The Faculty of Arts, University of Brighton, seeks PhD proposals which explore the socio-cultural and economic relationship between professional and non-professional digital media producers in the production and consumption of online cultural content. The PhD is fully funded.
Whilst much academic research has explored the significance of participatory digital media as a channel through which users communicate, socialise, collaborate, produce and disseminate knowledge and cultural content, this studentship will shift the research focus onto the under researched relationship between professional and non-professional digital media producers and consumers, to explore the confluence of creative industry practices and those of everyday life.
As digital networked media technologies have been incorporated into social and cultural practices, academic research has explored questions of user participation and co-creation. Less work, however, has been undertaken to examine the specific conditions, possibilities and limitations within which such co-creation takes place. Through a focus upon the relationship between professional and non-professional digital media producers, this studentship will explore these questions to ask what kinds of social and economic values are generated and derived by producers and consumers, what kinds of social and organisational arrangements structure these interactions, and how do the sociocultural practices of everyday life inform these relationships.
In particular, proposals that explore the relationship between commercial enterprises and activist or grassroots cultural producers, as a means of examining the processes and values of participatory culture across different social and economic spectrums, are encouraged. Similarly, proposals that focus upon visual based digital media production which explore the relationship between professional and everyday life practices in the production of online content are particularly welcomed. Given the focus upon exploring the various cultures and practices of digital media production, proposals that deploy innovative research methods with a focus upon ethnographic perspectives are encouraged. Applications are invited from students in the area of media and cultural studies.
How to Apply
Applications are accepted online through their website.
If you have any questions, email them: [email protected]
Deadline: June 8, 2012
For more information, and to apply, click here
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