Towards a Model of Interactivity in Alternative Media: A Multilevel Analysis of Audiences and Producers in a New Social Movement Network

摘要

This research utilized multilevel analysis to explore interactive alternative media production in a new social movement network. Interviews with audiences, local producers, and global producers provide evidence of interactivity between local audiences and local producers and between local producers and global producers. The local audiences provided encouragement to local producers through face-to-face interactions that aided in the establishment of organizational support for the local producers but acted as a discursive closure that blinded local producers to potential problems with their alternative media. The global producers revealed that they received content-oriented interactions from audiences via e-mail, which corresponded with data collected from the local producers who claimed to interact with global producers via e-mail. The findings establish a preliminary model of interactivity in alternative media production that links research concerning new social movement networks and alternative media and builds on research concerning the decentralized structure of new social movement networks.