2011 Trudeau Scholar

melanie.millette@trudeaufoundation.net

Current Research

Biography

Originally from Saint-Adolphe-d'Howard in the Laurentians, Mélanie Millette is passionately pursuing an examination of the media and, more specifically, the Internet and social media.  After several years working in advertising production, she left an established career to return to university. Fascinated by blogs and other wikis, she wanted to learn how the Internet can contribute to the emergence of alternative voices in the media, so she embarked on a master's degree on the practice of independent podcasting.

The Internet may be a springboard for improving the media representativity of different social voices and communicating alternative points of view, but we have yet to clearly understand how, under what conditions and for which social stakeholders this holds true. This is why Mélanie has decided to do a doctorate in communications that looks into the visibility and social recognition that the use of digital media extends to groups that are usually excluded from the media sphere.

The web changes the rules of the media game. If we want to understand the society we live in, we need to observe how these changes play out and what they imply in terms of politics and culture. This is what Mélanie's research will help to achieve. Mélanie is determined for her research activities to be useful in untangling the challenges posed by the Internet, so she offers training workshops and combines her academic work with consultation. Balancing academics with professional application gives Mélanie a unique point of view: reflective and critical distance, on the one hand, and a firm grasp of practical demands and challenges, on the other.

Mélanie Millette has won the Bell-Globemedia award from the Canadian Media Research Consortium for her master's work, a doctoral scholarship from the Fonds de recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC), and the Joseph-Armand-Bombardier award from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).  She has served as a student representative on program committees since she began her graduate studies, and she coordinates a UQAM research group on the media, media culture and computer-mediatized communications.

Project Description

Transformation of the Means of Media Visibility: the Battle for Social Recognition on the Internet

Visibility is an essential condition for making claims in the political arena, and the growing presence of the media is influencing modes of visibility and ways to be seen and recognized in society. Every media has its own suitability categories that help determine what will or will not appear in the media space (Voirol 2005). The media sort and select information based on form (paper, video or audio) and economic and institutional factors. The situation of people who are excluded from these suitability categories is a problem because today media visibility has become one of the main channels through which social and political battles are articulated and fought (Thompson 2005: 86). In the current context, what means of media visibility do the participatory platforms of Web 2.0 give to the voices of citizens battling to be heard? 

This project will observe and analyse media visibility options offered by online participation channels such as Facebook and blogs to minority and alternative groups. It will examine the ways that these users mobilize new web platforms to make themselves heard and how this visibility helps legitimize their claims.

Trudeau Foundation Themes

Responsible Citizenship