new media and communication research: current epistemological approaches

8/8/2019 New Media and Communication Research: Current Epistemological Approaches

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New Media and Communication Research:Current Epistemological Approaches

Dr. Wail Ismail A. BarryUniversity of Sharjah - UAE

Abstract:

Presumably, communicat ion research was developed according t oa t imeline t hat focused on t he era of: modernizat ion, media eff ect s,globalizat ion and lat ely t he informat ion societ y. New ont ologicaland epist emological t erms have been coined t o help elaborat e t het heoret ical underpinnings of communicat ion research. The currentart icle seeks for examining t he development of communicat ionwit hin t he paradigm of t he new media. The researcher is going t ouse t he focus group t echnique t o address t he main t heme. Also, headopt s an int egrat ive t heoret ical framework t hat may explain t hediverse paradoxical communicat ion issues. Frank Webst er, ManuelCast ells, and ot her vet eran t heorist s paved t he way f or new avenuesof current epist emological approaches ut ilized in t he media genre.

Key Concept s:

Synergism - Public Sphere - Informat ion Societ y- Epist emology

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Introduction:

Actually, the epoch of digitization led to the development ofcommunicat ion research. Coincident ly, t he major issues of t he: use,recept ion, int egrat ion, and pract ices of new media have becomecommonly t ackled in t he scholarly communicat ion journals.

Crit ically, communicat ion scholars conceived of t he major changesall over t he globe while t heorizing on t he current st atus quo of t he

mass media research. For example, many new research t echniqueshave been lat ely incorporat ed in t he genre of online journalism.Similarly, new ont ological and epist emological t erms have beencoined t o help elaborat e t he t heoret ical underpinnings of broadcastcommunicat ion research.

To begin wit h, t he concept of t he new media can be dened as t hecombination of digital, computerized, networked informationand communicat ion that lead t o t he product ion of various t ypesof media cont ent . Since t he end of t he 20 t h Cent ury, a substant ialt ransformat ion occurred in t he communicat ion process due t o t herapid innovat ion and diff usion of t he applicat ions of t he new media.For example, web-based newspapers, podcast ing, You-t ube,st reaming videoset c are many manifest at ions of t he int roduct ionof new media in t he genre of mass media.

In light of the increasing pace of new media development,communicat ion scholars st art ed asking t he quest ion of how t orelat e bet ween communicat ion research in t he era of t radit ionalt heoret ical approaches and paradigms and t he epoch of digit izat ionwit h it s new realit ies?

Bryant and Miron (2004) sketched out a prole of masscommunication theory during 1956-2000. Indeed, they tried toassess mass communicat ion theory over t ime t ill t he end of t he


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t radit ional or new. Second, t he emergence of int erdisciplinarycommunicat ion research incorporat es new epist emologicalt hought s like t hat of Manuel Cast ells t he enlight enment t radit ionof crit ical emancipatory of social science. Third, t he creat ion ofJurgen Habermas concept of t he public sphere formulat es andcoins many of t he current epist emological concept ualizat ions of t hemedia genre. Fourt h, t he t ri-dimensional paradigm of Mark Post ers synergism, pluralism, and f ragment at ion seems funct ioning whilecommunicat ion scholars st udy t he eff ect s of new media. Finally,

t he concept of Pierre Bourdieus t he new shape of t he societ ycan be ut ilized epist emologically in int erpret ing t he socio-cult uralphenomenal aspect s of t he new media.

Kamhawi and Weaver (2 003) st udied mass communicat ion researcht rends f rom 19 80 t o 19 99. Their st udy analyzes 10 major research

journals in the eld of communication research. They found thatqualit at ive research met hods cont inued t o be less common t hanquant it at ive met hods during t he said period. The two aut hors werealso seeking f or ident ify ing t he common t heoret ical frameworks.

Crit ically, it can be maintained t hat t he development ofcommunicat ion research can be scholarly analyzed in t ermsof guring out these categories: the rationales, methods,epist emological aspect s and t he t heoret ical innovat ions. In t urn,

t his may represent a crucial quest ion regarding t he ef fect ivefunctionality of the same categories while applying them to thenew media st udies. The researcher, here, presumes t hat t heformulations of the information and the networked societiesin addition to the existence of the public sphere in the era ofglobalizat ion would denit ely lead t o reconguring t he nat ure ofcommunicat ion research. A major primary point appears subst ant ialt o be highlight ed here t hat revolves around t he applicabilit y of using

old research met hods in conduct ing current new media research.


