Wow! eBook
Bastard Culture! How User Participation Transforms Cultural Production (MediaMatters)
Author(s): Mirko Tobias Tobias Schäfer (Author)
- Publisher: Routledge
- Publication Date: May 31, 2011
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 250 pages
- ISBN-10: 9089642560
- ISBN-13: 9789089642561
Book Description
New online technologies have brought with them a great promise of freedom. The computer and particularly the Internet have been represented as enabling technologies, turning consumers into users and users into producers. Furthermore, lay people and amateurs have been enthusiastically greeted as heroes of the digital era. This thoughtful study casts a fresh light on the shaping of user participation in the context of, among others, popular discourse in and around new media.Schäfer's groundbreaking research into hacking, fan communities and Web 2.0 applications demonstrates how the dynamic of innovation, control and interaction have shifted the boundaries of the traditional culture industry into the user domain. The media industry undergoes a shift from creating content to providing platforms for user driven social interactions and user-generated content. In this extended culture industry, participation unfolds not only in the co-creation of media content and software-based products, but also in the development and defense of distinctive media practices that represent a socio-political understanding of new technologies.
From the Back Cover
In the wake of the recent far-reaching changes in the use and accessibility of technology in our society, the average person is far more engaged with digital culture than ever before. They are not merely subject to technological advances but actively use, create, and mold them in everyday routines--connecting with loved ones and strangers through the Internet and smart phones, navigating digital worlds for work and recreation, extracting information from vast networks, and even creating and customizing interfaces to best suit their needs. In this timely work, Mirko Tobias Schäfer delves deep into the realities of user participation, the forms it takes, and the popular discourse around new media. Drawing on extensive research into hacking culture, fan communities, and Web 2.0 applications, Schäfer offers a critical approach to the hype around user participation and exposes the blurred boundaries between industry-driven culture and the domain of the user.
About the Author
Mirko Tobias Schäfer is Associate Professor of AI, Data & Society at Utrecht University’s research area 'Governing the Digital Society' and the Department for Information and Computing Sciences. Mirko is co-founder and Sciences lead of the Data School. He studies the datafication of public management and engages in the development of responsible and accountable AI and data practices.
