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'Free the spectrum!' Activist encounters with old and new media technology

University of Pennsylvania, USA, cdh{at}asc.upenn.edu

This article contextualizes discourses surrounding new media technologies by examining activism around community media, using as a case study an activist group which has advocated for greater citizen access to low-power FM (LPFM) radio since the mid-1990s. It argues that the significance of new and emerging communication technologies can be grasped most effectively when emerging technologies are considered in a dynamic field that includes older technologies; emerging technologies are viewed often through the lens of patterns of use and interpretation of older technologies, at least initially. The article follows the activists' assessments of not only FM radio but emerging internet-based technologies, including webstreaming and wi-fi networks. In practice, the activists circumspectly negotiate expanding their efforts to encompass community wi-fi networks, while trying to retain the vision, flavor and organizing strategies from their LPFM campaigns.

Key Words: activism • community wi-fi networks • emerging technologies • ethnography • FM radio • low-power FM (LPFM) • new media • politics of technology • technological adoption

New Media & Society, Vol. 11, No. 1-2, 221-240 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1461444808100160


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