Alternative and Activist New Media

* An overview of the ways in which different groups use new media to resist or confront dominant media culture. * Takes in some of the trendiest areas of digital media studies, such as participatory culture and interactivity, and open source design.

Alternative and Activist New Media provides a rich and accessible overview of the ways in which activists, artists, and citizen groups around the world use new media and information technologies to gain visibility and voice, present alternative or marginal views, share their own DIY information systems and content, and otherwise resist, talk back to, or confront dominant media culture. Today, a lively and contentious cycle of capture, cooptation, and subversion of information, content, and system design marks the relationship between the mainstream ‘center' and the interactive, participatory ‘edges' of media culture. Five principal forms of alternative and activist new media projects are introduced, including the characteristics that make them different from more conventional media forms and content. The book traces the historical roots of these projects in alternative media, social movements, and activist art, including analyses of key case studies and links to relevant electronic resources. Alternative and Activist New Media will be a useful addition to any course on new media and society, and essential for readers interested in new media activism.

Acknowledgements. Chapter 1: Introduction. Chapter 2: The Roots of Alternative and Activist New Media. Chapter 3: Monkeywrenching the Media Machine: Culture Jamming. Chapter 4: 'Hacking the New Out of the Old': Alternative Computing. Chapter 5: 'Breaking Through the Information Blockade': Participatory Journalism and Indymedia. Chapter 6: Getting People on the 'Street': Mediated Mobilization. Chapter 7: Challenging the Experts: Commons Knowledge. Chapter 8: New Media, Mediation. References.