| 1. |
- Andersson Schwarz, Jonas, 1978-, et al.
(author)
-
Introducing the panspectric challenge : A reconfiguration of regulatory values in a multiplatform media landscape
- 2013
-
In: Central European Journal of Communication. - Wroclaw, Polen. - 1899-5101. ; 6:2, s. 219-233
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Taking Sweden as a case study, the role of public service broadcasting (PSB) is explored, with a focus on issues of data retention and innovation that accompany web distribution. The issue of predicting audience preferences by means of data retention is investigated, and the related problem of organizational autonomy when interacting with commercial actors in the digital sphere. We hypothesize that previous tendencies towards paternalism might be equally supplemented by tendencies towards so-called “panspectric” surveillance and tracking, given a technological environment where such practices are increasingly common. We argue that the absence of advertising partially helps keep these broadcasters from panspectric temptation. Still, practices such as Facebook integration entail a panspectric element. We ask whether the potential increase in the efficacy of targeting audiences promised by panspectric practices might be offset by its negative impact on civic accountability. Is there a possibility for a “benign,” democratically accountable panspectrocism?
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Asai, Ryoko
(author)
-
Social Media Supporting Democratic Dialogue
- 2013
-
In: Ambiguous Technologies. - Lisbon : Autónoma University. ; , s. 36-43
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The term of “social media” appears in newspapers and magazines everyday and the huge number of people use social media actively in daily life. Nowadays, in the highly Information and Communication Technology (ICT) developed country Japan, Japanese people enroll in social media and evolve a new way of communicating with others based on the “virtual” social distance between them. Among social media, Twitter has been focusing on its strong power as the tool for political change recent years. While Twitter has of-expressed problems as well as the “traditional” social media, it is characterized by the limited number of characters, strong propagation and optional reciprocity. Those characteristics stimulate people’s communication online and bring about opportunities for social interaction and democratic dialogue. On the other hand, in the deluge of information, we need to nurture skills to utilize critical and rational way of thinking through dialogue not only between others also between themselves internally. This study explores characteristics of social media and differences between “traditional” social media and Twitter, and how the difference affects people’s information behavior in Japan.
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| 4. |
- Hedegaard, Joel, et al.
(author)
-
Gendered communicative construction of patients in consultation settings
- 2014
-
In: Women & health. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0363-0242 .- 1541-0331. ; 54:6, s. 513-529
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study aimed to explore the communication in consultations between patients and health care staff from a gender perspective. We used 23 tape-recorded consultations between patients with Atrial Fibrillation and 5 nurses and 5 physicians at cardiac outpatient clinics at 6 different hospitals in southern Sweden during autumn 2009 to explore the verbal gendered constructions of patients. Through critical discourse analysis, we revealed that the male patients tended to describe their ailments with performance-oriented statements, whereas the female patients usually used emotional-oriented statements. The staff downplayed the male patients' questions and statements, while they acknowledged concern toward the female patients. Both the patients and the staff made conclusions according to a mutual construction. Male patients were constructed as competent, and female patients as fragile through gender-stereotypical communication. Open-ended statements and questions enabled consultations to be less limited by gender stereotypes.
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| 5. |
- Appelgren, Ester, et al.
(author)
-
The media consumers’ conscious and unconscious choices : a key to understanding the news media consumption of tomorrow
- 2014
-
In: Colloque International Communication Électronique Cultures et Identités, 11, 12 & 13 juin 2014. - : The IUT of Le Havre : Information-Communication Department CIRTAI IDEES (UMR6228). ; , s. 1-8, s. 521-528
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The digital society of today is dramatically different than that of a decade ago. During the past decades computers have gone from being clearly visible and at the center of attention to becoming an integrated and omnipresent part of our everyday lives. Today, individuals are catching up on a reality where homes, workplaces and society to a large extent consist of microprocessors that collect, analyze and present information. With regards to news and information sharing, it may seem that the users, thanks to greater ability to choose content, hold the upper hand in this process. However, since these data are constantly collected and analyzed for various purposes by companies, for example in the media industry, the users’ choices may not be as unconditional as they may think they are. Using the Swedish media market as an example, this exploratory paper discusses the interdependency between people’s choices and the market-driven choices made by the media industry in relation to news, and the impact these choices may have on media consumption and the media market.
