Reception research 2.0: A multidimensional model of participatory media culture

Some might argue that reception analysis is a remnant of the past in an age where “people formerly known as the audience” (Rosen, 2006) are producing and circulating content on a diversity of interactive and participatory media platforms. Far from being the case, reception research must continue to set the question of meaning as a central issue in media studies, an issue that appears to be missing from current understandings of social media in which audiences are often reduced to a single reality or simply ignored as an empirical reality. Knowing about the meanings produced and circulated on social media can help us better understand the participatory media culture that has established itself over the past decade. To properly address the question of meaning, however, reception research needs to be adapted to the current media landscape. Taking my point of departure in the multi-dimensional model of reception developed by Kim Schrøder (2003, 2000), I suggest a revision of the model and its dimensions in light of notions such as produsage (Bruns, 2008), convergence (Jenkins, 2008), participation (Carpentier, 2011) and networked culture (Castells, 1996). The model suggested by Schrøder is itself an elaboration, establishing both continuity and critique with Hall’s original suggestion (1973/1980). In the same spirit, I wish to build on the multidimensional model for it offers a systematic approach to the complexity of sense-making processes surrounding media use. Yet I wish to develop the model for its potential to provide a portrait of the participatory media culture that stands in contrast to its understanding as exploitation of labor (Scholz, 2013) or as a business model (van Dicjk, 2013) disguised as false consciousness. The paper will revisit the five dimensions of the model (motivation, comprehension, discrimination, position, implementation) for their relevance and explanatory power in today’s media landscape, suggesting new interpretations and new formulations. A revision of reception research does not only concern the notion of reception itself, but also that of the text, which appears increasingly complex, multi-formed and integrated to the audience. The original dimensions of Schrøder’s model need to be looked at with reference to both reception and circulation (Jenkins et al., 2013), and to the network that binds participatory media culture. It appears that with media 2.0, phenomena which traditionally fell under the labels of interpretation or reception are increasingly taking part in the media text itself. As audiences become textual matters, they contribute to set a new agenda for media research.