The Role of Cultural Intermediaries in Participatory Communication
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The document discusses the role of cultural intermediaries within participatory communication using ABC Pool as a case study. It provides context on creative destruction and intermediation cycles with the rise of Web 2.0 technologies. The case study of ABC Pool examines how a community manager acted as a cultural intermediary to govern the institutional online community and operationalize creative innovation for users. In conclusion, cultural intermediation can help strengthen opportunities from creative destruction through information and communication technologies as new models of online community governance emerge.
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The Role of Cultural Intermediaries in Participatory Communication
- 1. The role of the Cultural Intermediary within professional participatory communication: Lessons from ABC Pool Jonathon Hutchinson Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCi), Queensland University of Technology @dhutchman IAMCR, Dublin 2013
- 2. Creative Destruction and Intermediation Cycles Web 2.0 technology affordances Creative innovation Audience as user – participatory cultures/communication ABC Pool Cultural intermediation
- 3. Creative Destruction = user led political, organisational and socio-technical innovations
- 5. Participatory Cultures Web 2.0 affordances Strong disintermediation Heterarchy over Hierarchy Institutional online communities Regulatory frameworks – negotiation processes
- 6. Cultural intermediation Human and non-human actors Conduit actors within the the cultural production process We are now in the reintermediation phase of the IDR cycle moving toward intermediation
- 7. Methodology Ethnographic action research – participant observation Surveys Focus Groups Interviews
- 8. The ABC Australia has a dual licensing system ABC history of cultural infrastructure Responsible for ‘distinctive innovation’ Crowding out argument Conroy media reforms – legislative inclusion of online services
- 9. ABC Pool
- 10. ABC Pool users
- 11. ABC Pool Community Manager
- 14. Conclusions Creative destruction provides opportunities Strengthened through ICTs We have reentered the intermediation phase Cultural intermediation operationalises innovation Emerging Online community governance models
Editor's Notes
- This aspect of Schumpeter’s creative destructioninstitutional online communities – definitionHigh levels of innovation through concepts like meritocracy (user-led political innovation), participatory cultures (opposed to organisational innovation) and free and open source activities (socio-technical innovation)
- Chircu and Kauffman (1999) highlight this cycle within the internet middlemenThey relate it to the buying and selling of goods and services within the market place, where a successful transaction is completed between a buyer an sellerThis role becomes increasingly significant as markets shift towards the online environment They note ”Intermediation occurs when a new firm interjects itself among buyers and suppliers (and possibly among other intermediaries). Disintermediationoccurswhenanestablishedmiddlemanispushedoutofamarketniche. Reintermediation occurs when a once disintermediated player is able to re-establish itself as an intermediary” (p 2).To align this with media production, Bardoel and Deuze (2001) note technological affordances are enabling the user to not only produce content but also publish it, negating the role of the intermediary. Tis is most prominent within the citizen journalism field where journalist embody the gatewatching role as opposed to the gatekeeper.In this phase, media production moves from intermeditation toward disintermediation
- Fast forward several years and we begin to understand this movement as participatory cultures, where as Jenkins suggests it is the blurring of the once etablished lined between producer and consumerO’Reily coins Web 2.0 and we see a set of infomration and communication technologies emerge that sophisticates and enables users to create, publish and curate their own media streams across internet platformsThis confirms the disintermediation phase which is strengthened by the work of Thomas Malaby who examined Second Life and notes that users are likely to reject top down hierarchy governnace models for meritocracy where those who are in positions of influence are there because of their past experience and knolwedgeThis is problematic for instituional online communities because there needs to be a representative from the hosting organisation who is essentially there to act as the conduit between the online community and the instituonal stakeholdersThis role is usually held by the community manager who encourages the users, is responsibel for greater affect of them, and is their representative toward the instituion.Essentially they are there to negotiate the differences between the interests of the stakeholders – that is the online communtiymemebrs and the institutional regulatory frameworkThey do this through interactional expertise which is the syncronisaiton of expertise disciplines
- This is the basis for cultural intermediation.However, the negotiation process does not only occur through human community managers, it also occurs through technological actors such as coding, design, developers. Essentially the agency of all actors in the middle of the producers and consumers are implementing the negotiation process.Within the production of cultural artefacts, this can be called cultural intermediation.Cultural intermediaries differ here form teh original use of the term by Bourduea who refers to class intermediation, and more with the work of Keith Morris who suggests Cis bridge the gap between the produciton and consumption of cultural artefacts.However I argue Morris who suggests the CI actually becomes a road block within this process, as I will demonstrate through the ABC Pool case studyThis does suggest we are entering the reintermediation phase of the IDR cycle and well ont eh way back towards intermediation
- The ABC has a unique licensing system which enables both commercial and non-commercial networks to operateThe ABC is not a subscription base serviceHistorically the ABC has been the national service responsible for cultural infrastructure, orchestras in the 30s, Unearthed, OnlineIt is what Cuningham terms as distinctive innovation which “moves the sector on from Reithian justifications of normative market shaping to a more nimble, facilitative role of performing experimental R&D for the system – a very recognisable role for the public sector from an innovation perspective”This does cause arguments surrounding crowding out as the ABC dominate sin many areas with no “bottom line” to pursue.However recent media reforms in Australia has seen legislation been passed to recognise the significance of the ABC’s online activities