Moving convergence culture towards cultural intermediation: social media and cultural inclusion

Abstract

Raymond Williams noted culture is specific to each society, where ‘the making of a society is the finding of common meanings and direction’. Cultural studies provide a foundation for an array of emerging research areas that seek to explore those meanings and directions, such as convergence culture. Recent humanities scholarship has called for researchers to move beyond the marvel of convergence culture, with its potential for increased social inclusion and cultural diversity, to a more nuanced understanding of networked participation. This paper uses empirical research data gathered from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to argue that embedded cultural industries research can contribute, through the cultural intermediation framework, to cultural studies and the political, economic, and practice-based strengths of the creative industries. It also argues that in a contemporary institutional social media environment, cultural intermediation is a useful framework to understand convergent media practices.

Acknowledgements

Chris Wilson, Ellie Rennie, Jenny Kennedy, Gerard Goggin

Notes

1. ‘Fat Cow Motel was a unique cross-media experience which combined analogue TV, interactive TV, the web, email, voicemail and SMS on a scale which had never before been attempted in Australia’ (ABC 2014c).

2. ‘Established in 1995, triple j Unearthed has kicked off the careers of thousands of musicians. With over 99,000 tracks, it’s also a great place to discover your new favourite band’ (ABC 2014b).

3. ‘All across Australia, people are creating great videos, photos and written stories to share on the ABC. ABC Open brings these stories together for you to explore’ (ABC 2012).

4. ‘Heywire puts young Australians at the centre of the conversations that shape their communities. The ABC has run the annual regional youth project in partnership with the Australian Government since 1998’ (ABC 2013).

5. Radio National (RN) is one of the five national radio networks of the ABC. ‘RN’s vision and purpose is to nurture the intellectual and cultural life of this country, and to be a vital element of the contemporary Australian conversation’ (ABC 2014a).