Publication now available as open access - media and participation

To celebrate the 5th anniversary of the publication of Media and Participation, Intellect and the book's author, Nico Carpentier, are offering the book "Media and Participation: A site of ideological-democratic struggle" as open access, free to download.

Direct link to the book Media and Participation: A site of ideological-democratic struggle as open access.

Abstract

Participation has become fashionable again, but at the same time it has always played a crucial role in our contemporary societies, and it has been omnipresent in a surprisingly large number of societal fields. In the case of the media sphere, the present-day media conjuncture is now considered to be the most participatory ever, but media participation has had a long and intense history. To deal with these paradoxes, this book looks at participation as a structurally unstable concept and as the object of a political-ideological struggle that makes it oscillate between minimalist and maximalist versions. This struggle is analysed in theoretical reflections in five fields (democracy, arts, development, spatial planning and media) and in eight different cases of media practice. These case studies also show participation’s close connection to power, identity, organization, technology and quality.

Table of contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Defining Participation: An Interdisciplinary Overview
1. Democratic theory and participation
2. Beyond democratic theory
3. Audience participation and communication (rights)

Chapter 2: Keyword – Power
1. A conceptual introduction
2. Case 1: Management in the north Belgian audience discussion programme Jan Publiek
3. Case 2: Barometer and the post-political

Chapter 3: Keyword – Identity
1. A conceptual introduction
2. Case 1: The construction of ordinary people in Jan Publiek
3. Case 2: Temptation Island – reality TV and minimalist participation

Chapter 4: Keyword – Organization
1. A conceptual introduction
2. Case 1: BBC’s Video Nation
3. Case 2: RadioSwap

Chapter 5: Keyword – Technology
1. A conceptual introduction
2. Case: Kinoautomat – One man and his house. The lack of uptake of participatory technology

Chapter 6: Keyword – Quality
1. A conceptual introduction
2. Case 1: 16plus, Barometer and the rejection of participatory product
3. Case 2: Alternative and community media constructions of quality: Negotiated quality

Chapter 7: A Short Conclusion

References

More about the book / access the book

Author: Carpentier, Nico.
Publisher: Intellect Ltd, Bristol, UK
Published: 2011
Number of pages: 408
ISBN: 9781841504070
Rights: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

Download the book at oapen.org.
The Intellect webpage of the book.

More open access publications by Nico Carpentier.

Nico Carpentier is professor in media and communication studies at the Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University.

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