Curating a Digital Commonwealth: Translating Citizen Media from Practice to Theory
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DigitalCommonWealth
Curating a Digital Commonwealth: translating citizen media theory to
practice
@jennifermjones
Established Narratives
The Olympic Games is a media platform with an assumed dominant narrative; the IOC, Games organizers, sponsors and athletic federations attempt to defend the narrative against
counter narratives…a problem for the Olympics is that there is some ambiguity over the ownership of the Olympic Games platform and the narrative. Who owns it? Is it the IOC, the
organizing committee, the host city or nation, or the sponsors?" (Horne & Whannel, 2010, p762)
the likelihood of a spiral of silence emerges, in which fringe minority voices get less hearing and are gradually brought into conformity…the hegemony of the privileged over web content
and values will marginalise less powerful groups as it has in other media (Real, 2007, p182)
• OPENING CEREMONY
• NATIONAL MOOD CHANGE (DRUG REFERENCE)
Small, alternative or citizen media offers space for the digitally empowered citizen to break stories, become media makers
and storytellers of the now, archived as an historical record
#citizenrelay used a hybrid media environment, including blogs and social media, to mobilise, organise and discuss
issues pertaining the Olympic Torch Relay
Small media, citizen-oriented
Immediacy
Speed, of communication and representation, is a prominent feature of
the accelerated mega event spectacle, creating challenges of narrative control and management for event owners and
corporate sponsors alike
• WHAT DID WE DO?
Networks and connectedness
The project intentionally adopted a decentralized and distributed structure,
where heterogeneous actors could network and amplify their messages
through a shared communication platform
locality
A commitment to a more bottom-up, place-specific agenda was built into the recruitment of
volunteer reporters from four regions of Scotland and investment in a mobile community media
centre (a minibus) to help support citizen media makers in each locality
Empowerment
mass media and institutional gatekeepers are being circumvented by citizen reporters and commentators who provide first-hand, real-
time coverage and non-hegemonic interpretations (Bakardjieva, et al, 2012),
participation
digital infrastructures offer citizens new channels for speaking and acting
together and thus lower the threshold for involvement (Bakardjieva et al, 2012: i)
Next Steps • Towards #Glasgow2014: Significant year for Scotland
(Referendum, Commonwealth Games, Home-Coming) Use of mega-event narrative to provoke and capture wider discussions relating to social and political discourse.
• Community Media Practice: Focus on developing techniques and skill-based training support that can be offered to those who take part in initiative.
• Capacity building: Strengthen and grow with relationships established during #citizenrelay to map network of ‘community media hubs’ across Scotland.
Digital Common Wealth
!
Creative response to the Commonwealth (Games) from across Scotland, involving diverse range of individuals/communities !Community!media!clusters!1!community!media!cafes!and!digital!storytelling!workshops!!Schools!programme!!1 !in1school!digital!storytelling!workshops!with!primary!and!secondary!learners!in!Scotland�s!32!local!authori;es!
Crea;ve!voices!1 !documentary!film,!crea;ve!wri;ng!and!!community!songwri;ng!around!!UWS!campuses!
!
Concluding thoughts ample space within the saturated established media landscape for
citizen-owned and led initiatives, based on the philosophy of a low threshold for involvement using everyday digital technologies, effective coordination and amplification of key messages
participatory media practices can help establish new collectives which are sustained beyond mega event spectacle
in more complex media environment, citizen media need not simply oppose the established media but instead co-exist, occupying at different times each other’s traditional spaces and using similar newsgathering and distribution techniques
• Access to content, people and stories, provoking data from target communities
• Visualising and coding content/data - telling research stories with social media content
• Archiving in context, 2014 as rich resource for researchers - but also empheral
Points to consider
DigitalCommonWealth
Curating a Digital Commonwealth: translating citizen media theory to
practice
@jennifermjones
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