New Media Technologies and User Empowerment

Jo Pierson is Professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel – Department of Communication Studies / SMIT (Studies on Media, Information and Telecommunication).Enid Mante-Meijer is emeritus Professor at Utrecht University – Utrecht School of Governance.Eugène Loos is Professor at the University of Amsterdam – Department of Communication Science / ASCoR (Amsterdam School of Communication Research).

• Contents: Yves Punie: Introduction: New Media Technologies and User Empowerment. Is there a Happy Ending? – Enid Mante-Meijer/Eugène Loos: Innovation and the Role of Push and Pull – Valerie Frissen/Mijke Slot: The Return of the Bricoleur: Redefining Media Business – Serge Proulx/Lorna Heaton: Forms of User Contribution in Online Communities: Mechanisms of Mutual Recognition between Contributors – Aphra Kerr/Stefano de Paoli/Christiano Storni: Rethinking the Role of Users in ICT Design: Reflections for the Internet – James Stewart/Laurence Claeys: Problems and Opportunities of Interdisciplinary Work Involving Users in Speculative Research for Innovation of Novel ICT Applications – Marinka Vangengck/Jo Pierson/Wendy Van den Broeck/Bram Lievens: User-Driven Innovation in the Case of Three-Dimensional Urban Environments – Mijke Slot: Web Roles Re-examined: Exploring User Roles in the Media Environment – Philip Ely/David Frohlich/Nicola Green: Uncertainty, Upheavals and Upgrades: Digital-DIY during Life-change – Eva K. Törnquist: In Search of Elks and Birds: Two Case Studies on the Creative Use of ICT in Sweden – Levente Szekely/Agnes Urban: Over the Innovators and Early Adopters: Incentives and Obstacles of Internet Usage – James Stewart/Richard Coyne/Penny Travlou/Mark Wright/Henrik Ekeus: The Memory Space and the Conference: Exploring Future Uses of Web2.0 and Mobile Internet through Design Interventions – Sanna Martilla/Kati Hyyppä/Kari-Hans Kommonen: Co-Design of a Software Toolkit for Media Practices: P2P-Fusion Case Study – Ike Picone: Mapping Users’ Motivations and Thresholds for Casually «Produsing» News – Stijn Bannier: The Musical Network 2.0 & 3.0 – Enid Mante-Meijer/Jo Pierson/Eugène Loos: Conclusion: Substantiating User Empowerment.

«This collection provides numerous and refreshing insights into the claims about the ever more proactive role of users of ICT. It is a welcome and useful contribution to the field.» (Leslie Haddon, LSE – London School of Economics and Political Sciences)«This work explores the rhetoric of user empowerment that surrounds Web 2.0. A very welcome addition to this field of research.» (Axel Bruns, author of ‘Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond: From Production to Produsage’)