The emergence of the techno-elite audience and free/open source content: A case study on BBC Backstage

This paper, through a case study on the BBC Backstage project, argues that the continuing convergence of media and ICT sectors has encouraged a powerful elite audience group to emerge – what I term “techno elite” in this paper. The techno elite usually have access to the latest knowledge and cutting-edge hardware, and is equipped with good skills of manipulating, configuring and re-configuring digital tools. When free/open source data and content are made available, some people in this category have the competence of repurposing, re-using, re-interpreting and renovating the data and content and (re-)generate values of the original data or content. This process can be quite innovative and sometimes result in unexpected and incalculable values. Drawing on discourse analysis and ethnographic fieldwork data, this paper will narrate the story of BBC Backstage, how it came about, how it engaged with the techno elite, how it envisioned the roles of the techno elite in participatory media. The concept of ‘techno elite’ will be illustrated and defined through examining the collective practices of the techno elite in this BBC-led project, looking at how they engage with free/open source content and data to re-create content and values. This practice-based perspective (on collective ‘elitist practices’) will avoid a static and categorical definition of an elite audience group and serve as a more robust analytical technique for understanding the roles of contemporary elite audience in today’s convergent, distributed and networked media industry. The paper will conclude with some provisional findings about the potential influence of this emerging elite audience group, the opportunities and challenges emanated in light of the changing media landscape.