Where to Look Next for a Shot of Culture? Repertoires of Cultural Information Production and Consumption on the Internet

Abstract

Cultural journalism contributes to the symbolic production culture, but an understudied element is how audiences partake in using and valuing cultural information in the media. This chapter examines how audiences use the internet to find information on new cultural products as well as contribute to the production of information. Our study is relatively explorative: We set out to find the underlying dimensions in producing and consuming online cultural information, in other words: the repertoires of user-generated content (UGC). At the same time, we also aim to contribute to the explanation of creating and consuming cultural UGC. We use data of an online survey in the Netherlands to answer our questions. We find five distinguished clusters, ranging in size from 46 pct. to 4 pct. of the population: occasional review readers, basic information users, moderate omnivores, ardent producers, and heavy omnivores. Differences between these groups can partly be explained via demographics background: age and educational level, but not sex. Cultural capital is also a strong predictor for cluster membership. Finally, we find an influence of internet affordances: repertoires are shaped by the perceived convenience of the internet as well as the importance of diversity of opinions.