Abstract
Participation is a big buzz word in the present period, primarily because of the priority given to it in so-called digital media. Networking, online gaming, texting, petitioning, and all sorts of other Internet and social media forms of exchange are among the many examples characterising it. But what does such participation actually entail, and does it live up to the promise it is supposed to hold and the desires and aspirations invested in it? The purpose of this book is to pursue this and various related questions. In particular, it examines the extent to which it can be said that the participatory condition is now so pervasive that it defines our contemporaneity. The book is organised in four sections dealing with the distribution of power and the struggle to move this closer to or further from equality; the interrelations between expertise, openness, and institutions; surveillance, personal data gathering, and co-optation; and finally, aesthetics, creative practices and creative collaboration. Topics covered in the 15 essays include Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring uprisings, worker cooperatives, media activism, open source projects, civic life, and contemporary art and design. This timely collection offers a major contribution to discussion and debate around the question of participation and why it has become such a central preoccupation of our time.