History of Participatory Media

This insightful book explores the evolution of audience participation in media, offering a historical perspective on participatory media dynamics and their implications.

By offering a broad empirical approach to various modes of audience participation from the late eighteenth century to the present, History of Participatory Media provides fresh insights into the expanding field of media history. It challenges the prevailing rhetoric of newness that often shapes contemporary discussions surrounding participatory media. This book emphasizes the importance of understanding historical contexts when analyzing the evolution of audience engagement with media over time.

The author adopts a comprehensive view of media, examining a range of forms including the 19th-century press, early sound media, photography, exhibitions, television, and the internet. Through these historical case studies, History of Participatory Media delves into the complexities of audience participation, exploring key concepts related to the politics of involvement. The book argues for a theoretical framework that acknowledges the asymmetries in agency between media and users, thereby enriching our understanding of participatory dynamics.

Scholarly discussions on participatory media span multiple disciplines, yet they are frequently clouded by a rhetoric that presents such media as unprecedented and revolutionary. By scrutinizing the historiography linked to this perspective, History of Participatory Media engages in broader discussions that are relevant to the multidisciplinary nature of media history. This work ultimately invites readers to reconsider the historical significance of participatory media and its implications for contemporary practices.