The democratisation of journalism practice for a politically informed citizenry : the capacities of new media to engage citizens in public life - a case study

This research investigates the extent to which the World Wide Web and the participatory news media culture have contributed to the democratisation of journalism since 1997. It examined the different ways in which public service and commercial news media models use digital platforms to fulfil their obligations as members of the Fourth Estate. The research found that the digital environment provides news organisations with greater scope for transparency, interactivity, collaboration and social networking compared to the traditional print and broadcast platforms.

Design democratisation and its understandings through the meaning of the word “design” in Portuguese colonised countries

This paper explores the literature and analyses the different uses and understandings of the word “design” in Portuguese colonised countries, using Brazil as the main example. It investigates the relationship between the linguistic existence of terms to define and describe “design” as an activity and field, and the roles and perceptions of Design by the general society. It also addresses the effects that the lack of a proper translation causes on the local community from a cultural point of view. The current perception of Design in Portuguese colonies is associated to two main aspects: linguistic and historical. Both of them differentiate the countries taken into consideration from other countries that have a different background. The changes associated to the meaning of “design” throughout the years, caused a great impact on the perceptions that people have about Design. On the other hand, the development of Design has also influenced the changes on the meaning of the term, as a result of the legacy from the colonisation period and also as a characteristic of the Portuguese language. Design has developed and reached a level of excellence in Portuguese colonised countries that competes with the most traditional Design cultures in the world. However, this level of Design is enmeshed into an elite belonging to universities and specialised markets, therefore Design is not democratised. The ultimate aim of this study is to promote discussions on how to make the discourse surrounding this area more accessible to people from non-English speaking countries that do not have the word “design” in their local language.

The Clubcultures Reader: Readings in Popular Cultural Studies

This reader in popular cultural studies meets the need for an up-to-date collection of readings on contemporary youth cultures and youth music. Table of Content: Introduction: Reading Pop(ular) Cult(ural) Stud(ie)s: Steve Redhead. Part I: Theory I:. 1. Pearls and Swine: Intellectuals and the Mass Media: Simon Frith and Jon Savage. 2. Over-the-Counter Culture: Retheorising Resistance in Popular Culture: Beverly Best. Part II: Commentaries. 3. Organised Disorder: The Changing Space of the Record Shop: Will Straw. 4. Spatial Politics: A Gendered Sense of Place: Cressida Miles. 5. Let's All Have a Disco? Football, Popular Music and Democratisation: Adam Brown. 6. Rave Culture: Living Dream or Living Death?: Simon Reynolds. 7. Fear and Lothing in Wisconsin: Sarah Champion. 8. The House Sound of Chicago: Hillegonda Rietveld. 9. Cocaine Girls: Marek Kohn. 10. In the Supermarket of Style: Ted Polhemus. 11. Love Factory: The Sites, Practices and Media Relationships of Northern Soul: Kate Milestone. 12. DJ Culture: Dave Haslam. Plates: Patrick Henry. Part III: Theory II: . 13. The Post-Subculturalist: David Muggleton. 14. Reading Pop: The Press, the Scholar and the Consequences of Popular Cultural Studies: Steve Jones. 15. Re-placing Popular Culture: Lawrence Grossberg. Index.

User-designer collaboration during the early stage of the design process

As user involvement becomes a necessary part of the product development process, various ways of accessing users' latent needs have been developed and studied. Reviews of literatures in user involvement and product development have revealed that accessing users' latent needs and transferring them into design process could be facilitated by effectively implementing user-designer collaboration during the early stage of the design process. In this paper, various types of user-designer collaboration were observed and then distinct characteristics of user-designer collaboration were classified into three categories. 1) Passive objectivity, 2) workplace democratisation, and 3) shared contexts were observed as strategies for better user-designer collaboration, which have been employed in the area of user-centred design, user participatory design and design for experiencing. Based on the literature review, this paper proposed a basic collaboration mechanism between the users and the designers during the early stage of the design process and then discussed how its mechanism will help to describe the interactions between the users and the designers during the user involvement sessions.

