数字媒介何以赋权社区?——基于媒介行动主义理论视角

How can Digital Media Empower Communities?--A Perspective of Media Activism

本文对乡村社区利用数字媒介开展“脐橙营销”的案例进行了过程性分析,讨论了数字媒介赋权社区的过程和机制。研究将促进社区变革进行的集体媒介实践归属为“媒介行动主义”范畴,本文称之为“媒介整合行动”。本案例中“草根”民众利用数字媒介进行“结网”,从而形成了一种“内部强关系连结”叠加“外部弱关系连结”的社会关系网络,使得散乱个体在公共空间中形成了强大的展演合力,赋予权力关系处于不利地位的社区以力量。这类行动在扶贫、环保、公益等众多依靠个体力量无法完成的事务中能够发挥重要作用。

This paper conducts a process analysis on the case of a rural community in Hunan province using digital media to carry out"navel orange marketing",and studies the process and mechanism of empowering the community through digital media.In this case,collective media practice to promote community change can be classified as"media activism".However,this collective practice is not a traditional"media protest action",which is called"media integration action"in this paper.If"media protest action"mostly occurs in the field of social movement,it is antagonistic;"Media integration action"is mostly applied in the field of social development,emphasizing synergy.Vulnerable communities in"media integration action"can hardly attract the attention of the outside world and the media by highly visible topics or events like"media protest Action",but more rely on the long-term efforts of community members to form collective performance strength to enhance the influence of the community.In this case,"grassroots"people make use of digital media to"network",thus forming a social network of"internal strong relationship"and"external weak relationship",which enables scattered individuals to form a strong force of performance in the public space,empowering the disadvantaged community with power relations.Such actions can play an important role in poverty alleviation,environmental protection,public welfare and many other tasks that cannot be accomplished by individual efforts.