Page 102 - Sustainability Communication Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoritical Foundations

7 Media Theory and Sustainability Communication 85

the new medium of radio was an ‘instrument of mass enlightenment and political
agitation’ (Rusch 2002). The computer as the most important new cultural medium
is said to lead to children and young people to lose literacy competency and to an
increasing orientation towards entertainment needs instead of information and edu-
cation. In this sense Enzensberger (1988) argues for his thesis of ‘television as a
zero medium’ and promotes an emancipatory use of media.
The demand for an emancipatory use of mass media, especially heard in the
1980s and 1990s, is joined in the twenty-first century by the participatory use of the
internet, including weblogs, wikis, video portals and social online networks such as
XING, Facebook, MySpace, studiVZ and so on. These applications allow the user
himself to become a producer of information in the World Wide Web and so to take
part in the development of global communication processes.

Media 2.0 and Participatory Communication Processes

Scott (2006) points out that there are a large number of challenges facing communi-
cation about sustainability research and emphasizes the importance of having good
contacts to selected open-minded specialist journalists in all types of media (radio,
television, online etc.). The Institute for Sustainable Communication (ISC) is confi-
dent in the ability of new media “to increase the understanding of sustainability best
practices and to assist individuals and organizations in adopting more sustainable
print and digital media workflows aligns with Earth Day” (ISC 17.1.2010).
Siemens has shown interest in the possibilities of Web 2.0 and social software
and has developed the idea of networking in a theoretical framework it calls
‘connectivism’, which is a new theory of learning in the digital era (Siemens 2004,
2006). This concept describes the influence new media have on our form of com-
munication and our form of life. The new media enable infinite connections among
people, sources of information, topics and concepts; they produce information and
communication networks, which are often however superficial. Such knowledge
and communication networks consist of the properties ‘diversity’, ‘autonomy’,
‘interactivity’ and ‘openness’ (Siemens 2006: 28).
At the same time this concept describes a new generation of media users, who
through a changed use of communication, e.g. using mobile devices, blogging or
twitter have become ‘digital natives’, that is individuals belonging to a generation
that has grown up and feels at home with new media. Their communication pro-
cesses generate personal networks and collaborative scenarios that influence the
sustainability of communication. Much discourse about new media, about Web
2.0, deals with the influence of weblogs on public opinion and the change in the
role of traditional media (Schmidt 2006). Zerfaß and Boelter (2005) speak of ‘the
new opinion-makers’ and assume that the previous rules of public communication
are being changed by the building of interpersonal digital networks. The rise of
online networks is accompanied by participation in knowledge of the world, and its
development, which was unknown in traditional media.