

Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

Journalism Innovation and Participation: An Analysis of the Knight News Challenge

by Seth Lewis

Lewis, S. C. (2011). Journalism Innovation and Participation: An Analysis of the Knight News Challenge. International Journal of Communication, 5, 1623-1648. URL: http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1140

In recent years, the Knight News Challenge has emerged as one of the most important forums for stimulating innovation... more In recent years, the Knight News Challenge has emerged as one of the most important forums for stimulating innovation in journalism and as a salient marker of the Knight Foundation’s influence in the field. However, scholarly literature has yet to discuss this contest’s design and execution, its applicants and winners, and the implications for the future of journalism that may be revealed in this process. This study examines content analysis data for nearly 5,000 applications to the Knight News Challenge, exploring the distinguishing features of its applicants, finalists, and winners. This analysis is presented against the backdrop of a key conceptual question for journalism in the 21st century: how does it reconcile the growing tension between professional control and open participation? Results suggest that finalists and winners more often use forms of participation and distributed knowledge (i.e., crowdsourcing and user manipulation) and other features not typically associated with journalism (e.g., software development). These findings are placed in the context of the Knight Foundation’s broader efforts to shape journalism innovation.

The Tension between Professional Control and Open Participation: Journalism and its Boundaries

by Seth Lewis

Lewis, S. C. (in press). The Tension between Professional Control and Open Participation: Journalism and its Boundaries. Information, Communication & Society. (Expected publication date: 2012)

Amid growing difficulties for professionals generally, media workers in particular are negotiating the increasingly... more Amid growing difficulties for professionals generally, media workers in particular are negotiating the increasingly contested boundary space between producer and user in the digital environment. This article, based on a review of the academic literature, explores that larger tension transforming the creative industries by extrapolating from the case of journalism—namely, the ongoing tension between professional control and open participation in the news process. Firstly, the sociology of professions, with its emphasis on boundary maintenance, is used to examine journalism as boundary work, profession, and ideology—each contributing to the formation of journalism’s professional logic of control over content. Secondly, by considering the affordances and cultures of digital technologies, the article articulates open participation and its ideology. Thirdly, and against this backdrop of ideological incompatibility, a review of empirical literature finds that journalists have struggled to reconcile this key tension, caught in the professional impulse toward one-way publishing control even as media become a multi-way network. Yet, emerging research also suggests the possibility of a hybrid logic of adaptability and openness—an ethic of participation—emerging to resolve this tension going forward. The article concludes by pointing to innovations in analytical frameworks and research methods that may shed new light on the producer–user tension in journalism.

Participação, Instituições Políticas e Internet: Um exame dos canais participativos nos portais da Câmara e da Presidência do Brasil / Participation, Political institutions and the Internet: An examination of the participatory tools on the Brazilian Presidency and House of Representatives' websites

by Francisco Paulo Jamil Marques

Title in English: Participation, Political institutions and the Internet: An examination of the participatory tools on... more Title in English: Participation, Political institutions and the Internet: An examination of the participatory tools on the Brazilian Presidency and House of Representatives' websites. Text in Portuguese. Abstract in English available: This article investigates how two Brazilian political institutions - The Presidency and The House of Representatives - use the Internet to offer citizens opportunities of political participation. After reviewing part of the relevant literature concerning Internet and Democracy, the paper identifies and describes all the participatory mechanisms available at these websites, proposing further reflections on the political effects which may arise once these channels are employed. Comparing the House of Representatives and the Presidency websites, it is possible to affirm that the former one presents a greater variety of channels able to address participatory politics. The interactive patterns established between citizens and representatives are thus quite different in this case. The article also discusses questions such as representatives’ unwillingness to offer participatory tools, once these mechanisms are costly to implement and may imply a lost of political power. In the end, one reinforces the necessity of thinking on the digital media taking into account the cultural and political contexts of every democratic society.

"Muro Baixo, O Povo Pula": Iniciativas Institucionais de Participação Digital e seus Desafios Fundamentais / Is a short wall easy to climb? Digital democracy and participatory tools

by Francisco Paulo Jamil Marques

Title in English: Is a short wall easy to climb? Digital democracy and participatory tools. Text in Portuguese.... more Title in English: Is a short wall easy to climb? Digital democracy and participatory tools. Text in Portuguese. Abstract in English available: The article examines the difficulties faced by government projects aimed at fostering citizens' political participation by using the Internet. After presenting the participatory tools found on two institutional websites (the Brazilian Presidency and the House of Representatives), I examine how the constraints pointed out by a relevant part of the literature in e-participation are reflected on such initiatives. The discussion grounded on empirical evidences highlights the argument that promoting online participation needs more than providing communication resources, since civic culture and other issues are still key factors in influencing our patterns of political involvement. A participatory use of digital tools will then depend more on circumstances such as institutional willingness than on the technical mechanisms available.

