Participatory and Networked Cultures

Abstract

Participatory and networked cultures are closely connected with the history and development of do-it-yourself (DIY) cultures. The concept of participatory culture has been developed in cultural studies, communication and media studies, art history, gender studies, media pedagogy, and social movement research. Interdisciplinary research has focused on processes and practices of participation, alternative media production, digital media, online communities, and fandom as well as on pedagogical implications. Alternative media and participatory cultural practices are also of seminal importance to the production of critical publics and can be seen as part of networked cultures. In recent decades, scholars have offered a range of conceptual frameworks to define the different purposes, processes, and contents of participatory and networked cultures and cultures of participation. Various queer-feminist analyses have taken participatory practices in alternative media and cultural production and their networks into account, as well as DIY informal learning spaces and collective actions online (such as zines, Ladyfest, and blogs). While participatory cultures can be conceptualized as a politicized vision of a more democratic, emancipatory world, where more people have access to the means of knowledge and cultural production, it is important not to implicitly associate them with progressive and resistant cultures—and at the same time, to consider the commercial and capitalist forms of cultural production.