Harrison+and+Barthel.+Wielding+New+Media+in+Web+2.0

= **Teresa M. Harrison and Brea Barthel.** **Wielding New Media in Web 2.0:** **Exploring the History of Engagement with the Collaborative Construction of Media Products.**= //New Media & Society, February/March 2009; vol. 11, 1-2: pp. 155-178.//

Abstract
This article explores what is new about Web 2.0, the contemporary cutting-edge platform for web development, differentiating between what is celebrated in the discourse of Web 2.0 and what is genuinely novel about this phenomenon, which is users' propensity to construct content in the form of information and media products for the web environment. It argues that, from the perspective of theoretical treatments of the 'active audience', audiences or media users have created media content on a long-term and consistent historical basis for purposes related to radical and community movements.The article further considers expressive and aesthetic dimensions of Web 2.0 content construction through a discussion of three historical case studies of 'participatory public art' which, it is suggested, constitute a useful analogy for understanding similarly oriented Web 2.0 content construction. Finally, it proposes topics and questions that should figure prominently in research agendas addressing Web 2.0 phenomena in the future.

Argument
The rapid growth and development of Web 2.0 is one to be accepted and celebrated. It allows new creative outlets and collaborative opportunities for new user demographics, such as young women on the internet. It also allows the expression of participatory art in society, like The Ribbon, the Clothesline Project, and AIDS Quilt.

Key Passages
"... the idea of radical and community use of media technology seems to be reborn with each new media technology innovation. Across radio, television, earlier forms of computing technologies, members of community or oppositional movements – that is, lay people or hobbyists who adopt and use media technologies outside their normal employment – deploy these technologies to create their own media products, serving their own community goals and political objectives in spite of, or in opposition to, the objectives of corporate media" (174).

"In each instance, the participants – content creators – express concerns, hopes and often outrage about social issues on fabric panels or clothing.The phrase ‘participatory public art’ is used often to describe community projects such as murals or playgrounds designed by an artist, with community members perhaps collaborating in the design and helping to create the final piece.The three projects discussed here may be viewed also as historical precedents to Web 2.0 content construction because the participants collaborate in creative design: the individuals who shaped sections often later became the audience for the completed work; and ongoing participation during and after exhibits often provided an opportunity for creators to explore their own work in the context of other pieces while ‘viewers’ created their own materials to be added to the exhibit" (168).

Selected Works Cited
Jenkins, H. //Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education// //for the 21st Century.// MacArthur Foundation. 2006. Web. .

Schiltz, M., F.Truyen and H. Coppens "Cutting the Trees of Knowledge: Social Software, Information Architecture and their Epistemic Consequences" //Thesis Eleven.// 2007. Print. 94–114.