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Communication Infrastructure Theory (CIT). Kim, Y. C., & Ball-Rokeach, S. J. (2006). Civic engagement from a communication infrastructure perspective. Communication Theory, 16, 173-197. The Narrative Paradigm (Fisher, 1989).
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Communication Infrastructure Theory (CIT) Kim, Y. C., & Ball-Rokeach, S. J. (2006). Civic engagement from a communication infrastructure perspective. Communication Theory, 16, 173-197.
The Narrative Paradigm (Fisher, 1989) • Story as the fundamental form in which people express values & reasons, & subsequently make decisions about actions. • People are storytelling animals at heart. • Human communication is largely a storytelling process. • Everyday communication as a meaningful base in the building of civic community.
Theoretical components of CIT • Neighborhood Storytelling Network (NSN) • Storytelling community • Difficult to build a community without resources for storytelling about the community. • “Neighborhood Storytelling”: any type of communicative actions, but have to be about the local community. • Multilevel community storytellers • Macro-, meso-, & mircro-storytelling agents • CIT only focuses on mesolevel (geo-ethnic media & community organization) and mircrolevel (residents) • An "integrated" NSN • CIT not only looks at the strength of each storyteller, but also assess the quality of storytelling network. • Without working relationship among the three actors, residents miss out on storytelling resources to "imagine" their community.
Theoretical components of CIT, cont. • Communication Action Context (CAC) • CAC varies along a dimension of openness • contextual facilitation of residents coming into communication contact with each other; • the extent to which the CAC inclines higher-level storytellers to communicate (community organizations and local media) • CAC aims to capture variation among specific geographical units in how open they are to the establishing and sustaining NSN.