Defining a public model for participatory media practice: a case study of the ABC website Pool

This paper reviews the way that participatory media practices have been adopted by cultural institutions such as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). A critique of the ABC's adoption of participatory media in relation to its strategy, positioning and charter is used to suggest that a clear framework for a distinctly public form of participatory media is required. By looking at the ABC's experimental social media site Pool, as an example of both the possibilities and challenges for the ABC, it is possible to start to define such a distinctly public form of participatory media.