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| 6. |
- Sandberg, Mikael, 1956-
(author)
-
Soft Power, World System Dynamics, and Democratization : A Bass Model of Democracy Diffusion 1800–2000
- 2011
-
In: JASSS. - Surrey : JASSS. - 1460-7425. ; 14:(1) 4
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Political scientists seldom translate system terminology into systems analysis. This article uses Polity IV data to probe system dynamics for studies of the global diffusion of democracy from 1800 to 2000. By analogy with the Bass model of diffusion of innovations (1969), as translated into system dynamics by Sterman (2000), the dynamic explanation proposed focuses on transitions to democracy, soft power, and communication rates on a global level. The analysis suggests that the transition from democratic experiences (“the soft power of democracy”) can be estimated from the systems dynamics simulation of an extended Bass model. Soft power, fueled by the growth in communications worldwide, is today the major force behind the diffusion of democracy. Our findings indicate the applicability of system dynamics simulation tools for the analysis of political change over time in the world system of polities.
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| 7. |
-
Generation Facebook : Über das Leben im Social Net
- 2011
-
Editorial collection (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Facebook hat das Internet erobert. Lange als Trivialität belächelt, lässt sich die Relevanz der »sozialen Netzwerke« heute nicht mehr bestreiten. Als Umschlagplatz für soziale Beziehungen aller Art erlangt gerade der Marktführer immer größere ökonomische Macht und politische Bedeutung und nistet sich zusehends tiefer in gesellschaftliche Strukturen ein. In diesem Band kommen internationale Autorinnen und Autoren zu Wort, die erstmals eine umfassende medien- und kulturkritische Perspektive auf Facebook entwickeln. In fundierten theoretischen Beiträgen – u.a. von Geert Lovink – sowie perspektivenreichen Kommentaren – u.a. von Saskia Sassen – werden die wichtigsten Facetten des Phänomens untersucht und die Konsequenzen dieser neuen Form von Sozialität analysiert.
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| 8. |
- Hedegaard, Joel, et al.
(author)
-
Communicative Construction of Native versus Non-Native Swedish Speaking Patients in Consultation Settings
- 2014
-
In: Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration. - 2001-7405. ; 17:4, s. 21-47
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper, we examine patient-centered care through analyzing communicative constructions of patients, on the basis of their native language, in consultations with physicians. Whereas patient-centered care is of current interest in health care, research has not addressed its implications in this dimension. Previous studies indicate that non-native Swedish speaking patients, experience substandard interpersonal treatment far more than native Swedish speaking patients. Our findings show that the non-native Swedish speaking patients presented themselves as participating, whereas the native Swedish speaking patients presented themselves as amenable. The physicians responded in two different ways, argumentatively towards the non-native Swedish speaking patients and acknowledging vis-à-vis the native Swedish speaking patients. When decisions and conclusions were made by the patients and physicians, this resulted in preservation of the status quo in the consultations with the non-native Swedish speaking patients, while the corresponding result with the native Swedish speaking patients was monitoring of their health status. So, whereas the non-native Swedish speaking patients actually were model patient-centered care patients, physicians were more amenable towards the native Swedish speaking patients. We suggest that patient-centered care is desirable, but its practical application must be more thoroughly scrutinized from both a patient and a health care worker perspective.
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| 9. |
- Sundén, Jenny, 1973-, et al.
(author)
-
Gender and Sexuality in Online Game Cultures : Passionate Play
- 2012. - 1
-
Book (peer-reviewed)abstract
- How do gender and sexuality come to matter in online game cultures? Why is it important to explore "straight" versus "queer" contexts of play? And what does it mean to play together with others over time, as co-players and researchers?Gender and Sexuality in Online Game Cultures is a book about female players and their passionate encounters with the online game World of Warcraft and its player cultures. It takes seriously women’s passions in games, and as such draws attention to questions of pleasure in and desire for technology.The authors use a unique approach of what they term a "twin ethnography" that develops two parallel stories. Sveningsson studies "straight" game culture, and makes explicit that which is of the norm by exploring the experiences of female gamers in a male-dominated gaming context. Sundén investigates "queer" game culture through the queer potentials of mainstream World of Warcraft culture, as well as through the case of a guild explicitly defined as LGBT.Academic research on game culture is flourishing, yet feminist accounts of gender and sexuality in games are still in the making. Drawing on feminist notions of performance, performativity and positionality, as well as the recent turn to affect and phenomenology within cultural theory, the authors develop queer, feminist studies of online player cultures in ways that are situated and embodied.
