Using a combination of case study materials, theoretical reflection and critical analysis this book explores four central issues for the study of new media and their impact on their user communities: 1 The impact of convergence on traditional media: explores the implications of media convergence for everyday media use and for the policy context. 2. Activism: using a series of case studies this section explores how user communities with special access needs are ensuring they are not denied access to the emerging new media world. 3. Access: provides an overview of areas where the introduction of new media has created debate about which social and cultural groups will benefit and how new media policy should be developed. 4. Participation: the emerging world of new media is inseparably linked to the commercialization of the internet and of mobile communications. This section examines the implications of the resulting commodification of information for the way audience formations are structured and operate.

Readership: New media and media subjects in second and third year undergraduate.

Virginia Nightingale, Associate Professor, School of Communication Arts, University of Western Sydney, and Tim Dwyer, Lecturer, University of Wester Sydney

Introduction
Part One: Digitisation and Convergence
Introduction
1: Technological Determinism and Mobile Privatisation
2: New Media Worlds: Challenges for Convergence
3: New Media Worlds: The Policy Agenda
4: the Contrary "Pulls" of Digital Media: Radio Listener Networks in the Era of Mobile Communications Media
Summary
Part Two: Activism
Introduction
5: Indigenous People and the Communication Rights Agenda
6: Disability and the Online Culture
7: Crisis and Internet Networks
8: Surfing Against the Tide: New Media and Social Activism in South Africa
9: Participation, Play and Socializing in New Media Environments
10: Creativity, Collaboration and the New Media Innovation
11: Community Media and the Public Sphere in Australia
Summary
Part Three: Access
Introduction
12: 'Access Denied': Arguments About Equality and Access to New Media in the Information Society
13: Participation, Access and Interaction
14: Universal Access in South Africa: Broadening Communication of Building Infastructure?
15: Dimensions of Media Diversity
16: On Fair Terms: Public Participation in Communications Regulation in Australia
Summary
Part Four: Participation
Introduction
17: Just Do It: The Brand as New Media Object
18: Emergence, Search and Social Networking
19: Digital Technologies and Moral Economies
Summary
Glossary
Further Reading
References
Index