Internet e Parlamento: Um estudo dos mecanismos de participação oferecidos pelo Poder Legislativo através de ferramentas online / Internet, Participation and Parliament in Brazil

by Francisco Paulo Jamil Marques

Title in English: Internet and Parliament in Brazil: Participatory Resources

Text in Portuguese. Abstract in English available: This article examines the opportunities of participation offered by... more Text in Portuguese. Abstract in English available: This article examines the opportunities of participation offered by six Brazilian Parliament websites: the Federal House of Representatives, and its corresponding Assemblies in five states (Bahia, Goiás, Pará, Rio Grande do Sul, and São Paulo). In order to consider how adequate the participatory resources found in these websites are, one takes into account the deliberative model of democracy. All the experiences but the Federal House of Representatives website are shy regarding the employment of the tools technically available.

CM21-interrogating audiences special issue

by Nurcay Turkoglu

Journalism Innovation and the Ethic of Participation: A Case Study of the Knight Foundation and its News Challenge

by Seth Lewis

Lewis, S. C. (2010). Journalism innovation and the ethic of participation: A case study of the knight foundation and its news challenge. Unpublished dissertation, Austin, TX: University of Texas.

The digitization of media has undermined much of the social authority and economic viability on which U.S. journalism... more The digitization of media has undermined much of the social authority and economic viability on which U.S. journalism relied during the 20th century. This disruption has also opened a central tension for the profession: how to reconcile the need for occupational control against growing opportunities for citizen participation. How that tension is navigated will affect the ultimate shape of the profession and its place in society.

This dissertation examines how the leading nonprofit actor in journalism, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, has sought to help journalism innovate out of its professional crisis. This case study engages a series of mixed methods—including interviews, textual analysis, and secondary data analysis—to generate a holistic portrayal of how the Knight Foundation has attempted to transform itself and the journalism field in recent years, particularly through its signature Knight News Challenge innovation contest.

From a sociology of professions perspective, I found that the Knight Foundation altered the rhetorical and actual boundaries of journalism jurisdiction. Knight moved away from “journalism” and toward “information” as a way of seeking the wisdom of the crowd to solve journalism’s problems. This opening up of journalism’s boundaries created crucial space in which innovators, from inside and outside journalism, could step in and bring change to the field. In particular, these changes have allowed the concept of citizen participation, which resides at the periphery of mainstream newswork, to become embraced as an ethical norm and a founding doctrine of journalism innovation. The result of these efforts has been the emergence of a new rendering of journalism—one that straddles the professional-participatory tension by attempting to “ferry the values” of professional ideals even while embracing new practices more suited to a digital environment.

Ultimately, this case study matters for what it suggests about professions in turbulent times. Influential institutions can bring change to their professional fields by acting as boundary-spanning agents—stepping outside the traditional confines of their field, altering the rhetorical and structural borders of professional jurisdiction to invite external contribution and correction, and altogether creating the space and providing the capital for innovation to flourish.

Promoting participatory medicine with social media: new media applications on hospital websites that enhance health education and e-patients’ voice.

by Linda Gallant

http://bit.ly/vzJLZS

Background and Objective: The nature of health communication is changing as people increasingly seek health... more Background and Objective: The nature of health communication is changing as people increasingly seek health information on the internet. The objective of this study was to investigate how hospital websites utilize a variety of e-health tools; online communication technologies such as social media, video, podcasts, and interactive formats.

Methods: An inductive content analysis was performed on the websites of 14 top-ranked US hospitals from January 5, 2011 to February 28, 2011. A total of 1,330 web pages were analyzed to identify the types of online communication technologies utilized by hospitals to provide e-patients with health information.

Findings: The findings provided an exploratory look at how hospitals provide web-based health information to patients. All hospitals used social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. Most hospitals offered web-based broadcasting of health information. Online health tools such as body mass index (BMI) calculators and health dictionaries were also a common website feature. Less frequently employed were mobile applications, hospital-patient interaction tools and health blogs.

Implications: The convergence of interactive media formats with web-based communication tools will likely enhance e-patient education and promote patient involvement in ways that alter traditional health care interactions, and may lead to enhanced levels of participatory medicine.
http://bit.ly/vzJLZS

Citizen Practices among Youth: Exploring the Role of Communication and Media

by Thomas Tufte

Enghel, Florencia & Thomas Tufte. Citizen Practices among Youth: Exploring the Role of Communication and Media. In: New Questions, New Insights, New Approaches  / Catharina Bucht (ed.); Cecilia von Feilitzen (ed.); Ulla Carlsson (ed.) Nordicom, 2011, 275 p. - ISBN 978-91-86523-21-3, (Yearbooks) - ISSN 1651-6028

Including visitor contributions in cultural heritage installations: Designing for participation

by Luigina Ciolfi

Co-authored with Liam Bannon and Mikael Fernström, Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship, 2008