User-generated content and the future of public broadcasting : a case study of the special broadcasting service

This thesis presents a case study of the Special Broadcasting Service documenting the broadcasting challenges posed by user-generated content initiatives and the work-place approach to strategies for participation. Using the action research method, the project findings reveal that limitations to resources and funding determined the scope for innovation and that the practice of executive editorial control over content was considered fundamental to fulfilling the responsibilities of the public service mandate. Media workers were overwhelmingly positive about the enhanced productive capabilities of the audience and willing to facilitate moderated interactions, however the effectiveness of these initiatives differed according to the level of skills required. This thesis demonstrates how participatory initiatives can enhance aspects of the public service remit relating to cultural diversity, the servicing of niche interests, and broader social representation, and help reinvigorate the relevance of public service broadcasting in the digitalised media sphere.

Settings for mental health care

The quality of the environment is important to client recovery and rehabilitation. • The preferred environment for the care of the mentally ill over time has been the home. • Environmental strategies in the care of the mentally ill became more important in the eighteenth century, when it was noticed that patients were more manageable in a pleasant environment. • Confinement of the mentally ill in large public asylums was largely an innovation of the nineteenth century. • The therapeutic milieu is a consciously organised environment. • Maxwell Jones in the United States and Thomas Main in the United Kingdom pioneered the concept of the hospital and environment as treatment tools. • The goals of the therapeutic milieu are containment, structure, support, involvement, validation, symptom management, and maintaining links with family and the community. • The principles on which the therapeutic milieu is based include: open communication, democratisation, reality confrontation, permissiveness, group cohesion and the multidisciplinary team. • The principle guiding the care of clients in the community is that of the least-restrictive alternative. • The therapeutic community residence is an environment that encourages the development of the client as a person in interaction with others, rather than as someone suffering from a health problem or disability. • The preferred contemporary setting for the provision of mental health care is the community. • The predominant form of service delivery in the community is case management, which has been found to be most effective for people with severe mental illnesses. • The principles of caring in the community are self-determination, normalisation, a focus on client strengths, and the community as a resource

Improving governance : practical methods and an analytic framework for the enhancement of democracy

Seven endemic governance problems are shown to be currently present in governments around the globe and at any level of government as well (for example municipal, federal). These problems have their roots traced back through more than two thousand years of political, specifically ‘democratic’, history. The evidence shows that accountability, transparency, corruption, representation, campaigning methods, constitutionalism and long-term goals were problematic for the ancient Athenians as well as modern international democratisation efforts encompassing every major global region. Why then, given the extended time period humans have had to deal with these problems, are they still present? At least part of the answer to this question is that philosophers, academics and NGOs as well as MNOs have only approached these endemic problems in a piecemeal manner with a skewed perspective on democracy. Their works have also been subject to the ebbs and flows of human history which essentially started and stopped periods of thinking. In order to approach the investigation of endemic problems in relation to democracy (as the overall quest of this thesis was to generate prescriptive results for the improvement of democratic government), it was necessary to delineate what exactly is being written about when using the term ‘democracy’. It is common knowledge that democracy has no one specific definition or practice, even though scholars and philosophers have been attempting to create a definition for generations. What is currently evident, is that scholars are not approaching democracy in an overly simplified manner (that is, it is government for the people, by the people) but, rather, are seeking the commonalities that democracies share, in other words, those items which are common to all things democratic. Following that specific line of investigation, the major practiced and theoretical versions of democracy were thematically analysed. After that, their themes were collapsed into larger categories, at which point the larger categories were comparatively analysed with the practiced and theoretical versions of democracy. Four democratic ‘particles’ (selecting officials, law, equality and communication) were seen to be present in all practiced and theoretical democratic styles. The democratic particles fused with a unique investigative perspective and in-depth political study created a solid conceptualisation of democracy. As such, it is argued that democracy is an ever-present element of any state government, ‘democratic’ or not, and the particles are the bodies which comprise the democratic element. Frequency- and proximity-based analyses showed that democratic particles are related to endemic problems in international democratisation discourse. The linkages between democratic particles and endemic problems were also evident during the thematic analysis as well historical review. This ultimately led to the viewpoint that if endemic problems are mitigated the act may improve democratic particles which might strengthen the element of democracy in the governing apparatus of any state. Such may actively minimise or wholly displace inefficient forms of government, leading to a government specifically tailored to the population it orders. Once the theoretical and empirical goals were attained, this thesis provided some prescriptive measures which government, civil society, academics, professionals and/or active citizens can use to mitigate endemic problems (in any country and at any level of government) so as to improve the human condition via better democratic government.