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James Slevin (2000) maintained t hat new media has expended ata phenomenal rat e, converging diff erent modes of convent ionalcommunication being print or electronic into interactive (p: 1).To this effect, the development of mass media recently havetransformed the nature of communication in the society to theext ent t hat individuals experience event s out side t heir currentsocial environment . This is exemplied in t he t ransmission ofsat ellit e channels, t he use of t he Int ernet and so on. On due course,communication scholars nd themselves encountered with new

paradigms of research aspect s t hat may need t o t ake int o accountt he socio-cult ural and polit ical epist emic realit ies in t he 21 st . Cent ury.Slevin indicat ed t hree fact ors t hat help communicat ion scholarsin underst anding t he new media. The rst one is t he int eract ionalimpact of t he Int ernet and t his requires some crit ical analysis in t het heories of knowledge. The second is t he need f or underst anding t hesocio-cult ural and polit ical development exist ing in t he informat ionage because t his would help in underst anding and assessing t hedevelopment of mediat ed cont ent . The t hird is st udying new mediaas a cult ural phenomenon.

Thus, it can be st at ed t hat t he synergy of all t he said aspect s andcategories is governing t he process of ident ifying t he new epist emicapproaches of st udying t he new media. However, t here is st ill a needfor examining t he new research t ools t hat are current ly used in new

media communicat ion research. Ulla Carlsson (2 007) st udied t hest atus of media and mass communicat ion over t he past 50 years. Shefound t hat t he scholarly communicat ion research was developedsince t he 19 50 due t o t he major polit ical changes. In addit ion,Carlsson maint ained t hat t he epoch of t he 1980s represent ed the cult ural t urn during the last cent ury (p: 22 5) . During that t ime,communication research witnessed the incorporation of manyint erdisciplinary approaches in t he media st udies. Furt hermore,

she raised crit ical point s regarding t he informat ion societ y t hatwe are supposedly living in now. For example, t he aut hor asked


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communicat ion scholars t o examine t he use of new media andhow does t his relat e t o t he idea of social change and improving t heevery day life of individuals. Besides, she invest igat ed t he idea ofknowledge cult ivat ion of t he new media (p: 22 7) .

John B. Thompson (1994) assessed t he impact of new media ofcommunicat ion and came up wit h an argument . He cont endedt hat t he deployment of communicat ion media est ablishes newforms of int eract ion and new kinds of social relat ionships bet ween

individuals (p: 34). This can be seemingly applied to the currentdiscussed t opic. In t erms of t he epist emological development , onecan argue t hat t he t heory of symbolic int eract ion was developedlong t imes ago but it can st ill be used in analyzing many of t hehuman relat ionships. Thompson coined t hree t ypes of int eract ion:int erpersonal, mediat ed and quasi mediat ed. Typically, t his is whatnew media off ers t he online audience now. The Int ernet , You-Tube,Face Book, and all t ypes of social net working are clear examples ofnew pat t erns of int eract ivity wit h various levels. Indeed, Thompsonreferred in his art icle t o t he import ance of t he cult ural domain andt he public sphere in st udying the idea of int eract ivity.

Theory:

Based on many of t he previous argument s, I assume t hat st udying

t he epist emological approaches t hat may int erpret t he funct ionalit yof new media requires t he concept ualizat ion of communicat ionresearch from a knowledge-based prism that may offer criticsmany facet s of t heoret ical underpinnings. To t his eff ect , I foundwhile reviewing t he lit erat ure t hat t here are clear landmarks in t hehist ory of communicat ion research. They include t he following:uses and grat icat ions, t he post -indust rial societ y, int erpret at ionand hermeneut ics, demographics and psychographics, t he value

syst em, t he dif fusion of t he Int ernet .


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As a mat t er of fact , globalizat ion plays a role in explaining t he currentepist emological development s in t he genre of communicat ionresearch. Jan Ekecrant z ( 2007) argued t hat globalizat ion works ondeveloping new epist emologies and cross disciplinary approachesin t he media st udies (p: 169) . He asked how media research can beconduct ed in a global era. In addit ion, he quest ioned t he needs fornew approaches, paradigms, and methodologies that interpretcommunicat ion research in t he digit al era. Ekecrantzs quest ionsseem crucial when we face new research t ools and met hods

in t he media genre like: conversat ion analysis, diary research,et hnography, genre analysis, grounded t heory, historical approach,logle analysis, narrat ion analysis, net work analysis, qualit at iverecept ion analysis, usabilit y research, and visual cont ent analysis.

