Community Storytelling Network, Expressive Digital Media Use, and Civic Engagement

Abstract

Grounded in Communication Infrastructure Theory (CIT), this study tests the moderating roles of expressive digital media use through the Internet, social, and mobile media between community storytelling network and civic engagement. Based on online survey data of U.S. adults in an ethnically homogenous metropolitan area, this study finds that community storytelling network and expressive digital media use significantly predict the level of civic engagement. In particular, expressive digital media use serves as a necessary condition for community storytelling network to further promote online civic participation and collective efficacy among community residents. This study thus advances CIT with an integrated approach to expressive digital media use by testing the extended theoretical framework in a different local community context. Findings offer practical applications and policy implications regarding communication, citizenship, and civic community.

News portals as a gateway to civic engagement: the case of South Korea

“…Studies have supported these claims, as integrated connectedness to a storytelling network (ICSN) has been shown to be a strong predictor of civic engagement, dimensions of which include neighborhood belonging, collective efficacy, and civic participation (e.g. Nah et al, 2022).…”

“…Neighborhood belonging as a cognitive dimension of civic engagement taps how much one subjectively feels like a part of their community while collective efficacy as a psychological dimension is how much one feels as though their community can act cooperatively to accomplish tasks which are beneficial to everyone in the community (Ball-Rokeach et al, 2001; Kim and Ball-Rokeach, 2006b; Liu et al, 2018; Sampson et al, 1997). Behavioral indicators of civic engagement include offline and online civic participation , putting in resources to engage in behaviors that can shape decision and policy-making around community issues in both online and offline settings, for example, participation in community events like council meetings or volunteering (Nah et al, 2022).…”

Examining Vaccine Sentiment on Twitter and Local Vaccine Deployment during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Twitter may be a rewarding space for health communication scholars to join the conversation, alongside community organizations and locally based media. Described as geo-ethnic media because they focus on reaching particular geographic locations or local ethnic groups [85], these locally based media are able to "mobilize residents around community issues and the broader realm of civic life" [86] (p. 329). Twitter can be an important tool in the CAC which scholars can explore to improve community attitudes about vaccines.…”