Special issue on "the responsibility of knowledge" - "The values of critique and social relevance in research on communication and culture" (WG2 COST TATS ACTION)

New publication of COST Action Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies (WG2)

Special issue on
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF KNOWLEDGE
The values of critique and social relevance in research on communication and culture

Edited by
Maria Francesca Murru, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano
Nico Carpentier, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels (VUB) and Charles University)
Published in:
Comunicazioni Sociali - Rivista di media, spettacolo e studi culturali
Anno XXXV Nuova serie
N. 3, September – December 2013

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http://www.vponline.it/riviste/comunicazionisociali/2013/3/

This special issue stems from the debate that has been developed within the Cost Action ISO906 Transforming Audiences Transforming Societies (TATS) around the policy implications of scientific knowledge produced in the field of audience research. One of the main objectives of the research activities of the TATS Cost Action is to produce rigorous empirical knowledge on the more challenging topics of current mediascapes, as media participation, determining trustworthiness, vulnerable or gullible audience segments, which is also beneficial to all these stakeholders.
This purpose has been achieved through the development of a multi-faceted debate ? comprising both theoretical conceptualizations and dialogical exchanges with stakeholders ? on the kind and value of the contributions that academia as a critical and semi-autonomous field can make to external societal arenas, like civil society, institutions and areas of production.

The issue on "The Responsibility of Knowledge" has been conceived as both a place to collect the reflections on social relevance of participatory theory (conducted within the Working Group 2 on "Audience interactivity and Participation" of TATS) and a chance to relaunch the debate addressing a wider public which is interested in the topics of academia’s social relevance and critical role but has not been involved before in TATS’ research activities. This two-folded rationale is reflected in the special issue’s structure that is divided into two sections. The first one, entitled ‘‘Building bridges’’, collects papers produced and discussed by TATS researchers. The second one, ‘‘Critique and social relevance’’, includes papers that were collected through an open call which asked for contributions analysing how the values of critique and social relevance are currently deployed in the contemporary research of communication and culture.

Table of contents

Section 1
Building bridges

Free to download from:
http://www.vponline.it/riviste/comunicazionisociali/2013/3/

1. Introduction
Nico Carpentier and Maria Francesca Murru

2. The social relevance of participatory theory
Nico Carpentier and Peter Dahlgren

3. Media, Democracy and Civil Society: the challenge of digital media
Peter Lunt

4. Emerging topics in the research on digital audiences and participation. An agenda for increasing research efforts
Francesca Pasquali, José-Manuel Noguera Vivo and Mélanie Bourdaa

5. Stakeholders and academia: Different modes of interaction
Manuel José Damásio and Paula Cordeiro

Section 2
Critique and social relevance

1. The work of public engagement
Nick Mahony

2. Analizzare la comunicazione nei social network tra ricerca accademica e amministrativa. Riflessioni sull'etica della ricerca
Elisabetta Locatelli

3. Dal Logos all'Eros: viaggio di (sola) andata-
Quando la ricerca sociale sui legami "si fa" generativa
Cristiana Ottaviano

4. Cambodian memories: images from within the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
Rob Leurs

5. Cronaca di un modello culturale: la "participatory culture" al vaglio degli stakeholder
Giulia Bertone, Domenico Morreale, Gabriella Taddeo

6. La comunicazione del non profit: un campo da esplorare. Evidenze da tre studi di caso
Gaia Peruzzi

For more publications of WG2 of the COST Action Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies, please visit: http://www.cost-transforming-audiences.eu/node/303