Media activist websites: The nature of e-participation spaces
Document Type
Journal Article
Publisher
Journalism Education Association
Faculty
Faculty of Education and Arts
School
School of Communication and Arts / Centre for Research in Entertainment, Arts, Technology, Education and Communications
RAS ID
10463
Abstract
Civic engagement in the traditional sense of community values and civic participation is declining (Putnam, 2000). Discussions about this decline have not examined the ways in which new media use provides spaces for participatory cultures and participatory democracy now and in the future. The aim of this paper is to document and analyse the array of activities on two media active forums – GetUp! and AmericaSpeaks. The sites are examined as specifi c examples of media activist spaces that the authors argue enable participatory citizenship. Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts of “smooth” and “striated” spaces are employed by the authors to consider the kinds of spaces emerging in new media active forums (1987, p. 500). In the evolution of media activism, the authors have revealed that the setting up of e-governance structures by non-government organisations to facilitate new kinds of participatory citizenship may well become the model for future e-government.
Comments
Rodan, D. , & Balnaves, M. (2010). Media activist websites: the nature of e-participation spaces. Australian Journalism Review, 32(1), 27-39. Available here.