For activists, for potential voters, for consumers: three modes of producing the civic web

Abstract

During the last decade, numerous studies of the internet's civic dimensions have taught us a considerable amount about the form of new technologies. They have, for instance, analysed how the internet's interactive character, its multimodality and its open character create civic opportunities, not least for young people. The field has, however, rather neglected a number of important issues. For instance, the category of ‘producers’ of civic content has received little attention. Hence, research has neglected questions such as the following. What interests inspire producers of civic websites? How is the production being carried through? What views of the internet inspire their work? This article begins to redress this neglect by analysing the producers of three different websites. The three websites are brought from different spheres of civil society – party politics, commercial media and activism – and they are analysed through producer interviews. The article reveals and critically discusses differences and similarities between different modes of producing civic web resources.