Access and Participatory Media

In modern Australia, the internet has become a key infrastructure and is integral to everyday life and digital literacy, however the skills and knowledge to participate meaningfully are unevenly distributed. There are a variety of physical and literal constraints that may hinder an individuals access and participation as well cultural and contextual restraints. Statistically, no group is more disadvantaged online than people with disabilities, who have the lowest levels of Internet usage of any group in the United States, and in most other nations as well (Jaeger, 2012)

In contemporary Australia the internet is now considered critical infrastructure. Therefore, decisions around design and content need to include everyone. Whilst it may be difficult for people with disabilities to access and participate on the internet, the rhetoric of participation culture facilitates artistic expression and civic expression, through the provision of strong support for individuals work. A prime example of this is ABC’s  ‘Ramp Up’ which was created as a place  “where people with disability could share ‘stories … truths and resources … to ramp up the conversation about disability in Australia’  (Ellis et.al, 2015:81) The site was successful in bringing disability to the mainstream media’s attention, and creating a vocal disability participatory community in Australia.

Participatory culture has been praised for the increased potential for marginalised audiences to engage with the wide range medias, in that it facilitates and reforms the way in which people with disabilities access and use the internet, social and mobile media to find and create new ways of participating. The shift from broadcasting media  to other forms has allowed greater opportunities for user-focused content and user-created content. with Jenkins emphasising  “the importance of accessibility and alternative formats to disability bloggers, who they argue are flourishing in the new media environment due to the opportunities offered by new ways ‘to author, communicate, consume, and exchange in their preferred medium or media’ (Jenkins et.al, 2015)

Blogging by people with disabilities has broadened opportunities for media circulation, exchange and audience response. (Ellis et.al, 2015:80) With the demise of spaces like ‘Ramp Up’ due to a lack of funding and the uproar that ensued, it can deduced that there is lack of access to the internet and other digital forms of literacy, where forms of media are not being designed for or catering to the needs of  people with disabilities despite the declining costs associated, thus this responsibility of culture production being delegated to individuals, through online action including crowdfunding and petitioning.

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Reference List:

Jenkins, H., Ito, M., & boyd, d. 2015, ‘Defining Participatory Culture’, in Participatory Culture in a Networked Era: A Conversation on Youth, Learning,Commerce, and Politics, Polity, Chapter 1.

Ellis, K and Goggin, G (2015): “Disability Media Participation: Opportunities, Obstacles and Politics”, Media International Australia, v154n1, pp 178-88.

Jaeger, P. 2015 Disability and the Internet: Confronting a Digital Divide, Lynne Rienner Publishers

Digital and Interactive Narrative

Individual media forms demand our specific attention, creators each communicate a unique narrative to the audience and provide a unique experience, thus media forms cannot be simply generalised. Catering to the audience and specificity is an increasingly relevant form of digital media. Digital literacy requires individuals to not only comprehend the message that is being communicated but to engage with it and contribute.

Digital media is constantly evolving, influencing the relationship between media forms and the type of communication methods they employ. A prime example of this is the adaption of communication methods in video games, where creators must adopt new techniques in order to effectively communicate a narrative whilst allowing for interaction which includes reciprocal action and agency. When analysing games as illustrative of media, as asserted by Abraham in ‘Halo and Music’: “freedom of choice for the player has a dramatic impact on the narrative methods that can be employed to tell a story” (Abraham, 2012: 62) Issues such as interaction complexity, and synchronicity —where vision and audio are used together to  convey meaning—must be considered.

Furthermore, integral to understanding digital literacy is  Marshall McLuhan’s concept that digital media is an extension of the human spirit (MacDonald, 2006: 530) , implies the potential to ‘extend, replace, enhance, accelerate and intensify’ ((Islas, O. 2016: 84) and highlights the considerable impact that media, particularly digital media has on lives of society.

He argues that the medium is far more important or influential than the message itself, in that what is being said doesn’t have the widespread impact on society that the medium does, such as the telephone: “It doesn’t much matter what you say on the telephone, but the fact that the telephone exists has been hugely impactful on society” (Islas, 2016: 86) In order to effectively analyse media forms and their impact on society, McLuhan employed the use of a ‘Tetrad’ method which evaluates what the medium enhances, make obsolete, retrieves what has been lost and what it reverses when pushed to the extreme. Robert Logan praised this method asserting that it: “can be applied without exception to all creations of man, whether they are tangible or intangible, abstract or concrete.” (Islas, O. 2016, p. 84).”

McLuhan’s research has stimulated the belief of media specificity; that digital literacy, the mediums employed to communicate and interact with one another should be analysed and evaluated as a tool of better understanding the lives of individuals and society.

Digital Inclusion

In a world where digital media is becoming increasingly popular and integral to everyday life with over 80 per cent of people in Australia over the age of 14 were using the internet in 2010. (Rennie et.al 2016:11) To comprehensively understand digital literacy, the impacts of a growing necessity such as the  must be considered, particularly in the context of those who do not have the resources and skills to access and utilise digital media, and the reasons for this lack of access.

