Renee Barnes

Understanding the affective investment produced through commenting on Australian alternative journalism website New Matilda

Much attention has been paid to the role of the audience in online news production. However, very little research has addressed how the audience understands this participation. Using the theories of affect and fandom, this paper will investigate the most popular form of online participation – comments. Based on a case study of Australian alternative journalism site, New Matilda, it will argue for a broader understanding of participation online, one that incorporates those who ‘internalise’ their participation and in particular the role emotion plays in audience engagement.

The “ecology of participation”

This paper investigates how audience members are using “alternative journalism” websites. Based on case studies of four “alternative journalism” sites, two based in Australia and two based in the United States, it examines how and why the audience uses these sites. Traditionally research into journalism and, in particular, “alternative journalism” has focused on the civic role of journalism. However, to consider the individual audience member’s engagement with the site, an approach similar to that which has typically been associated with fan studies is more useful. Using this fan theory, the paper focuses on the role of personal satisfaction and emotional engagement, as central factors in participation on alternative journalism websites. Ultimately it argues that a new definition of participation must be considered for these websites, which does not privilege participation that involves active contributions, but is inclusive of audience members who “internalise” their participation.

Tackling Uncertainty for Journalism Graduates: A model for teaching experiential entrepreneurship

As journalism struggles to adapt to technological disruption, journalism educators are searching for ways to prepare students for an industry in flux. Entrepreneurial journalism has been incorporated into university curricula as a solution, however the discourse and application lacks a theoretical basis. This article aims to address these gaps by clearly defining entrepreneurship, its theoretical principles relevant for journalism education and then outlining the trial of a Multidisciplinary Experiential Entrepreneurship Model (MEEM), designed to enhance graduates’ career aspirations through cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset. The MEEM trial was assessed using a sequential mixed-methods approach, consisting of survey data collected at the start and completion of the course and interview data collected two months later. The findings demonstrate that the theoretical principles underpinning MEEM not only enabled students to create a new media venture, but the skills acquired also provided a method for entrepreneurial problem-solving and innovating, which is valuable to students working inside or outside traditional news media. This paper contributes theoretically by outlining five principles of entrepreneurial problem-solving and providing a teachable method that can be deployed through an effectual entrepreneurship pedagogy.

A neurotic extrovert who is open to new experiences? Understanding how personality traits may impact the commenting behaviors of online news readers

This article develops a theoretical context for the influence of personality traits on commenting behaviors on online news Web sites. Drawing on the literature of personality, and online behaviors, we examine how personality traits may influence which individuals make contributions on news Web sites. Additionally the article focuses on how the commenting “landscape,” in particular moderation policies and user interfaces, may impact those who contribute.

Have you seen the news?: Uncovering the fan-like behaviours of the news audience

Traditionally, the study of journalism has been undertaken in rationalist terms. This has had particular implications for the study of the journalistic audience focusing on news serving a primarily informational purpose and not as a pleasurable experience. Drawing on fan theory, as well as the cultural concepts of emotion and affect, this article argues that the keen ritual engagement that characterises the investment of fans helps illuminate the dynamics of online participation in relation to news consumption. Ultimately, it argues that this approach enables a better conceptualisation of the online news audience and forms of engagement.

The Online/Offline Life

When we are online, we are also offline. Our choices of how and where to comment online are inextricable from the practices of our everyday lives. We may be checking our social media profiles while waiting in line at the supermarket or commenting on online news stories while watching television. Therefore, to understand an online commenting culture, we need to understand how our online interactions affect our other practices and vice versa. Drawing on literature related to digital news networks and social media engagement, this chapter views media consumption as a practice that is structure by time, space, and institutional and individual constraints.

A Neurotic Extravert with a Pinch of Conscientiousness? How Personality Informs Commenting Behaviours

This chapter will explore how personality influences our online commenting behaviours. Drawing on the Big Five Inventory, it will outline the particular characters that operate in the online space, their motivations for participation and their propensity for making particular types of comments. Understanding the role of personality in commenting behaviour also sheds light on some of the specific measures the institutions that control commenting platforms can take to mitigate “anti-social” commenting behaviour through specific moderation policies and modifications to user interfaces.

Hitch Up the Wagon: Charting the Online Commenting Landscape

This chapter will chart the online commenting landscape by defining the platforms where we comment and exploring how and why we comment. It will argue that the concept of the online community is a useful tool for understanding the social implications of our online group interactions. The chapter will conclude by outlining the factors that influence how we as individuals and collectively can affect the climate of the online domain and the role the institutions that own the online commenting platforms have in forming normative online behaviours through their policies and technological affordances.

Lessons from #Gamergate

In 2014, there was an escalation of online harassment against women involved in gaming. In a phenomenon that came to be known as #Gamergate, female gamers, reviewers and developers were targeted by often-anonymous participants within the games, as well as on a number of websites and through social media. This chapter draws on #Gamergate and the gaming industry more broadly to examine the roles that the institutions that own the platforms we comment on have in creating an inclusive and diverse commenting culture, as well as the roles we have individually and collectively in mitigating anti-social behaviour. By examining the way in which video game developers and publishers have been attempting to respond to the problem of in-game harassment, we can explore modifications to the participatory-control frameworks of discussion spaces that have the potential to create more inclusive communities. Additionally, by outlining the individual and collective actions available to us, we can create a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that affect the participatory culture of commenting.

You Either Love It or You Hate It! The Emotional and Affective Factors of Commenting

Fan studies can reveal a lot about how our online-commenting behaviour is guided by emotion and affect. Drawing on certain fundamental and interconnected areas of fandom—creative production; belonging and identity; play and pleasure; and emotion and affect—this chapter will chart some of the influences that drive us to make comments, and the investment that even “lurkers”, or those simply reading the comments, make in virtual communities. Certain stimuli, such as a news story or a comment by another user, can create “affect contagion”, where events gain momentum and comments can multiply in number and affective engagement.