"Every Home Is Wired": 3 -- The Progressive Rock Community on the Net

"Every Home Is Wired":
3 -- The Progressive Rock Community on the Net

Mass media effects theories have always also depended on the communicative environment, and especially the extent of experience and active involvement of the audience they sought to describe -- thus, over time, theorists first saw massive effects of pre-war propaganda on an audience only just coming to terms with the new medium of radio, then gradually moved towards theories of highly limited effects the more fragmented and cynical of the mass media audiences grew, and returned to theories of considerable underlying media effects as deeper ideological implications of exposure to the mass media were recognised. Rather than the diachronous development of media competence among audiences that caused this succession of constantly adjusted theories, however, on the Net we find a synchronously existing range of participant competence, from seasoned newsgroup users to first-time posters and even lurkers. Such experience (or lack thereof) with newsgroups and other Internet media will largely determine individual users' readiness to believe and be influenced by the content of newsgroup discussions. It is not unlikely, then, that newsgroups as mass media will have fairly limited immediate effects on the opinions and behaviour of highly active and vocal participants, while inexperienced non-participating lurkers and new marginal participants, on the other hand, may well be highly affected by what they read, even to the point of using some of the major newsgroup contributors as opinion leaders in their very own two-step flow system. Such strong effects particularly on new and inexperienced users may weaken later, as these individuals become more familiar with newsgroups in general and in particular and perhaps also participate more; they cannot fully explain why some people remain lurkers for extended periods, although it is possible that such users' contentedness with following particular opinion leaders plays a major role.	Bit 54

Mass media effects theories have always also depended on the communicative environment, and especially the extent of experience and active involvement of the audience they sought to describe -- thus, over time, theorists first saw massive effects of pre-war propaganda on an audience only just coming to terms with the new medium of radio, then gradually moved towards theories of highly limited effects the more fragmented and cynical of the mass media audiences grew, and returned to theories of considerable underlying media effects as deeper ideological implications of exposure to the mass media were recognised. Rather than the diachronous development of media competence among audiences that caused this succession of constantly adjusted theories, however, on the Net we find a synchronously existing range of participant competence, from seasoned newsgroup users to first-time posters and even lurkers. Such experience (or lack thereof) with newsgroups and other Internet media will largely determine individual users' readiness to believe and be influenced by the content of newsgroup discussions. It is not unlikely, then, that newsgroups as mass media will have fairly limited immediate effects on the opinions and behaviour of highly active and vocal participants, while inexperienced non-participating lurkers and new marginal participants, on the other hand, may well be highly affected by what they read, even to the point of using some of the major newsgroup contributors as opinion leaders in their very own two-step flow system. Such strong effects particularly on new and inexperienced users may weaken later, as these individuals become more familiar with newsgroups in general and in particular and perhaps also participate more; they cannot fully explain why some people remain lurkers for extended periods, although it is possible that such users' contentedness with following particular opinion leaders plays a major role.

Bit 54

Section 3 -- Go on to Bite:

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