In a sparsely populated Australia, a lack of digital literacy, is particularly evident between rural Indigenous communities, where the largest divide is between them and non-Aboriginal communities, a prime example of this being the readings anecdote, where the radio was the only means by which the residents of Mungalawurru could contact the outside world.  (Rennie et.al 2016:13)

To understand the importance of digital literacy, the effects of being digitally illiterate and excluded in modern day Australia need to be considered. With an increasing number of services being offered online, such as banking and the census, those without access are increasingly finding the simplest transactions hard to conduct. (Andreasson, 2015:108) The impact of this digital exclusion contribute to growing economic, social and cultural inequality, in that the internet can reduce the need for travel, provide individuals with autonomy regarding their own affairs and and providing contemporary indigenous communities ways to express culture, tradition and rituals.

In remote and indigenous communities, disadvantage is likely to influence the adoption of internet and other forms of digital media, however it is not necessarily the primary determinant of internet adoption (Andreasson, 2015:108 ), with group dynamic of communities and social and cultural factors having considerable influence on the development of attitudes towards technologies. This is described by media anthropologist Serper Tenhunen as ‘social logistics.’ (Rennie et.al 2016:16)

Forms of digital media are often heralded as being a fix to inequality and disadvantage  within Australian rural and Indigenous communities; effectively altering the way in which people live and providing solutions to issues such as education, low-socio economic status and health. this is not quite the case.  Anderson and Tracey asserted that services provided by the internet “are not changing the way people live their lives in a simple, straightforward manner, but are supporting and enhancing their existing lifestyles, whatever those lifestyles may be’.  (Anderson & Tracy,2002:141)

Australia’s deepening digital divide is a concerning issue, and the detriment it can have on those who are digitally illiterate, shapes the way in which inequality in Australia needs to be viewed, however the context and factors for digital exclusion need to be considered and the power digital media needs to be viewed realistically.

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Reference List:

Anderson, B. and Tracey, K. ’Digital Living: The Impact (or Otherwise) of the Internet on Everday British Life’ in C. Haythornthwaite and B. Wellman (eds) The Internet in Everyday Life, Malden, MA, USA: Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2002, p. 141.

Andreasson, K (2015): Digital Divides: The New Challenges and Opportunities of e-Inclusion, CRC Press,

Rennie, E., Hogan, E., Gregory, R. Crouch, R., Wright, A. & Thomas, J. 2016, ‘Introduction’, Internet on the Outstation: The Digital Divide and Remote Aboriginal Communities, pp.13-27.

The Uses of Digital Literacy

Richard Hoggart Photo: GRANVILLE DAVIES/WRITER PICTURES

Digital Literacy is the ability to understand and communicate effectively, and digital forms of media have allowed and facilitated individuals to express their opinions and values, with Hoggart asserting that we must take “seriously the means people use to express themselves as well as the media they like and trust to tell them things” (Hartley, 2009: 4) as a way of understanding society.

Hoggart’s interest in literacy was in what ordinary people did with forms of media in their everyday life, rather than what was needed as part for ‘business, civic or religious purposes.’ His primary focus was on the values of working class communities, compared to commercial and entertainment industry.  (Hartley, 2009: 4) This helps shape understandings of digital literacy, as  it provides an insight into the way individuals choose to live their lives and communicate. Through assessing an individuals digital literacy and the way in which they communicate, individuals and communities can be understood , with this study informing: “what language and common assumptions about life they shared, in speech and action, what social attitudes informed their daily practice, what moral categories they deployed, can be understood.” (Hall, 2007:43) This is demonstrated in Hoggart’s assessment of the novel ‘Lady Chatterly’s Lover’ where he deems the the content and the language used to be normal and of importance to the working class and a fundamental part of who they are as a society.

This concept that digital literacy is the ability to understand and engage with digital content helps to shape understanding digital literacy as being not as straightforward and needs attention and education.  Digital literacy is only realised in and through social practice and often assumes different forms in social and cultural contexts. According to Buckingham, when studying literacy it is not simply an ‘isolated encounter; between reader and text, interpersonal context must be taken into account to understand the meaning and impact it has within broader social contexts.(Buckingham, 2007:44)

Whilst digital literacy is important in understanding society, not all individuals have access to the same resources and the same level of digital literacy, evidenced in the difference between the working and upper classes. The notion that digital literacy is simply being able to understanding digital content has also been challenged by Hartley where he asserts: “Not enough critical attention has been paid to what ordinary people need to do in order to attain a level of digital literacy appropriate for producing as well as consuming digital content” (Hartley, 2009: 12)

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Reference List:

Buckingham, D. (2007) “Digital Media Literacies: rethinking media education in the age of the Internet”  Research in Comparative and International Education, Volume 2, pp 42-45.

Hall, Stuart (2007): “Richard Hoggart, The Uses of Literacy and the cultural turn” in International Journal of Cultural Studies, v10n1, pp 39-49.

Hartley, J (2009): “Repurposing Literacy”, in The Uses of Digital Literacy, Queensland University Press, Qld, pp.1-38.