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| 10. |
- Pamment, James, 1977-
(author)
-
The Limits of the New Public Diplomacy : Strategic communication and evaluation at the U.S. State Department, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, British Council, Swedish Foreign Ministry and Swedish Institute
- 2011
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The new public diplomacy is a major paradigm shift in international political communication. Globalisation and a new media landscape challenge traditional foreign ministry ‘gatekeeper’ structures, and foreign ministries can no longer lay claim to being sole or dominant actors in communicating foreign policy. This demands new ways of communicating foreign policy to a range of nongovernmental international actors, and new ways of evaluating the influence of these communicative efforts. But where do the lines between old and new public diplomacies actually meet? How much current PD policy and practice conforms to older styles of communication, and how much can truly be considered new? What are the practical constraints upon the adoption of an entirely ‘new’ PD? This PhD thesis investigates the methods and strategies used by 5 foreign ministries and cultural institutes in 3 countries as they attempt to adapt their PD practices to the demands of the new public diplomacy environment. The question is not simply of how government actors have phased out their archaic old PD practices, but of how the continual need for short-term influence – for discernable impact, outcomes, value-for-money – complicates the paradigm shift. The case studies are based around an analysis of US, British, and Swedish strategies. Each chapter covers national policy, evaluation methods, and examples of individual campaigns. Material consists of 25 interviews with PD practitioners, detailed policy studies, reconstructions of 5 PD campaigns, and analysis of communication models and evaluation methodologies.
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| 11. |
- Salomonson, Nicklas, et al.
(author)
-
Comparing Human-to-Human and Human-to-AEA Communication in Service Encounters
- 2013
-
In: Journal of Business Communication. - : SAGE. - 0021-9436 .- 1552-4582. ; 50:1, s. 87-116
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- An increasing number of companies are introducing artificial agents as self-service tools on their websites, often motivated by the need to provide cost-efficient interaction solutions. These agents are designed to help customers and clients to conduct their business on the website. Their role on commercial websites is often to act as online sales/shopping assistants with the hope of replacing some of the interactions between customers and sales staff, thus supplementing or replacing human-to-human communication. However, research on artificial agents and comparisons with human-to-human communication, in particular, is still scarce. The purpose of this article is to explore the similarities and differences in communication between an artificial agent and customers compared with face-to-face communication between human service providers and customers. The method employed is a qualitative comparison of face-to-face human service provision in a travel agency setting and logs of interactions between customers and an artificial agent on an airline company website. The analysis is based on the theory of “activity-based communication analysis” and makes use of a framework of specific communication features provided by this theory. The article demonstrates a number of deficiencies in communication between artificial embodied agents and humans, suggesting that artificial embodied agents still lack many of the desirable communicative aspects of human-to-human service encounters.
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| 12. |
- Holt, Kristoffer, 1976-, et al.
(author)
-
Citizens as Media Critics in Changing Mediascapes
- 2011
-
In: Communication and citizenship. - Coimbra : Grácio Editor. - 9789898377159
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Media criticism often evolve – and grow in strength – during times of media change with new forms of journalism, new media formats, new media markets, new ways of addressing media markets and new media technologies. Different stakeholders may pursue their interests by formulating a media critique that protect their positions and promotes status quo. It is not difficult to find critics who in the name of the citizens formulate criticism against journalism and the media. It is more difficult to find and study representative examples of criticism expressed by the citizens themselves.The technological develoment on the internet has paved the way for a number of new communicative tools that enable users to interact with each other and publish content in a way that changes the conditions for citizens to act as media critics radically. This is an aspect of the internet’s democratic and participatory potential – and a key point in the rhetoric surrounding the concept “web 2.0”. In this paper we analyse and compare media critical debates during two periods of media change in Sweden: A) the debate caused by the launch of the tabloid Expressen in the 1950’s, and B) the critique against the new, commercially driven participatory news- and debate forum called Newsmill, launched in 2008. These historical and contemporary cases are used to enlighten a theoretical discussion about participatory online media’s potential for improving the conditions for citizens to act as media critics in a fruitful way.Both Expressen and Newsmill represent examples of journalistic innovations that affect surrounding media considerably. Findings suggest that there is much to be gained from analyses of criticism of new media phenomena from different times – for finding critical aspects for continued discussion as well as perspective on the contemporary debate about new media.