Act ually, f our core element s led t he researcher in t he current st udyt o examine t he need for hit t ing t he issue of epist emology in t he ageof new media. First , t he current development in communicat ionresearch met hods reect s on t he development of t he knowledgeit self . Second, t he nat ure of media audience changes over t he lastt wo decades wit h t he rapid dif fusion of t he Int ernet . Third, socialscience t heorist s and communicat ion scholars became int erest ed inexamining new avenues of cross disciplinary approaches t owards t hemedia st udies. Finally, t he emergence of a diversied and pluralist icmedia cont ent led t o t he inspect ion of t he epist emological resources

t hat may confer new t heoret ical rat ionales and concept ualizat ionsupon t he genre of communicat ion research.

Evident ly, many recent st udies showed t hat it sounds substant ialt o develop t he epist emological manipulat ion of media st udies inmany t racks like: t he audience, t he cont ent , t he met hod, and t heempiricism of research. In light of t his, (Philip Napoli, 2007) , (ShanLi, 20 07 ) , (Virginia Night ingale, 20 07 ), ( Wei He, 20 07), ( Waddick

Doyle, 20 07 ) , (Keren Weinblat t , 20 07 ) , (Lars Christ insen, 2007) ,


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and (Chun-Fu Chen, 20 07) handled new areas of research addressingt he said aspect s.

It is true that the introduction of new media is widely diffusedwhich marks t he real exist ence of what is called t he informat ionage. However, t his age is not only branded wit h t he diff usion ofcommunicat ion t echnologies. There is a need for underst anding itepistemologically.

Frank Webst er (2 00 5) st udied t he informat ion societ y wit h somesort of crit ique. He quest ioned t he idea of change in societ ies froma sociological point of view with special focus on t he virt ual societ y(p: 44 0) . He believed t hat bot h t echnology and t echnique are t het wo major drivers of t he informat ion societ y in which new media arefunct ioning. However, he crit icizes t he use of only t he t echnologicaldet erminist f ramework in st udying t he informat ion societ y. That whyWebst er referred t o Manuel Cast ells, a sociologist , who int roducednew epist emological approaches in st udying t he informat ion aget hat may include t he concept s of: change, polit ical engagement ,and st rat icat ion (p: 44 8) .

Furthermore, the thorough views of Webster went further toinclude t he cult ural dimension wit hin t he new approaches inherentin st udying t he informat ion age. Webst er cont ent ed t hat cult ure

emphasizes on t he mediat ion of relat ions and t he rearrangement sof new areas of research.

Thus, a major quest ion appeared import ant t o be raised aft erreviewing t he crit ical views of Webst er. Are t he t radit ional mediat heories of fering communicat ion scholars new avenues andhorizons t o st udy t he relat ionship bet ween t he audience and t henew media?


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Funct ionally, one can say t hat t he t radit ional t heoret ical approachesmay be of effective use in interpreting the relationship betweent he audience and t he new media. However, some media st udiesof fer t he scholars crucial quest ions t hat may raise t he need fordeveloping new epist emological approaches. For example, a wholeset of quest ions revolved around t he fo llowing issues:

- To what extent the Internet (which is a manifestation of thenew media) allow an advance in t he relat ionships bet ween media

organizat ions and individuals?- What is t he relat ionship bet ween t he Int ernet and fullling t he

social goals in a given societ y?- What types of new forms induced by the new media on both

society and t he individuals? I t hink t hat t he said quest ions represent t hree t ypes of issues relat edt o t he societ al eff ect of new media, t he social realit y of new moderndigit al society and t he idea of net working which is a common issuenow in communicat ion research. The following t able in the met hodsect ion explains t he possible development in communicat ionresearch in dif f erent elds over t he past t hree decades wit h specialreference t o

Method:

The researcher surveyed t he Journal of Communicat ion Researchst art ing t he rst issue in 19 74 t ill recent ly and could gure out t hemajor f ollowing out comes. Such a process is current ly called in thegenre of media st udies research ( Logle Server Analysis) .


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Table (1) - Journal of Communicat ion Research- SAGE Publicat ions19 74 -200 8 ( N= 17 9 art icles).

