ARE WE ALL PRODUSERS NOW?

Abstract

This article offers a critical analysis of the relevance of convergence culture to the field of media audience study, opening up new ways to see audiences as active cultural producers. At the same time, I argue that the enthusiastic embrace of Web 2.0 practices as the new model of audience activity may hinder a full understanding not only of the importance of non-web-based audience practices, especially in non-Western countries, but also of the continuing power of media industries.

Keywords:

• audience practices
• media power
• Web 2.0
• convergence

Notes

1. Exactly who or what ‘the audience’ is has been hotly debated for decades, with conceptions of the audience ranging from a definite, static group of people ‘receiving’ a message, to arguments that there are no distinct, identifiable audiences, because we all interact with media in continually shifting ways. I certainly place myself at the latter end of the continuum (see Bird 2003). Nevertheless, until someone comes up with a better term, I find that ‘audience’ and ‘audience practices’ are still useful ways to discuss engagements with the media.