Melissa Brough is a Doctoral Candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, a 2012 Russell Fellow and a 2010-2011 Fulbright grantee to Colombia. She works in the fields of participatory and digital media, communication for social change, visual and new media cultures, and social movements. She has collaborated with youth and community media projects including Mobile Voices (www.vozmob.net), FilmAid International (www.filmaid.org), Listen Up! (www.listenup.org) and the Chiapas Media Project (www.chiapasmediaproject.org). She received her B.A. in Development Studies and Modern Culture & Media from Brown University. Supervisors: Manuel Castells and Sarah Banet-Weiser
This chapter investigates the relationship between digital communication, participation and socia... more This chapter investigates the relationship between digital communication, participation and social change in Medellin, Colombia, a city that has been recognized across Latin America for its digital initiatives. Through two distinct case studies – a bottom-up, community media project, and a top-down, government initiative – the paper explores the social implications of using digital technologies to promote civic/political engagement and development, and interrogates the conflation of digital citizenship and participation. The ideologies, practices, and technology choices of these two initiatives reflect different conceptions of digital citizenship and participation, resulting in distinct communicative architectures and practices, all of which have fundamental implications for how we understand social change in the digital age. Contrasting them highlights four key dimensions for analysis to avoid technological determinism: horizontality, dialogical communication, openness, and autonomy.
In J. Servaes (Ed.) Technological Determinism and Social Change: Communication in a Tech-Mad World. Lexington Books.
"This article bridges scholarship on symbolic power, social movements, and media systems dependen... more "This article bridges scholarship on symbolic power, social movements, and media systems dependency (MSD) theory to analyze how transnational human rights advocates leverage Web 2.0 video networks. MSD offers a multilevel ecological model of power that is useful for analyzing how relationships of information and resource dependency may shift within media systems. The study adapts MSD to consider how human rights activists circulate online video content and how their symbolic power may be enhanced or constrained in the Web 2.0 media ecology. This MSD adaptation is applied to two prominent online video case studies: the grassroots social movement efforts during Burma’s “Saffron Revolution” and the Hub initiative of the U.S.-based, nonprofit
organization WITNESS. The study bridges cultural and structural analyses of Web 2.0, treating media platforms as imbricated within broader ecologies of dependency relations where symbolic power is wielded and challenged."
Available at: http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1423
Abstract—Fan activism lies at the intersection of cultural and political participation. The study... more Abstract—Fan activism lies at the intersection of cultural and political participation. The study of fan activism can inform our understanding of contemporary collective action more broadly. We suggest four key areas for analysis: the relationships between cultural and political participation; the tension between participation and resistance in the context of fan activism; affect and the role of content worlds in civic and political mobilization; and evaluation of the impacts of fan activism. By drawing on work across several disciplines including media studies and social movement literature, the analysis of fan activism through these lenses offers insights for theorizing contemporary cultures and modes of collective action.
Available at: http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/303/265
This chapter investigates the relationship between digital communication, participation and socia... more This chapter investigates the relationship between digital communication, participation and social change in Medellin, Colombia, a city that has been recognized across Latin America for its digital initiatives. Through two distinct case studies – a bottom-up, community media project, and a top-down, government initiative – the paper explores the social implications of using digital technologies to promote civic/political engagement and development, and interrogates the conflation of digital citizenship and participation. The ideologies, practices, and technology choices of these two initiatives reflect different conceptions of digital citizenship and participation, resulting in distinct communicative architectures and practices, all of which have fundamental implications for how we understand social change in the digital age. Contrasting them highlights four key dimensions for analysis to avoid technological determinism: horizontality, dialogical communication, openness, and autonomy.
In J. Servaes (Ed.) Technological Determinism and Social Change: Communication in a Tech-Mad World. Lexington Books.
"This article bridges scholarship on symbolic power, social movements, and media systems dependen... more "This article bridges scholarship on symbolic power, social movements, and media systems dependency (MSD) theory to analyze how transnational human rights advocates leverage Web 2.0 video networks. MSD offers a multilevel ecological model of power that is useful for analyzing how relationships of information and resource dependency may shift within media systems. The study adapts MSD to consider how human rights activists circulate online video content and how their symbolic power may be enhanced or constrained in the Web 2.0 media ecology. This MSD adaptation is applied to two prominent online video case studies: the grassroots social movement efforts during Burma’s “Saffron Revolution” and the Hub initiative of the U.S.-based, nonprofit
organization WITNESS. The study bridges cultural and structural analyses of Web 2.0, treating media platforms as imbricated within broader ecologies of dependency relations where symbolic power is wielded and challenged."
Available at: http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1423
Abstract—Fan activism lies at the intersection of cultural and political participation. The study... more Abstract—Fan activism lies at the intersection of cultural and political participation. The study of fan activism can inform our understanding of contemporary collective action more broadly. We suggest four key areas for analysis: the relationships between cultural and political participation; the tension between participation and resistance in the context of fan activism; affect and the role of content worlds in civic and political mobilization; and evaluation of the impacts of fan activism. By drawing on work across several disciplines including media studies and social movement literature, the analysis of fan activism through these lenses offers insights for theorizing contemporary cultures and modes of collective action.
Available at: http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/303/265
Uploads
Papers by Melissa Brough
In J. Servaes (Ed.) Technological Determinism and Social Change: Communication in a Tech-Mad World. Lexington Books.
organization WITNESS. The study bridges cultural and structural analyses of Web 2.0, treating media platforms as imbricated within broader ecologies of dependency relations where symbolic power is wielded and challenged."
Available at: http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1423
Available at: http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/303/265
In J. Servaes (Ed.) Technological Determinism and Social Change: Communication in a Tech-Mad World. Lexington Books.
organization WITNESS. The study bridges cultural and structural analyses of Web 2.0, treating media platforms as imbricated within broader ecologies of dependency relations where symbolic power is wielded and challenged."
Available at: http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1423
Available at: http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/303/265