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| 13. |
- Englund, Liselotte, 1964-, et al.
(author)
-
The bomb attack in Oslo and the shootings at Utøya, 2011 : Kamedo report 97
- 2012
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The Kamedo observer reports study the medical, psychological, organizational and social aspects of disasters. This report summaries experiences from the bomb attack in Oslo and the shootings at Utøya, 2011. That may be valuable for the further development of the Swedish disaster preparedness system.
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| 14. |
- Cano-Viktorsson, Carlos, 1977-
(author)
-
From Vision to Transition : Exploring the Potential for Public Information Services to Facilitate Sustainable Urban Transport
- 2014
-
Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Background: Policy initiatives to promote sustainable travel through the use of Internet based public information systems have increased during the last decade. Stockholm, in being one of the first cities in Europe to implement an Internet based service for facilitating sustainable travel is believed to be a good candidate for an analysis of key issues for developing sustainable travel planning services to the public.Aim: This thesis investigates the past development of two Stockholm based public information systems and their services in order to draw lessons on how to better provide for a public information service geared towards facilitating environmentally sustainable travel planning through information and communications technology. The overall goal of the thesis is to contribute to an understanding on how to better design and manage current and future attempts at facilitating sustainable travel planning services based on historical case studies.Approach: The thesis draws ideas from the concept of organizational responsiveness – an organization’s ability to listen, understand and respond to demands put to it by its internal and external stakeholders – in order to depict how well or not the two public information systems and their owners have adapted to established norms and values of their surroundings.Results: Overall, the findings from the historical case studies suggest that organizations attempting to provide sustainable travel planning to the public need to design and manage their systems in such a way that it responds to shifting demands on how to provide for information. Implementing and embedding new technologies involves complex processes of change both at the micro level – for users and practitioners of the service – and at the meso level for the involved public service organizations themselves. This condition requires a contextualist framework to analyze and understand organizational, contextual and cultural issues involved in the adoption of new technologies and procedures.Conclusions: The thesis concludes with a discussion on how the findings from the historical case studies may provide lessons for both current and future attempts at providing public information systems geared towards facilitating environmentally sustainable travel planning to the public. Historical examples and issues concerning collective intelligence and peer to peer based forms of designing, producing and supervising public information services identified throughout the study are looked upon and discussed in terms of their possible role in increasing the potential for public information services to facilitate sustainable urban transport.
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| 15. |
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| 16. |
- Brodin, Jane, 1942-
(author)
-
Can ICT give children with disabilities equal opportunities in school?
- 2010
-
In: Improvning Schools. - London : Sage. - 1365-4802 .- 1475-7583. ; 13:1, s. 99-112
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Opoportunities for children wih disabilites to participate in school on equal conditions as others are often stressed while reality schows that many childrne with disabilities are stills egregated. ICT has been highlighted as a tool for communication and inclusion for children with disabilities but from research it appears that implementation of technology in children's everyday lift is difficult.One conclusion of the project is that there is a need both for technical and social support in school if ICT schould function as a bridge for inclusion of all pupils.
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| 17. |
- Jensen, Mikael, 1969
(author)
-
Lekteorier
- 2013
-
Book (other academic/artistic)
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| 18. |
- Andersson, Linus, 1979-
(author)
-
Alternativ television : former av kritik i konstnärlig TV-produktion
- 2012
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This dissertation analyses social critique, communication critique and aestheticalcritique in television produced by artists. Theoretically it draws on researchon alternative media, TV studies, especially genre analysis and narratology,and media aesthetics. It conducts a text-production study of three examplesof alternative television from the period 2004-2008: ContemporaryArt Center TV (CAC TV): A show produced by the CAC in Vilnius, Lithuaniaand aired on a commercial TV-channel; Good TV who aired video art ona local public access channel in Stockholm, Sweden; and Candyland TV, apirate transmission from an art gallery in central Stockholm.Empirically it builds on TV-texts, web sites and documents, as well asinterviews with participants. Through a study of form and stylistics, relationto conventional genres and modes of narration, it engages in a discussionabout the features of a critical, alternative media text.The study shows how these televisions work in a tradition of alternativetelevision and connects them to tactics and aesthetical forms as found inhistorical examples, but also how this type of formalist media critiquemight inform an understanding of alternative media. From the analysis ofrelations between social and formalist aspects of alternative television, adistinction between alternative as ”alternative worldview” and as ”alternativeexpressions” is suggested, a distinction that contributes to the developmentof theory in the study of alternative media.