Urban informatics, ubiquitous computing and social media for healthy cities

The increasing ubiquity of digital technology, internet services and location-aware applications in our everyday lives allows for a seamless transitioning between the visible and the invisible infrastructure of cities: road systems, building complexes, information and communication technology, and people networks create a buzzing environment that is alive and exciting. Driven by curiosity, initiative and interdisciplinary exchange, the Urban Informatics Research Lab at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia, is an emerging cluster of people interested in research and development at the intersection of people, place and technology with a focus on cities, locative media and mobile technology. This paper introduces urban informatics as a transdisciplinary practice across people, place and technology that can aid local governments, urban designers and planners in creating responsive and inclusive urban spaces and nurturing healthy cities. Three challenges are being discussed. First, people, and the challenge of creativity explores the opportunities and challenges of urban informatics that can lead to the design and development of new tools, methods and applications fostering participation, the democratisation of knowledge, and new creative practices. Second, technology, and the challenge of innovation examines how urban informatics can be applied to support user-led innovation with a view to promote entrepreneurial ideas and creative industries. Third, place, and the challenge of engagement discusses the potential to establish places within cities that are dedicated to place-based applications of urban informatics with a view to deliver community and civic engagement strategies.

The digital Dark Ages : a retro-speculative history of possible futures

The Dark Ages are generally held to be a time of technological and intellectual stagnation in western development. But that is not necessarily the case. Indeed, from a certain perspective, nothing could be further from the truth. In this paper we draw historical comparisons, focusing especially on the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, between the technological and intellectual ruptures in Europe during the Dark Ages, and those of our current period. Our analysis is framed in part by Harold Innis’s2 notion of "knowledge monopolies". We give an overview of how these were affected by new media, new power struggles, and new intellectual debates that emerged in thirteenth and fourteenth century Europe. The historical salience of our focus may seem elusive. Our world has changed so much, and history seems to be an increasingly far-from-favoured method for understanding our own period and its future potentials. Yet our seemingly distant historical focus provides some surprising insights into the social dynamics that are at work today: the fracturing of established knowledge and power bases; the democratisation of certain "sacred" forms of communication and knowledge, and, conversely, the "sacrosanct" appropriation of certain vernacular forms; challenges and innovations in social and scientific method and thought; the emergence of social world-shattering media practices; struggles over control of vast networks of media and knowledge monopolies; and the enclosure of public discursive and social spaces for singular, manipulative purposes. The period between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries in Europe prefigured what we now call the Enlightenment, perhaps moreso than any other period before or after; it shaped what the Enlightenment was to become. We claim no knowledge of the future here. But in the "post-everything" society, where history is as much up for sale as it is for argument, we argue that our historical perspective provides a useful analogy for grasping the wider trends in the political economy of media, and for recognising clear and actual threats to the future of the public sphere in supposedly democratic societies.