In this paper we discuss how an interaction design perspective on the design of interactive artifacts in public spaces... more In this paper we discuss how an interaction design perspective on the design of interactive artifacts in public spaces can encourage us to explore certain issues concerning the inclusion of visitor input into our installations. We see the role of technology as supporting people’s experiences of heritage - moving away from simple delivery of information towards enabling visitors to add to the content of the exhibition. This approach encourages active reflection, discussion and appropriation, in the tradition of best practice in human-centred interaction design. In this paper we discuss two exhibitions/installations in which we have been involved, Re-Tracing the Past and the Shannon Portal. The former was developed with the objective of engaging visitors and enhancing their overall experience of a personal museum collection; the latter had the goal of encouraging visitors and travelers to share their experience of Ireland. We then discuss the impact of this design strategy, and analyse the role of visitors’ contributions to each exhibit, and the particular interactions between participants and the content they produced.

The design process as a way to increase participation in a research project about the art world

by Karin Hansson

Hansson, K. (2011). The design process as a way to increase participation in a research project about the art world. Situating Ubiquity. Media Art, Technology, and Cultural Theory (p. 18). Stockholm.

This paper describes a design project that is used as a way of enhancing participation in an ongoing research project... more This paper describes a design project that is used as a way of enhancing participation in an ongoing research project about the role of the artist in relation to digital media. This is achieved in two ways. First the design process is used as a means to concretize abstract theories through a practical case. The design thus function as a way of transforming the informants into participants in the research process contributing not only with empiric material but also in the analysis. Second, as a way to coordinate the design and expand the group of participants, we design a collaborative tool that mirrors the complex and dynamic system of the art world. In this tool a common assumption about equality as the base for participation is challenged; instead hierarchy is used as a way to motivate participation.
The result of the design process is; 1) Design guidelines drawn from theories about the art world. 2) A beta-version of a groupware that visualizes structuring processes.
The beta-version of the groupware uses a Wiki-like interface for discussion and collaboration, combined with a score level meter that shows the individual activities in relation to the total amount of activity. Participants are scored both for the level of their own activity and the score others put on this work. Scoring is done constantly and in different ways: Linking, commenting, liking/disliking, and rating. Just as in the art world co-branding is an important part of the scoring system, and the individual score level changes when the score value changes for the attached users. As a way to formalize the informal rules the system creates a visualization of the individual strategies in relation to others. The visualization of the score level also creates a kind of gaming experience that clarifies the strategies involved for achieving a higher score, and can serve as a way to motivate participation in the short run.

Aproximación a la web 2.0: efectos de la tecnología sobre la participación de las audiencias

by maria Sánchez

"Durable participants: A generational approach to reality TV’s ‘ordinary’ labor pool"

by Hugh Curnutt

Media, Culture & Society (2011)

Race and online content creation: Why minorities are actively participating in the Web

by Teresa Correa

Correa, Teresa and Sun Ho Jeong. (in press). Race and online content creation: Why minorities are actively participating in the Web. Information, Communication, and Society.

The user-generated Web provides new tools for participation by creating content. Drawing from uses and gratifications... more The user-generated Web provides new tools for participation by creating content. Drawing from uses and gratifications and social identity gratifications paradigms, we investigated quantitatively the differentiated uses of participatory technologies among diverse racial and ethnic groups of college students. Using qualitative techniques, we also explored the different discourses and meanings these social groups attach to these tools. A survey showed that among online users minority groups–African Americans, Latinos, and Asians—tend to create online content more frequently than white students. Four focus groups with different racial and ethnic groups revealed that the meanings attached to these participatory tools differ.  Although three main principles emerged as organizing discourses -connecting, enacting the self, and struggling-, these themes were framed differently. For instance, while social connection with friends and family was mentioned across all groups, connecting with niche communities emerged among minorities; they valued these tools as an opportunity to connect with communities to which they share identities and their voices are relevant. We also found that although these tools open the opportunity of representing the self for everyone, different groups framed this possibility differently. While African Americans highlighted the idea of self-expression, that is, expressing their inner thoughts and culture to others, white students focused more prominently on instrumental reasons such as promoting their work. Finally, all groups, except African Americans, expressed their struggles with the problems that emerge when nobody controls the creation of content such as hostile or “immature” interactions.

Programming community radio within a fractured suburbia: An action research study of access and programming participation of urban sub-cultures

by Peter Bryant

co-authored with Natalie Pozdeev.  Please cite as;
Bryant, P., & Pozdeev, N. (2011). Programming community radio within a fractured suburbia: An action research study of access and programming participation of urban sub-cultures. Paper presented at the Cites, Creativity, Connectivity: International Association of Media and Communications Research Conference.