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| 19. |
- Fogde, Marinette, 1977-
(author)
-
Bildanalys
- 2010. - 2
-
In: Metoder i kommunikationsvetenskap. - Lund : Studentlitteratur AB. - 9789144067636 ; , s. 179-192
-
Book chapter (other academic/artistic)
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| 20. |
- Ekström, Mats, 1961-, et al.
(author)
-
Family talk, peer talk, and young people’s civic orientation
- 2013
-
In: European Journal of Communication. - : Sage Publications. - 0267-3231 .- 1460-3705. ; 28:3, s. 294-308
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study focuses on interpersonal communication in the family and among peers in order to empirically examine the general idea that everyday civic talk might develop young people’s civic orientation. Two questions are addressed: (1) What is the significance of civic talk in relation to key dimensions of young people’s civic orientation? (2) What does civic talk in peer settings specifically contribute to young people’s civic orientation? The study is based on survey data from high school students and their parents (N = 1148). The findings offer clear support to the idea that civic talk in everyday contexts matters for young people’s development of political knowledge, democratic values and different forms of civic practices. Civic talk in peer settings contributes uniquely to all dimensions of youths’ civic orientation. Implications of the findings for political socialization research and theories of the democratic mechanisms of civic talk are discussed.
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| 21. |
- Gullström, Charlie
(author)
-
Presence Design : Mediated Spaces Extending Architecture
- 2010
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis is a contribution to design-led research and addresses a readership in the fields of architecture as well as in media and communications. In juxtaposing the tools of the designer (e.g. drafting, prototyping, visual/textual/spatial forms of montage) with those of architectural theory, this thesis seeks to extend the disciplinary boundaries of architecture by observing its assimilation of other media practices. Its primary contribution is to architectural design and theory, and its aims are twofold: Firstly, this thesis applies the concepts of virtual and mediated space to architecture, proposing an extended architectural practice that assimilates the concept of remote presence. Through realized design examples as well as through the history and theory of related concepts, the thesis explores what designing mediated spaces and designing for presence entails for the practicing architect. As a fusion of architecture and media technology, video-mediated spaces facilitate collaborative practices across spatial extensions while simultaneously fostering novel and environmentally sustainable modes of communication. The impact of presence design on workplace design is examined. As an extended practice also calls for an extended discourse, a preliminary conceptual toolbox is proposed. Concepts are adapted from related visual practices and tested on design prototypes, which arise from the author’s extensive experience in designing work and learning spaces. Secondly, this thesis outlines presence design as a transdisciplinary aesthetic practice and discusses the potential contribution of architects to a currently heterogeneous research field, which spans media space research, cognitive science, (tele)presence research, interaction design, ubiquitous computing, second-order cybernetics, and computer-supported collaborative work. In spite of such diversity, design and artistic practices are insufficiently represented in the field. This thesis argues that presence research and its discourse is characterised by sharp disciplinary boundaries and thereby identifies a conceptual gap: presence research typically fails to integrate aesthetic concepts that can be drawn from architecture and related visual practices. It is an important purpose of this thesis to synthesize such concepts into a coherent discourse. Finally, the thesis argues that remote presence through the proposed synthesis of architectural and technical design creates a significantly expanded potential for knowledge sharing across time and space, with potential to expand the practice and theory of architecture itself. The author’s design-led research shows that mediated spaces can provide sufficient audiovisual information about the remote space(s) and other person(s), allowing the subtleties of nonverbal communication to inform the interaction. Further, in designing for presence, certain spatial features have an effect on the user’s ability to experience a mediated spatial extension, which in turn, facilitates mediated presence. These spatial features play an important role in the process through which trust is negotiated, and hence has an impact on knowledge sharing. Mediated presence cannot be ensured by design, but by acknowledging the role of spatial design in mediated spaces, the presence designer can monitor and, in effect, seek to reduce the ‘friction’ that otherwise may inhibit the experience of mediated presence. The notion of ‘friction’ is borrowed from a context of knowledge sharing in collaborative work practices. My expanded use of the term ‘design friction’ is used to identify spatial design features which, unaddressed, may be said to impose friction and thus inhibit and impact negatively on the experience of presence. A conceptual tool-box for presence design is proposed, consisting of the following design concepts: mediated gaze, spatial montage, active spectatorship, mutual gaze, shared mediated space, offscreen space, lateral and peripheral awareness, framing and transparency. With their origins in related visual practices these emerge from the evolution of the concept of presence across a range of visual cultures, illuminating the centrality of presence design in design practice, be it in the construction of virtual pictorial space in Renaissance art or the generative design experiments of prototypical presence designers, such as Cedric Price, Gordon Pask and numerous researchers at MIT Media Lab, Stanford Institute and Xerox PARC.