The digital Dark Ages : a retro-speculative history of possible futures

The Dark Ages are generally held to be a time of technological and intellectual stagnation in western development. But that is not necessarily the case. Indeed, from a certain perspective, nothing could be further from the truth. In this paper we draw historical comparisons, focusing especially on the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, between the technological and intellectual ruptures in Europe during the Dark Ages, and those of our current period. Our analysis is framed in part by Harold Innis’s2 notion of "knowledge monopolies". We give an overview of how these were affected by new media, new power struggles, and new intellectual debates that emerged in thirteenth and fourteenth century Europe. The historical salience of our focus may seem elusive. Our world has changed so much, and history seems to be an increasingly far-from-favoured method for understanding our own period and its future potentials. Yet our seemingly distant historical focus provides some surprising insights into the social dynamics that are at work today: the fracturing of established knowledge and power bases; the democratisation of certain "sacred" forms of communication and knowledge, and, conversely, the "sacrosanct" appropriation of certain vernacular forms; challenges and innovations in social and scientific method and thought; the emergence of social world-shattering media practices; struggles over control of vast networks of media and knowledge monopolies; and the enclosure of public discursive and social spaces for singular, manipulative purposes. The period between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries in Europe prefigured what we now call the Enlightenment, perhaps moreso than any other period before or after; it shaped what the Enlightenment was to become. We claim no knowledge of the future here. But in the "post-everything" society, where history is as much up for sale as it is for argument, we argue that our historical perspective provides a useful analogy for grasping the wider trends in the political economy of media, and for recognising clear and actual threats to the future of the public sphere in supposedly democratic societies.

Diversity in action : minority group media and social change

My thesis consists of a creative work plus an exegesis. This exegesis uses case study research to investigate three Brisbane-based media organisations and the role they play in encouraging social inclusion and other positive social change for specific disadvantaged and stigmatised minority groups. Bailey, Cammaerts and Carpentier’s theoretical approach to alternative media forms the basis of this research. Bailey et al. (2008, p. 156) view alternative media organisations as having four important roles, two media-centred and two society-centred, which must all be considered to best understand them: • serving their communities • acting as an alternative to mainstream media discourses • promoting and advocating democratisation in the media and through the media in society • functioning as a crossroads in civil society. The first case study, about community radio station 4RPH (Radio for the Print Handicapped), centres on promoting social inclusion for people with a print disability through access to printed materials (primarily mainstream print media) in an audio format. The station also provides important opportunities for members of this group to produce media and, to a lesser extent, provides disability-specific information and discussions. The second case study, about gay print and online magazine Queensland Pride, focuses on promoting social inclusion and combating the discrimination and repression of people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Central issues include the representation (including sexualised representation) of a subculture and niche target market, and the impact of commercialisation on this free publication. The third case study, about community radio station 98.9FM, explores the promotion of social inclusion for peoples whose identity, cultures, issues, politics and contributions are often absent or misrepresented in the mainstream media. This radio station provides “a first level of service” (Meadows & van Vuuren, 1998, p. 104) to these people, but also informs and entertains those in the majority society. The findings of this research suggest that there are two key mechanisms that help these media organisations to effect social change: first, strengthening the minority community and serving its needs, and second, fostering connections with the broader society.

Urban Informatics Research and Insights for Libraries, Cultural Industries and Innovation Systems

