ABSTRACT
This entry focuses on the concept of media practices as it relates specifically to citizen media. For context, we begin by briefly covering the key premises of practice theory and providing an overview of the origins of the ‘turn to practice’ in media research, referencing Couldry’s (2004) widely cited call for a new practice paradigm, but also covering antecedents in media anthropology, audience research, and alternative media studies. We then turn to contemporary developments in the study of citizen media, focusing especially on how the concept of media practices has been taken up by scholars studying citizen- and social movement media as a means of developing non-media-centric analyses of activists’ media uses. We draw on specific examples from the research of scholars active in this field, to illustrate different ways in which the concept of media practices has been used. Finally, we reflect on the challenges and limitations of the concept in light of recent social and technological developments.