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
- Gupta, Puneet Kumar, 1982-, et al.
(author)
-
Comprehension of basic mathematics among children with hearing impairment using multimedia in accesible and non-accesible format a comparative study
- 2013
-
In: 2013 IEEE 63rd Annual Conference International Council for Educational Media (ICEM). - : IEEE conference proceedings. ; , s. 1-11
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Teaching mathematics has been a complex issue for educators as well as learners. Same is the condition for the hearing impaired learners. Multimedia can be a big facilitator in order to render simpler and effective learning methods in the field of teaching mathematics to the hearing impaired students. The guidelines of United Nations Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD, 2007), makes provision for creation of information in accessible format.However there are no research studies to establish that teaching mathematics through the accessible format of multimedia would increase comprehension levels in children with hearing impairment. According to Mary Ellen Foster (2003) in her study on visual comprehension found that ‘Intuitively, one way of determining the usefulness of any presentation of data is by measuring the ease with which tasks involving that data can be performed using that presentation’.It may be noted that children with hearing impairment use visual techniques in their thought process, therefore accessible format of multimedia will enhance their comprehension levels. Accessible format includes techniques such as captioning, sign language and audio Description.This can be very helpful in processing information by hearing impaired children. The study investigated the effects of multimedia in accessible format, through the use of captioning and Indian sign language (ISL), on hearing impaired children. Hearing impaired viewers watched twice, the short multimedia with and without accessibility formats respectively. Their reactions were recorded on a questionnaire developed for the purpose of the study.Forty nine students participated in this study from two deaf schools of Mumbai,India. Analysis of the data showed that there was difference in the effects of accessible and non accessible formats of on the Hearing Impaired viewers.The study also showed that accessible formats increase the comprehension of the subject of the multimedia and use of ISL and captioning helped hearing impaired students to understand concepts better. The hearing impaired persons correlated watching the ISL interpreter with understanding the concept of the topic of multimedia. Placement of the ISL interpreter in the screen was also covered under the study.
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| 24. |
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| 25. |
- Holt, Kristoffer, 1976-, et al.
(author)
-
Citizens as Media Critics in Changing Mediascapes
- 2010
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Media criticism often evolve – and grow in strength – during times of media change with new forms of journalism, new media formats, new media markets, new ways of addressing media markets and new media technologies. Different stakeholders may pursue their interests by formulating a media critique that protect their positions and promotes status quo. It is not difficult to find critics who in the name of the citizens formulate criticism against journalism and the media. It is more difficult to find and study representative examples of criticism expressed by the citizens themselves. The technological develoment on the internet has paved the way for a number of new communicative tools that enable users to interact with each other and publish content in a way that changes the conditions for citizens to act as media critics radically. This is an aspect of the internet’s democratic and participatory potential – and a key point in the rhetoric surrounding the concept “web 2.0”. In this paper we analyse and compare media critical debates during two periods of media change in Sweden: A) the debate caused by the launch of the tabloid Expressen in the 1950’s, and B) the critique against the new, commercially driven participatory news- and debate forum called Newsmill, launched in 2008. These historical and contemporary cases are used to enlighten a theoretical discussion about participatory online media’s potential for improving the conditions for citizens to act as media critics in a fruitful way. Both Expressen and Newsmill represent examples of journalistic innovations that affect surrounding media considerably. Findings suggest that there is much to be gained from analyses of criticism of new media phenomena from different times – for finding critical aspects for continued discussion as well as perspective on the contemporary debate about new media.
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