The Civic Organization And The Digital Citizen: Communicating Engagement In A Networked Age (Oxford Studies In Digital Politics)

The book theorizes two paradigms of information style: a dutiful style, which was rooted in the society, communication system and citizen norms of the modern era, and an actualizing style, which constitutes the set of information practices and expectations of the young citizens of late modernity for whom interactive digital media are the norm. Hypothesizing that civil society institutions have difficulty adapting to the norms and practices of the actualizing information style, two empirical studies apply the dutiful/actualizing framework to innovative content analyses of organizations' online communications-on their websites, and through Facebook. Results demonstrate that with intriguing exceptions, most major civil society organizations use digital media more in line with dutiful information norms than actualizing ones: they tend to broadcast strategic messages to an audience of receivers, rather than encouraging participation or exchange among an active set of participants.

• | Author: Chris Wells
• | Publisher: Oxford University Press
• | Publication Date: Jul 14, 2015
• | Number of Pages: 272 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 0190203625
• | ISBN-13: 9780190203627