Participatory media includes practices that empower community members with knowledge and technical skills to create visual, audio, theatrical, musical and textual representations of social, political, economic and cultural issues affecting them, with the aim of stimulating dialogues, experiential learning and social change. Participatory media practices are closely linked to participatory action research (PAR), whose core aim is community empowerment for social change which was developed out of the need to liberate marginalised communities from oppressive socio-economic structures and empower them to influence positive social changes in their communities. By incorporating the participants into iterative processes of research, PAR goes beyond …show more content…
The, participatory media production processes feature collaboration between the lead researcher and other members of the community, who become the participants. Most decisions pertaining to production and circulation of the proposed media content are jointly made by the researchers and the participants. The cooperative and dialogical nature of participatory media practices has been known to ignite social change processes that have had effects on attitudes, behaviour, perception and policy change in communities. Participatory media is rooted in stimulating change processes by presenting issues in a manner that elicits constructive dialogues, counters stereotypes and enhances non-violent conflict resolution. Through participatory communication processes, marginalised parties are empowered to project their stories and create images or sounds that counter negative labels and affirm their commitment to peace, as was observed in project for homeless people in Australia in collaboration with …show more content…
I believe it can be a very important and powerful tool for change. In participatory media, the audience plays an active role in the process of collecting, creating and sharing media content. The processes involved in the visual methods are as important, if not more important, than the final products. Over the course of 2 months we worked with a pro-bono centre in Brisbane, Queensland to help them document the reality of homeless people in Australia. Video placed in the hands of the pro-bono centre acts as a catalyst and a mirror, initiating a process of community–led analysis, reflection and change. It fostered an open and trusting relationship between facilitators/researchers and participants giving a clear signal that they are in control and their knowledge matters. Although stories may not provide all the answers, I believe that what is gained through their telling is important. They connect us to issues and to one another through the power of a narrative and the experience of
In today’s world we tend to be caught up in our own personal bubbles. We don’t realize what goes on outside of our world and the myriad of subcultures that exist. The main problem with this is, once we become aware of the people that live outside of our culture and our norms, we tend to not understand their lifestyle and think that they are abnormal or psychotic. Through the various documentaries that we have explored this semester, I have experienced a change in emotion and thought. Every documentary we watched did not make sense to me. However, I realized that once you really dig deep and try to understand these people and their motives, you can uncover the way they affect our society.
National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH), is a network of different groups, individuals and organizations that are working together to eradicate homelessness, provide resources and protect their civil rights. NCH is doing a lot of work in providing awareness around the issue of homelessness. They do this through their four educational programs: Faces of Homelessness Speakers’ Bureau Panel Presentation, Organizing for Housing Justice, Homeless Challenge and Outreach Runs. They also organize many campaigns to engage the public in this issue. One project that stood out is their speaker’s bureau panel presentation in which the public are engaging in the dialogue of homelessness by hearing the stories of those that have experienced it. In Chapter 4 of When We Fight We Win, it talks a lot about the importance of storytelling and its importance for it creates a sense of understanding, healing, and commonality that unites people to build coalitions and stand in solidarity about it to address
According to Dr. Jean Louis Ntang Beb and Dr. Shantella Sherman, people are largely impacted by entertainment and different forms as media when they become more readily available and prominent in people’s lives. Postman refers to this as ‘media – metaphors’ that “classify the world for us, sequence it, frame it, enlarge it, reduce it, color it, [and] argue a case for what the world is like” (10). The media is able to do this because it knows it has a heavy influence in an individual's life. When an entity has knowledge of power, it is able to manipulate its delivery in anyway it wants. This is because at the end of the day, even if the information received is not practical, society will still end up talking about with
Campbell, Richard, Christopher R. Martin, Bettina Fabos, and Richard Campbell. Media & Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002. Print.
