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This ethnographic study explores how four alternative media projects in El Salvador integrated digital technologies-particularly social media-into their practices, and whether incorporating these technologies affected citizen participation not only in the media production process, but in a broader discursive sphere of civic and political life as well. Summer Harlow investigates the factors that influence the extent to which alternative media producers are able to use digital tools in liberating ways for social change by opening a space for participation in technology (as content producers) and through technology (as engaged citizens). The book advances existing literature with two main contributions: extending our understanding of the digital divide to include inequalities of social media use, and including technology use-whether liberating or not-as a fundamental component of a mestizaje approach to the study of alternative media.
List of contents
1. Introduction.- 2. The Roots of El Salvador's Alternative and Digital Media Environment.- 3. Diario CoLatino.- 4. Radio Victoria.- 5. Voces.- 6. Política Stereo.- 7. Common Threads: A Comparative Analysis.- 8. Conclusions: Toward an understanding of participation in and through technology.
About the author
Summer Harlow has a PhD in journalism and an MA in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, USA. She is a former newspaper journalist who has lived in, reported from, and travelled extensively throughout Latin America. She is currently Assistant Professor of Communication at Florida State University, USA.
Summary
This ethnographic study explores how four alternative media projects in El Salvador integrated digital technologies—particularly social media—into their practices, and whether incorporating these technologies affected citizen participation not only in the media production process, but in a broader discursive sphere of civic and political life as well. Summer Harlow investigates the factors that influence the extent to which alternative media producers are able to use digital tools in liberating ways for social change by opening a space for participation in technology (as content producers) and through technology (as engaged citizens). The book advances existing literature with two main contributions: extending our understanding of the digital divide to include inequalities of social media use, and including technology use—whether liberating or not—as a fundamental component of a mestizaje approach to the study of alternative media.
