Isdt talk2010 v2-edited

Participation, Power& Online Platforms
Laura Stein
Lstein@mail.utexas.edu

Overview
Alternative media scholarship/practice
Conceptual tools to examine the conditions of participation
Hopes/concerns for the future

Alternative Media (Downing)
Offers alternative to mainstream media
Challenges existing power structures
Represents/empowers marginalized groups
Makes horizontal linkages between communities of interest
Provides an alternative public forum

Alternative Dimensions
Content
Aesthetic
Organization
Relationship to Audience/Users
Noam Chomsky Reads the New York Times
Paper Tiger Reads Paper Tiger TV

Paper Tiger Reads Paper Tiger Television

Participatory Culture
Jenkins- digital media consumers actively participate in the creation and circulation of new content (though under unclear rules and conditions of differential power)
Benkler- radically decentralized, collaborative and nonproprietary ways of organizing production (commons-based peer production)
Participation fosters empowerment & democracy

Critical Questions:
Do specific instances of participation challenge or reinforce existing power structures?
Are opportunities to participate equitably distributed?
What are the terms and conditions of participation?
Do governments and markets support or suppress participation?

Exercise (with 5 groups)
Pick a platform and collectively examine its platform policies [Facebook, YouTube, Blogger, Wikipedia, or Indymedia Portugal].
Where do these platform policies fall on the ladder of citizen participation? Why?
Briefly report your findings back to the larger group

Selected Steps on the Ladder
Citizen control- puts citizens in full charge of policy and management
Delegated power- gives citizens majority of decision-making power
Partnership- lets people negotiate and engage in trade-offs with power-holders
Placation- people can advise, but power-holders retain right to judge legitimacy/feasibility of advice
Consultation- people can hear and be heard, but can’t insure they’re listened to
Informing- people may get necessary information, but the process is one-way with no opportunity for feedback or negotiation

Isdt talk2010 v2-edited

by dmcolab on Jul 31, 2010

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Isdt talk2010 v2-edited — Presentation Transcript