TheoryMethods &Approaches

Fields Covered

-Information Theory

-Agenda Setting

-Media Effects

-Political Communication

-Knowledge Gap

-Organization Theory

-Dependency Model

-Social Theory

-Social Construction of Reality

-Framing Theory

-Diffusion and Social Impacts

-Cultivation

-Communication Networks

-Globalization

-Computer Mediated Communication

-Communication and Development

-CognitiveDevelopment

-Experimental Studies

-Content Analysis

-Network Analysis

-TV News

-Film Preferences

-Message Content

-Audience Perception

-Opinion Formation

-Media Behaviour

-Information Processing

-Gender and Communication

-Communication In uence

-Internet Connectedness

-Connectedness and Community

-Communication and Social Class

-Socio-Cultural Evolution

-Audience Assessment

-Communication and Social Change

The previous t able shows the various t ypes of t heories, researcht echniques and topics covered. The issue of net working appearsevident in the last studies of communication research. This maydraw t he at t ent ion of scholars t o consider it as a new area of researchsince new media diffusion is sweeping t he human societ y nowadays.Furt hermore, t he above t able will lead us t o met hodologicalconsiderat ions.


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Based on the issues, argument s and ndings of t he lit erat ure,the researcher managed to use the focus group method togain knowledge about the topic of the current study. Its useis justied on the basis that the focus group technique offerssupposedly qualit y dat a t o be lat er employed. And t his is whatt he researcher is aft er. In addit ion, t he t opic discussed here doesnot need a quant it at ive met hod which is common in many of t hemass communication articles. The researcher conducted threesessions of t he focus group t echnique over t hree weeks wit h t he

at t endance of 1 6 communicat ion scholars each t ime. Each sessionfocused on a specic epist emological core point . For example, t herst empist emological it em focused on t he dualit y of globalizat ionand cult ure. Meanwhile, t he second addressed t he development ofmedia concept s and t he demanding eff ect of t he media concept slike t he public sphere. The nal concluded t he major epist emologicaland theoretical developments within the realms of both themet hodology and t he t echniques of mass media.

The major research quest ions of t he current st udy revolvedaround t he following:

1-Does communicat ion research need cont emporary innovat ion oft heory, met hod, and t echnique?

2-What is t he relat ionship bet ween t he dif fusion of new media andt he viabilit y of t he t radit ional epist emological and met hodologicalparadigms?

3-What are t he possible advancement s in communicat ion researchin t erms of knowledge accumulat ion, t heoret ical approaches, andnew research t ools?


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of new t heoret ical paradigms cant cope wit h t he increasingdevelopment of new media. Second, t here was a need for set t ingup an epist emological f ramework t hat explains t he possible ef f ect sof t he new media. Third, t he empirical media st udies seemed t o belacking because t hey need some more analyt ical knowledge whichraises the importance of the new epistemological approaches.Fourt h, it was found t hat some communicat ion scholars arguet hat new media are correlat ed wit h t he end of t he audience. Thisis because t he t erm audience it self was changed wit h t he wide

diffusion of new media. Act ually, t he audience is receiving andproducing t he media cont ent . Fift h, it was also found t hat t he massmedia t radit ional research t ools need t o be reconsidered t o copewit h new development s in t he media genre.

The new research t ools t hat t he researcher could come up wit hinclude:Table (2 )

Type of Research Tools & Methods:

- Conversation analysis- Diary analysis- Ethnography- Genre analysis- Historical approach- Logfle analysis

- Narration analysis- Network analysis- Observation analysis- Psychological measuring- Qualitative reception analysis- Reception analysis- Textual analysis- Usability research- View recording

- Visual content analysis


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Discussion:

The previous t able reveals the st ressing demand for incorporat ingnew pat t erns of knowledge and approaches of t heories incommunicat ion research. It was ment ioned before t hat t hreecore element s charact erize t he epist emological approachesof communicat ion research recent ly. They are t he dualit y ofglobalizat ion and t he cult ural aspect s of t he media, t he exist ence oft he public sphere, and t he int roduct ion of new research met hods to

cope wit h t he diff usion of t he new media.

In his edit ed book Media and Power, James Curran (2 002) sketchedout many approaches that can establish an epistemologicalframework. He contended that media analysis should be studiedt hrough t he examinat ion of cont ent , organizat ion, and audience.To t his effect , he proposed some approaches like t hese: pluralist ,conservat ive, f eminist , post modern t hat help in underst andingt he media (p: 1 66) . Crit ically, I presume t hat t hese approaches arebearing t he essence of knowledge accumulat ion since t hey reectthe historical development of the modern intellectual society.Curran explains more by maint aining t hat t he hist ory of t he mediacan be assessed and underst ood by ident ify ing ve posit ions:liberal, feminist , populist , libert arian, and ant hropological. Curransview does not contradict with what the researcher found in the

current st udy t hat culture plays a major role nowadays in st udyingnew media. Besides, globalizat ion int ermingles wit h culture t o t heext ent t hat led Curran t o highlight t he cultural globalizat ion t heoryas a new t heoret ical rat ionale which may be required in st udying t hemass media in t he informat ion age.

