Mediated participation. ‘New’ technologies’

claims to increased participation, novelty and

uniqueness

Nico Carpentier Reifova

Helsinki – November 2011

Volume 25,

Issue 4-5,

2011

„Disputes on the nature of the audience seem to involve two

related dialectics. The first is a tension between the idea that the

audience is a mass public versus the idea that it is a small

community. The second is the tension between the idea that the

audience is passive versus the belief that it is active‟ (Littlejohn in

„Theories of human communication‟ (1996: 310)).

Macro

Micro

Passive

Active

The active/passive

dimension in the

articulation of the

audience

1

P

A

Passive models • Sender-message-receiver

model of Shannon and Weaver

• DeFleur‟s model adding a

feedback loop

• Media effects research

• etc

Active models • Eco‟s aberrant decoding theory

• Hall‟s encoding/decoding model

• Uses and gratifications theory

• etc

The „traditional‟ active/passive dimension emphasizes the active role

of the individual viewer in processes of signification

The participation/

interaction dimension

in the articulation of

the

audience 1b

P

A

Passive

Active

Participation

in media

production

Interaction

with media

content

IN Interaction with

Passive

Active

Participation

in media

production

Interaction

with media

content

Participation in society

I

N

T

H

R

O

U

G

H

Participation

Participation

≠

Interaction

Participation and em/power/ment

„The widespread use of the term […] has tended to mean that

any precise, meaningful content has almost disappeared;

―participation‖ is used to refer to a wide variety of different

situations by different people' (Pateman, 1972: 1)

Partial participation: 'a process in which two or more parties

influence each other in the making of decisions but the final

power to decide rests with one party only' (Pateman, 1972:

70)

Full participation: 'a process where each individual member of

a decision-making body has equal power to determine the

outcome of decisions.' (Pateman, 1972: 71)

„It appears that power and control are pivotal subconcepts

which contribute to both understanding the diversity of

expectations and anticipated out-comes of people's

participation.' White (1994: 17)

Minimalist media participation Maximalist media participation

- focusing on control by media

professionals

- participation limited to access

and interaction

- focussing on micro-participation

- media as non-political

- unidirectional participation

- focussing on a homogeneous

audience

- balancing control and

participation

- attempting to maximise

participation

- combining macro- and micro-

participation

- broad definition of the political

as a dimension of the social

- multidirectional participation

- focussing on heterogeneity

2

Mi

Ma

The micro/macro

dimension in the

articulation of the

audience

A brief note

active audience

The specificity

of the online

Claim 1: The shift

from one-to-many

to many-to-many

communication

The People Formerly Known

as the Audience

The people formerly

known as the

audience are those

who were on the

receiving end of a

media system that

ran one way, in a

broadcasting

pattern, with high

entry fees and a few

firms competing to

speak very loudly

while the rest of the

population listened

in isolation from one

another— and who

today are not in a

situation like that at

all. (Rosen, 2008:

163)

• homogenisation of audience

articulations and practices

• audience activity and the long

history of participatory practices

BBC‟s Video Nation The BBC‟s Video Nation as a participatory media practice. Signifying everyday

life, cultural diversity and participation in an online community

Claim 2: The re-

articulation of the

audience into the

„produser‟

• conflation of user, producer and

audience • user ≈ active / audience ≈ passive

• user + audience ≈ active / passive?

• lack of attention for the reception

of online content

Case: Reception of nine 16+.be films

• nine groups of youngsters

• Flemish science week

• on “the Flemish YouTube”

• reception study

• 131 respondents

• 15 focus groups

• bizarre questions

• sound difficult to understand

• raindrops on the lens

• sometimes no introduction

• … nor a clear storyline

• … nor articulated

The films

• focused on everyday life, with a “normal” view of EDL,

without aesthetisation or narrative structure

• the raw data of everyday, without much decoration

• camera wonders from conversation to conversation,

being engaged in the everyday chit-chat

• little flaneurs that observe the singularities of EDL

• modest attempts to address the politisation of EDL

The banal, the banal, ...

• “there was actually no single important question.

These are all banal things. They are banal things.”

(Yvette, F, 60, H, FG3)

• “The main advantage of these films is that they are

short.” (Alain, M, 52, H, FG7)

• “They are so amateurish. I even got the impression

that they did that on purpose, it was so much beyond

... That’s my impression” (Danielle, F, 50, H, FG7)

The banal, the banal, ... (continued)

• the content: lack of relevance and

usefulness ----/---- comparisons with holiday

pictures

• (perceived) motives attributed to the

producers: being bored and having nothing

else to do

• formal quality of the film: perceived lack of

aesthetic, narrative and technical quality is

juxtaposed to the quality of professional

media productions

Claim 3: The

convergence of

top-down business

with bottom-up

consumption and

production

practices

Convergence

―represents a

paradigm shift – a

move from medium-

specific content

toward content that

flows across

multiple media

channels, toward

the increased

interdependence of

communications

systems, toward

multiple ways of

accessing media

content, and toward

ever more complex

relations between

top-down corporate

media and bottom-

up participatory

culture.‖

• investing strongly into a set of

commercialised media worlds

• risks of being incorporated are

substantial

• the importance of formal

organisational participatory

structures

Amarc labels a

community radio

station „a ―non-

profit‖ station,

currently

broadcasting,

which offers a

service to the

community in

which it is located,

or to which it

broadcasts, while

promoting the

participation of this

community in the

radio‟ (Amarc,

1994: 4).

Civil society and community media as rhizome

Conclusion

Audience theory & concept • quite helpful to facilitate the understanding

of the present-day conjuncture

• trans-audience?

+ shows emphasis on informally organised

audience

+ shows the need to avoid the conflation of

interaction and participation

Importance of history: • produced number of radical examples

• co-exist with the digital