Creative practices and participation in new media

The digitalisation of audiovisual technologies, along with the popularisation of Internet use and the spread of broadband and mobile devices, have made a revolution in cultural production possible and altered the "circuit of culture" established in a mass communication system in which production and consumption roles were clearly defined and the professional regulation and distribution of media outlets were thoroughly differentiated from domestic and amateur production. The objective of this article is to contribute to the current discussion on media practices, especially as regards audiovisual content production and consumption by private individuals within the context of the so-called "new media". We specifically wish to examine the way in which cultural creation practices by private individuals enter the circuit of culture, the implications of considering a productive audience or public and how current practices linked to digital information and communication technologies (characterised by self-creation, remixing, sharing and dissemination on the internet) are reshaping the role of the media and the role of the cultural creator itself.