In anot her chapt er t it led New Revisionism in Media and Cult uralSt udies, Curran int roduced a new epist emological approach inst udying t he media. He named t his approach t he new revisionismwhich is mainly at t acking t he t radit ional premises and assumpt ions


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of t he media. In addit ion, he coined t he new epist eme t o crit iciset he ways of conceptualizing t he role of media and t he explanat oryf rameworks and paradigms in mass communicat ion research (p:105) . The researcher, here, agrees wit h Currans argument . This isbecause communicat ion scholars need t o set up and incorporat enew ont ological and epist emological paradigms t hat explain theact ions of t he new media.

It can be argued t hat t he use of new media leads communicat ion

scholars to make the utmost benet form other interdisciplinaryelds. This st udy f ound t hat t here is a new research met hod calledt he narrat ive analysis. Coincident ally, Michael Corneld (1992)explained t he origins of t he method as being drawn from non-deconstructionist literary criticism. The importance of this newresearch met hod is t hat it enables journalist s t o cover a cert aint opic wit h comprehending t he associat ed meanings. I assume t hatt his represent s a new st ep forward in t he media st udies because itt akes into account t he knowledge aspect which is t he corner stoneof epist emology.

I t hink t hat examining communicat ion research in t erms ofepist emology needs a sort of formulat ing a cognit ive frameworkt hat enables communicat ion scholars t o innovat e in t heorizing ont he media. In addit ion, t his f ramework would act as t he launch pad for

t hose scholars t o socially and cult urally underst and t he new media.

The ndings of the current study assert on the importance ofrenovat ing communicat ion research af t er t he rapid expansionof the new media. Similarly, Thomas Hanitzsch (2007) wasconcerned wit h proposing a new t heoret ical foundat ion on t hebasis of which syst emat ic and comparat ive research of journalismcult ures becomes feasible and meaningf ul. He did so by int roducing

t hree concept ualizat ions of journalism genre: inst it ut ional,epist emological, and et hical. Again, t his highlight s t he role of


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diff using new ideas in t he media genre t o cope wit h t he newapplicat ions of t he new media.

I found in t he current st udy t hat if t here is a need for coining newresearch met hods t hat would answer t he new quest ions andimperat ives of new media, t hen t here are needs for some crit eriat o be imposed by scholars. Clearly, t able (2 ) showed a whole setof newly int roduced research met hods that are current ly ut ilizedin many media st udies. I believe t hat t hese met hods need t he

epist emological f rameworks t hat int ellect ually originat e t hem int he media genre. As for t he crit eria, t hey need t o include t he point sof : crit icism, vericat ion, object ivity, cont emplat ion, cause-eff ect ,rat ionalism, experimentat ion and t he exact evidence. Hence, t hesecriteria supposedly offer communication scholars a chance toconduct media st udies wit h new epist emological aspect s. Act ually,the said criteria match with what the famous Arab theorist IbnKhaldoun once set as t he basics of t he int egrat ive met hodologicalapproach. In t he mean t ime, t he current st udy revealed t hat t he not ion of t he public sphere is a recurring epist emological f act or t hat direct sscholars in t he informat ion age. It was found t hat one of t he majorconcept s is t he social net working and net working analysis is alsoan import ant research met hod. I believe t hat bot h of t he t erms

are closely relat ed t o t he exist ence of t he new media. In addit ion,t hey int roduce scholars t o st udy t he public sphere wit h t he newimperat ives of t he informat ion age. This means for example t oexamine the issues of int eract ivit y, access, Int ernet diff usion,digit al divide, global news disseminat ion, t he digit al audienceand so on. I assume t hat many of t he t ackled ndings answer t hemajor research quest ions of t his st udy. I t ried t o present t he newresearch met hods and t echniques but st ill I have not answered yet

t he quest ion relat ed t o t he viabilit y of using t radit ional t heories innew media st udies. In t erms of t he funct ional approach, scholars


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can depend on t hese t radit ional underpinnings in describing andanalyzing t he major issues of media st udies. However, t he currentst udy calls for renovat ing t he media genre on bot h levels: t heoriesand t echniques. Indeed, t he possible epist emological view t hat t hecurrent st udy of fers references communicat ion research at t hreelevels: globalizat ion, cult ure, and t he public sphere. In addit ion, itcan be said t hat t he roles of media organizat ion, audience, and mediacont ent are det ermining t he shape of communicat ion researchcurrently.

