• Not Entirely Analog(ous): Low-Power FM Radio as Community, Relations, and Knowledge in Context

    Author(s):
    Christina Dunbar-Hester (see profile)
    Date:
    2020
    Group(s):
    Science and Technology Studies (STS)
    Subject(s):
    Mass media, History, Alternative mass media, Political participation, Internet--Study and teaching, Communication
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Community radio, communications technology., Media history, Alternative media, Radio, Activism, Internet Studies, Infrastructure
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/mjaa-z882
    Abstract:
    At the turn of the millennium, scholars and pundits reflected on how communica- tion systems could shape events and societies, often while basking in the perceived glow of the then-novel Internet. Others pled for reasoned engagement with the interplay between communication infrastructures and the social life of knowledge, a much-needed corrective in a moment of rampant breathless digital utopianism. This article explores the interplay between communication infrastructures and the social life of knowledge through specific sociotechnical arrangements, low-power FM (LPFM) radio and large-scale commercial Internet-based ‘platforms’, both of which exist in our historical present. In particular, I use the formation of LPFM, which occurred at the same time that commercial Internet traffic picked up steam, in order to ‘excavate the future’: I return to a not-so-distant past to consider what might yet be. The article’s central claim is that the case of LPFM is even more relevant now than at its inception, in a context where behemoth commercial Internet ‘platforms’ have come to dominate electronic communication.
    Metadata:
    Published as:
    Journal article    
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    2 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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