Participatory Action Research [PAR] is a “process concerned with developing practical knowing in the pursuit of worthwhile human purposes, grounded in a participatory worldview…. [and bringing] together action and reflection, theory and practice, in participation with others in the pursuit of practical solutions to issues of pressing concern to people, and more generally the flourishing of individual persons and communities”. (Reason & Bradbury, 2001). PAR is also context specific and strongly based
...showcases the diverse creations and opinions of non-experts. People use the institution as meeting grounds for dialogue around the content presented. Instead of being “about” something or “for” someone, participatory institutions are created and managed “with” visitors.” (Simon, 2010)
Up until recently television has been the most prominent medium of entertainment and information in our lives. Nothing could beat Saturday morning cartoons, the six o'clock news and zoning out from the world by the distractions of prime time sitcoms. It is all of these things and more that formed television into what was thought to be the ultimate entertainment medium, that is, up until now. Television in the twenty-first century is not the television our parents watched or in fact what we watched as children. Today’s generation are no longer satisfied with the traditional television experience. Today’s audience no longer has to follow the network’s predetermined schedule nor is television the one dimensional experience it used to be. Viewers no longer need to schedule a fixed time in order to gather information or watch their favourite show (Smith 5). They can record it with the push of the DVR (Digital Video Recording) button or watch it on a device and obtain background information via the Internet. In addition, viewers now have the opportunity to interact with, share, and produce their own material from their favourite show (5). In order to not lose the authenticity of television, media theorists have created transmedia. This new twist on television gives the user more control and more involvement than ever before. The concept has been termed as transmedia storytelling. The online journal Infoline defines transmedia storytelling in its January 2014 issue as “social, mobile, accessible and re-playable.” Originally coined in the 1990’s it was not until 2003 when Henry Jenkins, a professor of communications at the University of Southern California, wrote his article “Transmedia Storytelling” that the term began being ...
Media can be very selective when it comes to showing content to its viewers. Popular media outlets are not controlled by the people watching them but larger corporations which send extremely generous donations and sponsorships. While others settle for the typical agenda driven headlines some individuals take initiative to find the stories that really matter and provide a difference prospective on current events. The chapter written by Dr. Steve Presence called Reel News in the Digital Age: Framing Britain’s radical video activists brings to light the process and progression of video-activism and its correlation with technological advancements. In my opinion, this chapter was written very well with regards to the presence of factual writing
Croteau, D., Hoynes, W., & Milan, S. (2012). Media/society (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Parada, H., Barnoff, L., Moffatt, K., & Homan, M. S. (2011). Promoting Community Change: Making it Happen in the Real World. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Nelson Education. Retrieved January 31, 2014
It is through the implementation of advocacy strategies through technology integration that have allowed practice to evolve. According to Edwards and Hoefer (2010), communication technology that allows real-time updates and expansive reach include social networking sites, online journals or blogs, and video sharing technology, like YouTube. Social networking sites are online communities that built on social interactions and relationships. In these environments there are opportunities to share ideas that can lead to large scale changes. Similarly, online journals or blogs present idea sharing for those subscribing or interested in the topic selections. Video sharing adds a facet of sharing information that can complement or strengthen a perspective. According to Tetloff, Hitchcock, Battista, and Lowry (2014), videos can encourage partnership, engage a community, and inspire thinking that is not sculpted by a preconceived notion or faculty of negative influence. The use of these technologies provide a social media venue to share messages and connect people to advocate for change and ultimately affect how and what policies are adopted for local and large scale
Stereotypes is a big issue within the media industry. Representation within the media is to show someone or something, using a process of depicting, descripting and symbolization. Stereotypes, as described by Stuart Hall, is the “production of the meaning of the concepts in our minds through language which enables us to refer to either the ‘real’ world of objects, people or events, or indeed to imaginary worlds of fictional objects, people and events”. In his research Hall has suggested that there is two systems of representation, the first system regarding direct associations of events, people and objects that have certain mental representations and concepts that people have in their minds. Meaning is therefore
How mass media is using both Ideology and Popular Culture to develop societal expectations and social identities. This essay will look at how Ideology, Hegemony, and Popular Cultural Theory shape common values and expectations of society and media’s influence and compare and contrast differing approaches to understanding the relationship between media and society. The discussion will be contextualized through the use of gender roles and expectations, and how these theories develop and affect the female social identity.
If one asked “What is media literacy?” a majority of people would be puzzled. Some would say that it is the ‘written’ part of media that is not usually seen or a written layout of how media should be produced. The bulk of people would say they have no idea what media literacy is. People in today’s society should be informed about media literacy. Society should be informed of what media literacy exactly is and how it applies to the field of communications.
Perhaps the strongest foundation for media education rests in the fact that increased awareness of media transforms students from passive to active participants in society. Learners must be offered hands-on application opportunities to increase their own knowledge and enjoyment of the media. The integration of formal media analysis with media production is an essential constituent of media literacy. Creative ventures, such as television or radio production, the development of a rock video or song, photography classes, script-writing, web-page development, or hypertext projects should be made available for students' participation and perusal. Students must be exposed to various forms of communication before they can recognize logical disparities, determine the strength of an argument, evaluate mass media, and actively join our democratic society as partners.