Over less than a decade, we have witnessed a seismic shift in the way knowledge is produced and exchanged. This is opening up new opportunities for civic and community engagement, entrepreneurial behaviour, sustainability initiatives and creative practices. It also has the potential to create fresh challenges in areas of privacy, cyber-security and misuse of data and personal information. The field of urban informatics focuses on the use and impacts of digital media technology in urban environments. Urban informatics is a dynamic and cross-disciplinary area of inquiry that encapsulates social media, ubiquitous computing, mobile applications and location-based services. Its insights suggest the emergence of a new economic force with the potential for driving innovation, wealth and prosperity through technological advances, digital media and online networks that affect patterns of both social and economic development. Urban informatics explores the intersections between people, place and technology, and their implications for creativity, innovation and engagement. This paper examines how the key learnings from this field can be used to position creative and cultural institutions such as galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) to take advantage of the opportunities presented by these changing social and technological developments. This paper introduces the underlying principles, concepts and research areas of urban informatics, against the backdrop of modern knowledge economies. Both theoretical ideas and empirical examples are covered in this paper. The first part discusses three challenges: a. People, and the challenge of creativity: The paper explores the opportunities and challenges of urban informatics that can lead to the design and development of new tools, methods and applications fostering participation, the democratisation of knowledge, and new creative practices. b. Technology, and the challenge of innovation: The paper examines how urban informatics can be applied to support user-led innovation with a view to promoting entrepreneurial ideas and creative industries. c. Place, and the challenge of engagement: The paper discusses the potential to establish place-based applications of urban informatics, using the example of library spaces designed to deliver community and civic engagement strategies. The discussion of these challenges is illustrated by a review of projects as examples drawn from diverse fields such as urban computing, locative media, community activism, and sustainability initiatives. The second part of the paper introduces an empirically grounded case study that responds to these three challenges: The Edge, the Queensland Government’s Digital Culture Centre which is an initiative of the State Library of Queensland to explore the nexus of technology and culture in an urban environment. The paper not only explores the new role of libraries in the knowledge economy, but also how the application of urban informatics in prototype engagement spaces such as The Edge can provide transferable insights that can inform the design and development of responsive and inclusive new library spaces elsewhere. To set the scene and background, the paper begins by drawing the bigger picture and outlining some key characteristics of the knowledge economy and the role that the creative and cultural industries play in it, grasping new opportunities that can contribute to the prosperity of Australia.

WikiLeaks, journalism and the consequences of chaos

This article considers the impact of the WikiLeaks organisation in relation to debates around the defence of national security and free speech, global media citizenship and the emerging dynamics of the global public sphere. Building on the author’s previous work on political communication, journalism and ‘cultural chaos’, it explores the implications of WikiLeaks for emerging conceptions and definitions of journalism, and for the changing structure of media–politics power relations at the global level, against the background of three trends: democratisation, declining deference and digitalisation.

Re-framing fashion : from original and copy to adaptation

Partington notes that clothing produced by individual consumers through adaptation of patterns is contextualised as a watered down version of original couture. In its most reductive form, this notion characterises fashion as commercial and exploitative. Descriptors such as appropriation, imitation, copy and so forth have restricted the opportunity to understand fashion as a major global cultural form and institution. Therefore exploring and understanding the concept of adaptation will shift the attention from a superficial assessment of original versus imitation or copy to adaptation as a practice that provides a better framework for the understanding of designers’ and couturiers’ innovative practices and creativity, describing also the active engagement of consumers with fashion at the micro level. Adaptation can also provide a way to understand different historical shifts in the fashion system, from individual creative agency with home dressmaking and re-making to the explosion of the mass market and the consequent abandonment of such practices. Home dressmaking has been replaced by fashion remix of mass produced garments, a practice that thrives in our environment of globalised fast fashion. Thus this chapter suggests the need for a contextual requalification of concepts such as original, copy, imitation and copyright, and argues that these categories have been played against each other, but they are in fact interdependent. Today, big labels and conglomerates try to control knowledge and innovation through copyright, but, fashion escapes copyright because, in fashion, creativity is contextual. The institutionalisation of couture from 1868 served as a way to control knowledge about production processes in fashion; on the other hand, adaptation practices, often subversive, have been fundamental to the democratisation of fashion.

Making media participatory: Digital storytelling

From journalism to social media, the practices of our professional storytellers continue to evolve and change along with our storytelling institutions and their functions. Comprehending these developments is a key problem of contemporary media and cultural studies. Are the politics of representation giving way to a new progressive politics of self-representation and direct participation? Or, instead, are these new genres of self-representation part of a more general demotic turn in the function of contemporary media? Do media merely mediate or amplify cultural identities, or is media functionality becoming, closer to that of a translator or even an author of identities? How can we know if the changing actor-networks of storytelling contribute to a wider democratisation, a reshaping of the hierarchies of voice and agency? This chapter considers the place of one specific critical participatory media production practice known as 'digital storytelling’ in addressing these larger questions of socio-cultural change.