Mediterranean Network Publics and Citizenship. Civic engagement, political participation and cultural practices in the social media landscape in the Mediterranean area

This booklet is dedicated to an exploration of the theme "Mediterranean Network Publics and Citizenship. Civic engagement, political participation and cultural practices in the social media landscape in the Mediterranean area". Over the last few years, interest in the potential of social media for increasing people's participation in public spaces and citizenship has gained momentum. In addition to use for sharing cultural, social and educational content, social networking has come to the fore in political contexts, especially during the 2011 Arab uprisings. Since then, their role in supporting civic participation and political/cultural change has been widely debated, with authors adopting contrasting positions. On the one hand, social media have been recognised as a technology that fosters a participatory attitude, supports civic engagement, and acts as a driver for young people's participation: from discussion forums to the creation of wiki content, from sharing useful resources to using information in every field of life - education, politics, economy, society. On the other hand, some scholars have questioned their participatory power, claiming that, despite new opportunities to engage in the distribution of content, relatively few people are taking advantage of these recent developments. Furthermore, though social media might seem to have great potential, the research on online participatory culture is still in its infancy. The papers presented in this booklet report on the role of social media in different contexts and for a variety of purposes: for civic learning, political engagement and cultural practices; as an instrumental part of the Arab Spring; as an element of religious and spiritual life; and for civic education in formal and informal learning contexts.