Centre for Participatory Culture

Founded in 2017, the Centre for Participatory Culture is involved in producing world-leading research in associated areas such as fan studies, audience studies, and media studies. Its work respond to the “participatory condition” which has become part of everyday life in the age of web 2.0.  

The Centre therefore aims to advance our understanding of:

• The role of media and media technologies in facilitating and shaping practices of participation
• Definitions of participatory culture and participatory practices and expanding the phenomena and spheres shaped by participatory practices
• Cultures and identities associated with participation, social media use and enthusiasm such fans, fandom and activism across the spectrum of popular culture, media and arts, politics and beyond
• The development and history of cultures and practices of participation
• The textual forms associated with and allowing for participation
• The cultural, social, economic, aesthetic and political value of participation, including the interplay between participation and social change
• The interplay between non-professionals and industries, institutions, and organisations
• The structures, agencies and limitations of participatory culture
• The role of participation in citizenship, identity and community in the digital age
• The history and development of participatory practices.