Hearing Ordinary Voices: Cultural Studies, Vernacular Creativity and Digital Storytelling
(2006) Hearing Ordinary Voices: Cultural Studies, Vernacular Creativity and Digital Storytelling. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies 20(2):pp. 201-214.
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Abstract
Everyday or amateur cultural and media production has long been a site of both optimism and contestation for cultural studies, but there is now more justification than ever to focus on it. On the one hand, the figure of the 'creative consumer' is seen as both a key to the new economy and a major potential disruption to the dominance of commercial media. On the other, the notion of a 'digital divide' based on hard access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) has shifted to concerns around social inclusion and the unevenness of access to 'voice' in the global mediascape. Indeed, Sonia Livingstone has recently argued that attention to content creation as a key area of literacy is 'crucial to the democratic agenda', positioning new media users 'not merely as consumers but also as citizens'. In this article, I argue that recent developments in the uses of new media have ethical and methodological implications for cultural studies, highlighting some of the discipline’s persistent and unresolved tensions around popular culture, cultural agency and cultural value. I then use the example of digital storytelling to speculate about the democratic potential of a participatory cultural studies approach to what I call ‘vernacular creativity’.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Keywords: | cultural studies; vernacular creativity; everyday life; new media; digital storytelling; ordinary; community media |
| Subjects: | 400000 Journalism, Librarianship and Curatorial Studies > 400100 Journalism, Communication and Media > 400104 Communication and Media Studies 420000 Language and Culture > 420300 Cultural Studies > 420304 Screen and Media Culture 420000 Language and Culture > 420300 Cultural Studies > 420307 Consumption and Everyday Life |
| ID Code: | 6243 |
| Deposited By: | Burgess, Jean |
| Deposited On: | 16 February 2007 |
| Alternative Locations: | http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1080/10304310600641737 |
| Copyright Owner: | Copyright 2006 Taylor & Francis |
| Copyright Statement: | First published in Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies 20(2):pp. 201-214. |