Assessing the State of Participatory Media, a forum at USC Annenberg

Berkman’s Media Re:public project, funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, is undertaking an assessment of the state of the field of participatory media within the overall news and information environment. The research initiative will examine historical developments from a forward-looking perspective, with the goal of informing future research, policy-making and other interventions. Based on input from a diverse group of media practitioners, scholars and non-profit actors, Media Re:public will develop:

• a typology of participatory media forms, from new entities large and small to the expanding range of projects within traditional news media entities;
• case studies of representative projects, to explore the utility of the framework;
• an “issues map” of cross-cutting questions aimed at informing future research ; and
• an initial assessment of methods to measure and visualize the impact(s) of participatory media.

The March 27-28 forum at the USC Annenberg School for Communication will bring together journalists and executives from both traditional and new media together with academic and other researchers to give feedback on the research in progress and discuss possible collaborative projects going forward. The forum opens on the evening of Thursday, March 27th with a talk and a reception for all participants and continues all day Friday, March 28th. Presentations and breakout groups on issues ranging from international context to diversity to defining success and measuring impact will be designed to stimulate active discussion and participation. Participants will be invited to propose themes for additional small group discussions.