Conclusion:

The current article has illustrated the role of epistemologicalapproaches in developing t he horizons of communicat ion researchin the information age. The ndings of the study hold threeimport ant implicat ions. First , t he research out comes are t he rstst ep in t he est ablishment of new epist emological approaches t hatillustrate the new possible theoretical paradigms that can helpcommunication scholars in examining the effects of new mediaempirically. Second, t he dualit y of t he globalizat ion model and t hecultural imperat ives reveals t heir demanding ef fect on t he scholarlycommunicat ion research as offering a chance for int erdisciplinaryapproaches t o be used in t he media st udies. Third, t he incorporat ionof the public sphere represents a core epistemological point in

communicat ion research nowadays due t o t he int erconnect ivit y oft he global societ y. Indeed, communicat ion scholars are encouragedt o t horoughly consider t he development of new research met hodsin communicat ion research.


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References:

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Cable TV Market : a case st udy of t he popular music channels. A paperpresent ed at t he IAMCR Annual Convent ion in St ockholm, Sweden,20 -25 July 200 8.Christ ensen, L. (2008) Performing Media Consumpt ion: anexperiment al view on media audiences. A paper presented at t heIAMCR Annual Convent ion in St ockholm, Sweden, 20-25 July 2 008.Corneld, M. ( 1992 . Jan.- Mar.) The Press and Polit ical Cont roversy:t he case for narrat ive analysis. Journal of Polit ical Communicat ion,9, (1) , pp: 47 -59.Curran, J. (2002) (Ed.) Media and Power. New York: Rout ledge.Doyle, W. (2 008) Dragging Audiences int o t he Polit ical Sphere: t hecase of It aly. A paper present ed at t he IAMCR Annual Convent ion inSt ockholm, Sweden, 20 -25 July 2 00 8 .Ekecrantz, J. (2 007) Media and Communicat ion St udies GoingGlobal. Nordic Review, Jubilee Issue, pp: 1 69-181 .

Hanit zsch, T. (2007. Nov.) Deconst ruct ing Journalism Cult ure:t oward a universal t heory. Journal of Communicat ion Theory, 17 ,(4 ), pp: 367 -385.He, W. (2008) Mob or Cit izen? The Rise of Net worked Users and it sImpact on China Societ y. A paper present ed at t he IAMCR AnnualConvent ion in St ockholm, Sweden, 20 -25 July 20 08 .Kamhawi, R. and Weaver, D. (2003. Spring) Mass Communicat ionResearch Trends from 1980-1999. Journalism & MassCommunicat ion Quart erly, 8 0, (1) , pp: 7-2 7 .


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Li, S. (2008) Border-Crossing and Media Consumpt ion: t heoryand empirical explorat ion. A paper present ed at t he IAMCR AnnualConvent ion in St ockholm, Sweden, 20 -25 July 20 08.Napoli, P. (2008) Toward a Model of Audience Evolut ion: newt echnologies and t he t ransformat ion of media audiences. A paperpresent ed at t he IAMCR Annual Convent ion in St ockholm, Sweden,20 -25 July 200 8.Night ingale, V. (2 008) Qualit at ive Audience Research: reect ionson cont emporary pract ise. A paper present ed at t he IAMCR Annual

Convent ion in St ockholm, Sweden, 20 -25 July 20 08.Slevin, J. (2000) The Int ernet and Societ y. UK: Polit y Press.Thompson, J. (1994) Social Theory and t he Media. ( In) Crowley,D. and Mit chell, D. (eds.) Communicat ion Theory Today. California:St anford Universit y Press.Webster, F. (2005. Dec.) Making Sense of the InformationAge: sociology and cult ural st udies. Journal of Informat ion,Communicat ion & Societ y, 8, ( 4 ), pp: 43 9-45 8 .Weinblat t , K. (2 008) Journalist s as Audiences of Popular Cult ure.A paper present ed at t he IAMCR Annual Convent ion in St ockholm,Sweden, 20 -25 July 2 008.

new media and communication research: current epistemological approaches

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