The Age of Journalistic Change and the Wisdom of the Crowds: Pamphlets, Almanacs, Newspapers and the Making of News (Brussels, 1780 – 1900) (FWOAL550)

Alongside the previous problematic features within the research domain of participatory journalism, a considerable lack of historical contextualization can be found. Carpentier & De Cleen conclude the following: participatory journalism and new media studies are embedded in a discourse of novelty that withdraws scholarly attention from the convergences that can arise in a diachronic and media comparative perspective (Carpentier & De Cleen, 2008: 6). Simultaneously, it has to be recognized that the research domain has largely contributed to theoretical innovations that cannot be ignored. The locus of this proposal lies in this field of tension. One the one hand the recent debate about the blogosphere and the ways it structurally altered traditional forms of news production, news content and consumption generates some important questions and insights for historical research. By doing research on the 19th foregoer of UGC, on the other hand, this proposal wants to transcend the lack of historical contextualization. Its aim is to see to which extent audience participation was playing a key role in the 19th century media production.

Keywords:Information Technologies, Communication Policy, Science Communication, New Media, Cultural theory and policy, Research On Media Effects, Ethnicity, Privacy

Disciplines:Media and communications