Encouraging grassroots access to community media is one the fundamental tenets of any responsible community media... more Encouraging grassroots access to community media is one the fundamental tenets of any responsible community media organisation, and is imperative to the survival of the community media sector as a whole. Access and participation have supported the growth and development of community media as a citizen-owned medium.

This paper will present three models for identifying new and emerging cultural and sub-cultural groups within sub-urban communities and determine modes and motivations of participation within broadcasting. It will also discuss mechanisms needed to ensure that suburban communities, which exist within a wider, perhaps more dominant suburbia have the necessary skills, access and resources to create their own media.

The theoretical aspect will be supported by case studies of each model as tested at 2RRR, a community radio station located in the suburbs of Sydney, which has been active in encouraging innovative forms of grassroots participation over the past five years.

Conceptualizing UGC in the context of Participatory Journalism

by Edith Manosevitch

Paper prepared for presentation at the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), Istanbul Conference, July 13-17, 2011

User generated content (UGC) is an emerging concept that has been applied in reference to a variety of platforms and... more User generated content (UGC) is an emerging concept that has been applied in reference to a variety of platforms and contexts (Leung, 2008). In recent years, scholars have begun looking specifically at the exploitation of UGC within the context of professional journalism (e.g., Vujnovic et al., 2009; Ornebring, 2008; Paulussen & Ugille, 2008; Singer et al., 2011). Theoretically, these scholars have placed the concept in the broad terms of participatory journalism. One of the prevalent definitions in this context holds UGC as "a process whereby ordinary people have an opportunity to participate with or contribute to professionally edited publications" (Hermida & Thurman, 2008: 344). Consequently, the concept incorporates an array of user content—from user comments, blogs and forums, to user ratings and hierarchical lists of most read or shared sections.
As UGC becomes an integral component of online journalism, with scholars and practitioners exploring ways to enhance its utility to journalism and democracy, it is essential to further conceptualize UGC, making distinctions that illuminate varying facets of UGC and their effects. In this research I offer an elaborate conceptualization of UGC, which is based on two distinctive assessments: (1) user-created UGC and editorial-created UGC. Whilst the user-initiated requires intentional and active contribution by the user; the editorial-created could be based mainly or solely on users' activities that can be aggregated and exhibited; (2) open-ended UGC and closed-ended UGC. Open-ended refers to content which users generate by using their personal choice of expression. Closed ended refers to content provided by users in response to close-ended questions. The paper provides a detailed discussion of these distinctions and their implications for journalism and participatory democracy, along with a variety of examples in which these continuums are been implemented in leading online newspapers.

Playing The Sims 2: Constructing and negotiating woman computer game player identities through the practice of skinning

by Hanna Wirman

PhD Thesis, University of the West of England, 2011

Despite some remarkable shifts in gender demographics of game players during the last decade, computer games remain... more Despite some remarkable shifts in gender demographics of game players during the last decade, computer games remain male-gendered media. Engagement in such a culture, this work suggests, is characterised by confusion and incoherence for women players who are simultaneously taking part in male dominated leisure which marginalises them and a society which assumes gender equality as an acquired right. Small-scale ethnography tied together with an analysis of concurrent cultural discourses and the game system's characteristics allows a deep analysis of the construction of identities that conflict with the naturalised idea of a player.

The Sims 2 (2004) computer game sets out a unique case for a study of women's player identities because it is both exceptionally popular among women and individuated by a theme and a structure that are understood as `feminine'. Furthermore, a group of women players whose engagement with the game is characterised by creation and sharing of new and altered game content, the skinning of it, appears interesting since the women skinners resist traditional gender roles by taking active, productive positions towards the game.

This work's original contribution to knowledge is in offering a nuanced view of female game playing which resists easy assimilation to some of the dominant concepts recently in play within the field of study, such as political resistance in the form of game content appropriation and female empowerment through video game play. While skinners seem to have a possibility to change a game that results from a male-dominated game development culture, their skinning is fundamentally facilitated and invited by the game they play. Such practice therefore appears different from the `high' forms of subversive user-participation that are typically cherished in the studies of media use. Consecutively, the approach in this thesis questions the straightforwardly embracing undertone of the current Web 2.0 `buzz' that claims democratisation of media production. The Sims 2 skinning offers an example of a productive practice that does not go beyond what we understand as gameplay, but demands revisiting the very notion of gameplay itself.

Democratic Potentials of UN Climate Change Conference Host Government Websites?

by Catherine Candano

Forthcoming publication in S. Baum & A. Mahizhnan (Eds.), Handbook of Research on E-governance and Social Inclusion: Concepts and Cases

Candano, C. (August 2010). Democratic Potentials of UN Climate Change Conference Host Government Websites?. Paper... more Candano, C. (August 2010). Democratic Potentials of UN Climate Change Conference Host Government Websites?. Paper presented at the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) 35th Annual Meeting, Tokyo