Published
May 28, 2024Page count
192 pagesISBN
978-1529227284Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
May 28, 2024Page count
192 pagesISBN
978-1529227277Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
May 28, 2024Page count
192 pagesISBN
978-1529227291Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University Press
Just Here for the Comments
We all sometimes ‘lurk’ in online spaces without posting or engaging, just reading the posts and comments. But neither reading nor lurking are ever passive acts. In fact, readers of social media are making decisions and taking grassroots actions on multiple dimensions.
Unpacking this understudied phenomenon, this book challenges the conventional perspective of what counts as participatory online culture. Presenting lurking as a communication and literacy practice that resists dominant power structures, it offers an innovative approach to digital qualitative methods.
Unique and original in its subject, this is a call for internet researchers to broaden their methods to include lurkers’ participation and presence.
Gina Sipley is Assistant Professor in the Department of English, SUNY Nassau Community College. Sipley is a first generation college graduate.
Introduction: Everyone’s a Lurker
1. Don’t Mind Me: The History of Lurkers From Lerkere To Thriller
2. Readers Have History: Towards A Transactional Theory of New Literacies
3. To Let Others Know They Are Not Alone: Community and Lurking
4. Aint That Special: Moderating In The Age of Digital Exploitation
5. Resistance and Refusal: (Re)Evaluating Media Literacy
6. How Do We Account For Lurking?: Implications for Social Science Researchers
Conclusion: Participatory. And Valuable?
