Towards a Model of Interactivity in Alternative Media: A Multilevel Analysis of Audiences and Producers in a New Social Movement Network

Abstract

This research utilized multilevel analysis to explore interactive alternative media production in a new social movement network. Interviews with audiences, local producers, and global producers provide evidence of interactivity between local audiences and local producers and between local producers and global producers. The local audiences provided encouragement to local producers through face-to-face interactions that aided in the establishment of organizational support for the local producers but acted as a discursive closure that blinded local producers to potential problems with their alternative media. The global producers revealed that they received content-oriented interactions from audiences via e-mail, which corresponded with data collected from the local producers who claimed to interact with global producers via e-mail. The findings establish a preliminary model of interactivity in alternative media production that links research concerning new social movement networks and alternative media and builds on research concerning the decentralized structure of new social movement networks.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study is part of a larger dissertation written by Joshua Atkinson and was presented on the top paper panel for the Mass Communication Division at the 2004 National Communication Association Convention in Chicago. I give special thanks to the dissertation chair, Dr. Debbie S. Dougherty (University of Missouri-Columbia). I also thank Dr. R. Lance Holbert (Ohio State University) for his help with multilevel analysis, and Dr. Sandra L. Faulkner (Bowling Green State University) for her editing help.

Notes

¹Names of people or organizations have been changed to protect the anonymity of participants.

²Central City is a large city in the United States Midwest with a population of 90,000; the population of the metropolitan area was 150,000. The student population of Midwest State University was around 25,000.

³For a complete discussion about the functions of alternative media and the formation of protests in Central City, see Atkinson and Dougherty (2006).

⁴The following is information about participants referenced in this article: Activist 6 was a liaison between Peace Alliance and a radical student organization. She helped the two organizations coordinate their activities at protests. Activist 10 was an Indian American female member of the “Radical Cheerleading Squad” who attended anti-Iraq war rallies. Activist 12 was a faculty member at Midwest State University. He had traveled with various missionary groups to do social justice work in Central America. Activist 17 was a Peace Alliance volunteer and worked part time at Center State. Activist 19 was employed by a local social justice-oriented community group to organize demonstrations and community activities. Activist 22 was described as the leader of Peace Alliance. He organized protests, edited the Peace Alliance Observer, and produced a weekly radio program. Activist 23 helped Activist 22 to run Peace Alliance. Within that organization, she worked to organize demonstrations and edited the Peace Alliance Observer. Activist 24 worked in the Midwest State University library, was a member of the Peace Alliance steering committee, and wrote articles for the Peace Alliance Observer. He ran for public office as a Green Party candidate in two elections. Activist 25 was a member of the Peace Alliance steering committee who volunteered to teach a community class about gender at the Social Justice Cubbyhole. She also wrote articles for the Peace Alliance Observer.

⁵The following is information about the global producers in the research: Global Producer 1 wrote for magazines such as The Nation, Z Magazine, and the Internet site Commondreams.org and engaged in discussions on Democracy Now! radio. Global Producer 2 wrote for Internet sources such as Alternet, Commondreams.org, Counterpunch, and ZNet. Global Producer 3 published articles in New Left Review and the UK Guardian and wrote articles for Web sites such as Commondreams.org and Dissidentvoice.org. Global Producer 4 wrote articles for magazines such as Mother Jones and The Nation and for Web sites such as Opendemocracy.net, Salon.com, and TomPaine.com. Global Producer 5 had written two books that were widely recognized by the social justice activists in Central City. Global Producer 6 was the Web administrator of the Citizen Engagement Web site, a nonprofit organization dedicated to facilitating democracy by bolstering the public's capacities for self-governance. He had written articles for Web sites such as Alternet, Commondreams.org, and TomPaine.com. Global Producer 7 was the Web administrator for Worldwide Outreach, a nonprofit organization that provided information to activists concerned about the environment and social justice. He had written articles for Commondreams.org.