Exploring and Conceptualizing Empowerment: Introduction to the Special Issue on Media and Empowerment

Abstract

Even though the issue of empowerment has been widely discussed in debates across various research fields, public policy forums, and media, it is an ambiguous concept. This special issue focuses on empowerment and new media. The articles in this special issue, which advance innovative theoretical and methodological frameworks, focus on the theoretical grounding of the notion of empowerment; empirical research on structures and processes that shape the emergence of individual and collective empowerment within online communities; the value of Amartya Sen's capability approach for community informatics research; and development of a methodological framework for measuring and monitoring the dynamics of digital inequalities correctly.

Keywords:

• empowerment
• power
• media
• ICT
• inequality
• digital inequalities